Push by state panel is an Rx for disaster
The New York State Board of Nursing is trying to push through a change in state licensing requirements that would worsen the already severe nursing shortage and disproportionately hurt New York’s minority nursing students.
The board wants every graduate of associate degree and diploma programs to receive a bachelor’s degree in nursing within 10 years of his or her graduation or be demoted from registered nurse to licensed practical nurse status.
The theory is that patients would be in the hands of better-educated and better-prepared nurses. But that’s not true by a long shot.
All registered nurses have the same medical education, clinical competence and job responsibilities, regardless of whether they graduated from two-year associate degree, three-year hospital diploma or four-year baccalaureate degree programs.
Moreover, no nursing graduate can become an R.N. in New York without passing the state licensing exam – and nursing graduates with associate’s degrees pass the test at the same rate as their colleagues with bachelor’s degrees.
According to the board’s own figures, 63% of New York’s registered nurses with associate’s degrees have no intentions of pursuing baccalaureate degrees. They often don’t have the time or money to pursue further studies, nor the need or inclination given the nature of their practice. Requiring them to obtain bachelor’s degrees will only further deplete the ranks of registered nurses in areas where they are critically needed.
The problem takes on an additional dimension when you consider that in New York, as throughout the United States, minority nurses are more likely to enter the profession with an associate’s degree than with a bachelor’s degree. In New York City, 52% of working nurses are members of minority groups.
The additional cost and time required to achieve a bachelor’s degree will cause some to leave the profession and others to leave the state. At a time when the supply of skilled nurses in the state and the number of students in nursing programs are both declining, and demand for nursing care is increasing, the board should be encouraging entry into the profession. The fastest and most cost-effective way to do this and maintain quality patient care is the associate’s degree.
Pérez, president of Borough of Manhattan Community College, was chairman of the City University of New York Nursing Task Force.
