International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship

Transcription

1 International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship Volume 4, Issue Article 25 Outcomes of ADN-BSN Partnerships to Increase Baccalaureate Prepared Nurses Mary H. Sizemore Leslie K. Robbins Mary M. Hoke Diane M. Billings New Mexico State University, masizemo@nmsu.edu New Mexico State University, lerobbin@nmsu.edu New Mexico State University, mhoke@nmsu.edu Indiana University School of Nursing, dbillin@iupui.edu Copyright c 2007 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.

2 Outcomes of ADN-BSN Partnerships to Increase Baccalaureate Prepared Nurses Mary H. Sizemore, Leslie K. Robbins, Mary M. Hoke, and Diane M. Billings Abstract The limited supply of BSN nurses hinders efforts to increase patient care quality and address health disparities. In largely rural and economically disadvantaged areas, associate degree prepared nurses provide the majority of nursing services. To address a statewide need, a BSN Program and 3 ADN Programs formed a partnership to take BSN education to rural and medically underserved areas. This article describes the program planning, implementation, and evaluation using an adapted assessment framework with partnership principles as its foundation. Interactive television, internet education components, local clinical experiences, and distant nursing faculty liaisons were used. The nursing course sequence was completed by 101 of 102 students. Hall s Professionalism Scale, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test measured the increases found in professional socialization and critical thinking. Use of the adapted theoretical framework represented a strategic approach to developing a distance delivered nursing education program. KEYWORDS: distance education, RN-BSN education, nursing education, education program planning & evaluation This project is supported in part by funds from the Division of Nursing (DN), Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under grant number D11HP00440 Southern New Mexico RN to BSN Initiative for $2,456,343. The content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by the Division of Nursing, BHPr, DHHS or the U.S. Government.

3 Sizemore et al.: Outcomes of ADN-BSN Partnerships to Increase Baccalaureate Nurses Distance education, in a multitude of delivery methods, has existed within nursing education for many years (Nesler, Hanner, Melburg, & McGowan, 2001). It is viewed as an educational tool that will increase accessibility to multiple levels of nursing education, particularly for associate degree and diplomaprepared registered nurses seeking baccalaureate nursing degrees (Halstead & Coudret, 2000; Shomaker, 1995). As a curriculum delivery method, it has been extremely important for individuals in rural and underserved areas, as historically associate degree nursing education (ADN) has been the only reasonable and available route into the nursing discipline (American Association of Community Colleges, 2000). For many of these individuals, family and economic considerations are essential when selecting education options (Baldwin, Walker, & Evans, 2004). While many health care agencies in rural and underserved areas report heavy reliance on local associate degree nursing programs for their registered nurse workforce, the need to increase the number of baccalaureate educated registered nurses to address patient safety and health disparities outcomes has been increasingly documented (Aiken, Clarke, Cheung, Sloane, & Silber, 2003; American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2005; Sullivan Commission, 2004). Combined with the need for larger numbers of baccalaureate-prepared RNs, have been the pressures experienced through an intensifying nursing shortage (Health Resources Services Administration, 2002) and decreasing availability of nursing faculty (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2007). This has amplified the complexity nurse educators face in their efforts to increase the number of baccalaureate prepared RNs. The lack of baccalaureate and masters prepared nurses to teach or precept within associate degree nursing programs (ADN), to work in public health agencies or to provide advanced practice nursing services intensified the existing nursing shortage within one southwestern state (Table 1). In response to this shortage, a land grant university baccalaureate nursing program (BSN) partnered with three ADN programs to implement a RN to BSN completion project. This project was designed to reach registered nurses (RN) throughout the largely rural and medically underserved southern region of the state. The purpose of this article is to describe the outcomes of this program. Published by The Berkeley Electronic Press,

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