enrollment deposit pressure?!!!

Mwallenmd
Sun, 13 Dec 2015 15:38:04 +0000

teeluuuj:

To understand the increased competitiveness for 4 year BSN Programs you need to understand the historical evolution of the Nursing Discipline. For many, many years in this country the overwhelming majority of licensed RN’s graduated from 2 year Nursing Programs (Diploma Schools, ARN Programs, etc.), obtained their RN Nursing license, and then worked as an RN for the rest of their careers. So there really was little interest/value overall in obtaining a BSN degree. Over the last 20 years there has been increasing pressure by insurance carriers (especially Medicare) for healthcare professionals of all disciplines to obtain higher educational degrees (i.e. Doctoral degrees for Pharmacy/PT, BSN degrees for Nursing). They correlate quality of care with the level of educational degrees. You can argue till your blue in the face whether this is appropriate/accurate or not but it is the reality of the situation. As a result of this in Nursing a number of hospitals/healthcare organizations will now only hire Nurses with BSN’s. So BSN Programs have become increasingly popular, hence the increase in competitiveness. Unfortunately BSN Nursing Programs are expensive to run, faculty pay is low, so it is difficult to just increase the number of slots to meet up with the demand. In fact I understand at least several states are planning to change Nursing licensure requirements that would require the BSN degree to obtain/maintain licensure as an RN (current RN’s without a BSN would be given a time frame [i.e.10years] by which they would need to obtain their BSN in order to renew their Nursing license). This has resulted in the emergence of an increased number of RN to BSN Programs, but the same limitations apply. Many of the past Diploma Programs/ARN Programs have been setting up arrangements/affiliations with these Programs so that they can continue to exist. I realize that this info has little to do with the early deposit issue but I thought this info might be of some interest to you (and maybe your mom). Good luck.