Baccalaureate Nurse

Right now, nurses all over the country are busy taking care of sick patients. Healthcare is continually evolving and changing. It seems like patient’s needs are becoming greater by the day. We’ve been told for years now that with the aging of the baby boomers the need for nurses will grow. These patients are often complex with multiple medical problems that need to be managed. These growing patient needs require nurses to have excellent critical thinking skills and can make split-second life or death decisions. So, who is more prepared for these difficult decisions? Is it the nurse with the two-year education? Or is the Baccalaureate nurse better prepared to handle these increasingly difficult patient populations?
Both Associates and

I feel that I went through a rigorous program that produces good nurses. However, now looking back I do feel as though the program was geared towards preparing students to take the test rather being prepared to make split second decisions. Baccalaureate prepared nurses, in general, have two more years of school than and Associates prepared nurse. Not only do they take more nursing classes but, more general education classes as well. For example, as a part of my bachelor’s education, I was required to have extra math, science, and history courses that were not required for my associate’s degree. This makes bachelor’s degree nurses overall more educated and better prepared to handle more complex situations at their patient’s bedside. What opportunities are available to Bachelors prepared nurses? Anyone who is interested in any kind of leadership position should plan on getting a bachelor’s degree. For example, at the facility I currently work at you can be hired to be a clinical manager with the understanding that you will go to school to receive your bachelor’s degree within the first few years. In some areas of the country the market is saturated with nurses. Those areas will most certainly hire a nurse with a bachelor’s degree over a nurse with an associate’s