Title: The differences between nurses prepared at the ADN versus the BSN level
Shelley Mae Candelaria, ADN, RN
Grand Canyon University: NUR430
June 11, 2015
Abstract
In nursing, one can obtain one or more of three degrees in the nursing field. Two of the more sought after degrees are Associates Degree of Nursing and Baccalaureate Degree of Nursing. These two degrees have many similarities but in the same respect are exceedingly different. Research suggests a vast difference in the competencies regarding nurses with an ADN versus BSN.
Title: The differences between nurses prepared at the ADN versus the BSN level
Associates Degree of Nursing
The ADN came in to play after the World War II when professional nurses, nurses that held a BSN, were in a large shortage. In the year 1948, Dr. Montag from Adelphi School of Nursing advocated to decrease the amount of education a potential nurse had to obtain, from 4-5 year program to a short 2 year program, in hopes these vocational nurses would assist in helping the shortage and she later assisted in the founding of the associates degree program. According to the Adelphi College of Nursing and Public Health the, “Associate degree education for nursing began as part of an experimental project at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York in the 1950s. In her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Montag proposed educating a technical nurse for two years to assist the professional nurse, whom she envisioned as having a baccalaureate degree”. (Adelphi University, 2015)

Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Nurses who obtain a baccalaureate degree will spend the first 2 years studying core concepts such as body systems, pathophysiology, pharmacology, large amounts of research and theory. Followed by 3 years of nursing classes using critical thinking and bedside care. The first BSN program was established in 1919 at the University of