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AACN
AND VA FORM PARTNERSHIP TO EXPAND
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGENCY’S NURSING WORKFORCE
WASHINGTON,
D.C., December 18, 1998 -- The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN) today signed a collaborative agreement with
the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop expanded opportunities
for VA nurses to obtain baccalaureate and advanced degrees
in nursing.
The
Memorandum of Understanding comes as the VA, the nation’s
largest employer of registered nurses (36,000), has committed
to designate $50 million over the next five years to assist
its nursing workforce to attain the baccalaureate or higher
degree.
Today’s
agreement partners AACN and the VHA in a joint effort to create
and expand nontraditional programs that offer VA nurses innovative
academic opportunities to obtain baccalaureate and advanced
nursing degrees in settings convenient for students. AACN
will work with its member schools and the VHA to design and
implement a program to help the VHA achieve its goal of assisting
nurses who are pursuing bachelor’s and graduate nursing
degrees to access these options.
“We
are proud that the Veterans Health Administration has recognized
AACN’s leadership in advancing the quality and accessibility
of nursing higher education by selecting AACN as a partner
in this far-reaching initiative,” says AACN President
Andrea R. Lindell, DNSc, RN.
“Indeed,
among health professions, nursing is the recognized leader
in providing a diversity of educational mobility opportunities
for its practitioners, with the vast majority of nursing campuses
currently offering baccalaureate completion programs for registered
nurses who obtained their degrees in associate-degree or hospital
diploma programs.”
Dr.
Lindell adds, “As an association, AACN is committed to
the principle that educational mobility programs should be
flexible and creative, reflect consideration of individual
learning needs, and to the extent possible, should respect
and build on previous learning without unnecessary duplication.
We look forward to helping link VA nurses with our schools
that are providing innovative baccalaureate and advanced education
programming.”
Today's
agreement comes, also, as VHA implements new performance standards
for its RN workforce that identify differences in practice
levels and that “set the level of educational preparation
that VA’s professional nursing workforce will meet at
the baccalaureate degree by 2005,” the agreement notes.
Changing
Needs for a Changing Health System
The
heightened complexity of patient care, the rapid expansion
of front-line primary care, and the mounting need for registered
nurses in such areas as health promotion and case management
has spurred the nation’s requirements for increasing
numbers of baccalaureate- and graduate-prepared nurses.
To
ensure a sufficient mix of nursing skills for the future,
the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice,
an advisory panel to the federal Division of Nursing, has
recommended as a policy target that at least two-thirds of
the nation’s basic nursing workforce hold baccalaureate
or higher degrees in nursing by the year 2010. Currently,
although 31 percent of RNs hold baccalaureate degrees as their
highest educational credential, 32 percent have two-year associate
degrees, 9 percent hold master’s degrees, and fewer than
1 percent hold doctoral degrees, according to the latest federal
data.
To
meet the needs of a fast-changing health system, entry-level
RNs must be prepared with a “greater orientation to community-based
primary care and an emphasis on health promotion, maintenance,
and cost-effective coordinated care,” urges an AACN position
statement that calls for the Bachelor of Science in nursing
degree (BSN) as the minimum educational requirement for professional
nursing practice.
Nurse
executives increasingly report their desire for the majority
of hospital staff nurses to be prepared at least at the baccalaureate-degree
level to meet the more complex demands of today’s patient
care. That complexity includes, policy leaders point out,
an accelerating need for nurses who are capable of more independent
decision making in less-structured environments, are prepared
broadly in basic as well as behavioral and social sciences
and management, and can communicate effectively and analyze
data.
“Among
the three primary types of entry-level nursing education (baccalaureate,
associate degree, and diploma), the baccalaureate education
with its broader, more scientific curriculum best fulfills
these requirements and provides a solid foundation for the
variety of nursing positions,” notes a recent report
by the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice.
In
addition, the BSN nurse is the only basic nursing graduate
prepared to practice in all health care settings -- critical
care, outpatient care, public health, and mental health --
and as such, has the flexibility to provide care in outpatient
centers, homes, and neighborhood clinics where demand is rapidly
expanding as health care moves beyond the hospital to more
primary and preventive care throughout the community.
Aware
of the expanding opportunities, RNs are returning to school
in increasing numbers to earn the BSN degree. Between 1975-1997,
the number of registered nurses (with associate degrees or
hospital diplomas) graduating from BSN programs rose from
approximately 3,700 a year to more than 11,000 annually, according
to AACN data.
“Still,
greater improvement in those numbers must be achieved in order
to produce a sufficient core of baccalaureate-prepared nurses
to meet current and projected needs in the health care workforce,”
Dr. Lindell explains. Despite the growth in the numbers of
RN-to-BSN program graduates, federal figures indicate that
only 16 percent of associate-degree nurses have gone on to
obtain the BSN degree. “We are pleased to have this opportunity
to assist the VHA in its leadership role to provide nurses
with wide access to baccalaureate and advanced learning experiences,”
Dr. Lindell says.
The American Association of
Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and
four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing
more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private
institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental
advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu.
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CONTACT:
Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
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