Educational Preparedness
Michelle Pierson, RN
Grand Canyon University
Professional Dynamics
NRS 430V
Celeste Ottney
June 29, 2012

Educational Preparedness Patient safety and patient outcomes have long been a source of examination. Many studies exist relating patient outcomes and patient safety to registered nurse staffing, but there are few studies that directly compare those outcomes to the level of nursing education. In 2003 the education levels or nurses became more specified during a study in the Journal of American Medicine; prior to that all registered nurses, regardless of associates degree or bachelor’s degree were often placed into the “RN” category and LPN/LVN was the other category specifying nurses with a certificate. (Ridley, 2008) The result of this study was found that hospitals in the Unites States that employed at least ten percent more bachelor degree nurses decreased patient mortality rates by five percent.(Aiken, Clarke, Cheung, & Sliber, 2003). This study began a long controversy which exists today between associates degree nurses (ADN) and bachelors degree nurses (BSN) educated nurses with many ADN nursing programs arguing that their graduates pass the NCLEX at or above the rate of many BSN programs. In 2012 the Nevada State Board of Nursing reported that the associate’s degree school with the largest graduating class had a pass rate of 93.24% of their 74 students, whereas the largest graduating bachelor’s school graduated 96.97% of their 33 students. ("NSBN," 2012) It should be noted that the NCLEX represents the minimum competency necessary to function as a registered nurse, but a minimum competency is not enough for favorable high quality patient outcomes. A higher education level gives nurses more assessment skills, more confidence, more basic knowledge of physical systems and their subtle changes. Recognizing these