Associate-Degree Level

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Discuss the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level.

The difference competences between nurses prepared at the associate degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level can be evident in the reaction time, data collection, critical thinking and data analysis. Both the BSN and ADN nurse are held at the same standard when it comes to performance and the expectation stays the same. Getting a bachelors degree requires a lot of research and there is more critical think courses involved. Getting a bachelors degree tends to make this nurse more highly experienced than one trained at AND level. Nurses trained at a bachelor’s degree level give the nurse a broader view
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In the very first chapter of this book one will notice that this trend of constantly improving on the educational level of trained nurses is a model that is also changing dramatically even back then. There was and still is, always efforts been made to change the qualification level of the nurse for better performance. “Nursing educators, on the other hand continued their long struggle to convince hospitals that graduate nurses, rather than nursing students, should be responsible for patient care. This struggle continues even after the Goldmark report revealed shocking defiance in the education of nursing students”{Goldmark, 1923}. …show more content…
Being able to read clinical information’s and accurately analyze that information and prevent a potentially critical occurrence is so imperative. I can remember when I started working in the homecare; there was a patient care situation wherein a patient was admitted after a knee replacement. The next day the ADN nurse went out to see the patient and the patient reported that she is getting short of breath easily. The ADN nurse did not think much of it, and she documented in her notes that the patient did complain of shortness of breath. He scheduler inadvertently assigned the patient to the BSN nurse and forgot to remove the patient from the BSN nurses schedule and she also went in to see the patient couple of hours later. The patient came to the door panting and had rapid heart beat. The BSN nurse was able to use critical thinking skills in knowing exactly what questions to ask. She collected some objective data. Armed with this observation, she started probing for more information, at this point suspecting pulmonary embolism. She asked the patient about any chest pain or coughing. The patient stated that she has infect been coughing all day and noted some blood in her cough. The BSN nurse spring into action and called 911. The patient was rushed to the nearest hospital where she was indeed diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. There are a lot of different stories like this one. It is because of all these