PROS AND CONS OF REQUIRING A BACHELOR’S IN NURSING 1

The Pros and Cons of Requiring a Bachelor’s Degree for Entry into Nursing Practice

Nursing education has come a long way in today’s world from which it began. Nursing

began without any form of education and was sought out to be of no importance in a professional

way. Today, nurses are highly thought of as ethical and of importance in the medical field, and

education to practice as an entry-level registered nurse (RN) requires an associate degree in

nursing (ADN). It has been talked about for many years on requiring nurses to obtain a minimal

education requirement of a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) or requiring nurses who have an

ADN to go back to school to obtain a BSN. However, there are some things that are halting this

mandatory entry level to practice as a RN. In this paper, I will discuss the pros and cons of

requiring a BSN in order to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) on the

societal, political, and economic view point.

There are positive and negative outcomes when it comes to requiring a RN to obtain a

BSN for entry-level into practice. One of the positives for requiring this minimal educational

level within society, is that it can lower mortality rates and failure-to-rescue within the clinical

setting (Ward-Smith, 2011). Further education can have a major impact on patient survival rates

with evidenced-based research skills. Having more knowledge within a BSN degree that is

science-based, on top of a clinical-skill setting that a ADN program prepares a RN for, can lead

to more positive outcomes. Also, if all nurses were to be educated on a BSN level or higher,

more opportunities would open in the clinical setting as well as the educational setting.

Therefore, more nurses would be able to get their BSN by highly trained faculty and, possibly,

cut the shortages in hospitals and/or universities, as most nurses today are of retirement age

(Black, 2020).
PROS AND CONS OF REQUIRING A BACHELOR’S IN NURSING 2

When a nurse graduates from an ADN program, they are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-

RN and become licensed to practice as a registered nurse. Most of these licensures have a Nurse

Licensure Compact (NLC) that allows RN’s to practice in multiple states, not just the state they

were licensed in. One of the negatives is that not all of the states in the United States were on

board with the requirement of obtaining a BSN for entry-level to practice as a RN. On political

and economic views, some states were worried about the financial costs of the changes that

would require RN’s to go back to school, and some were worried that it would create a nursing

shortage if nurses were not able to obtain a 4-year degree (Smith, 2010). With this in mind, the

few states that do require a RN to have a BSN, would have an impact on where ADN prepared

nurses can practice and creating more of a nursing shortage than what is happening already due

to requirements and costs. In her article, Peggy Ward-Smith remarked on the topic of requiring a

BSN that, “One primary argument against this resolution was that it would exacerbate the

nursing shortage present at this time. Another argument was that the mandate would be too

costly” (Ward-Smith, 2011). She continues to say that the nursing shortage exists whether or not

we have BSN required education, but she agrees that it would highly benefit the patient

outcomes when it comes to life or death (Ward-Smith, 2011). Many nurses are not willing to go

back to school due to lifestyles, responsibilities, or age during this time in the nursing field. It

could possibly cause more of a shortage if this was made a requirement in order to practice. It

could also cause a burden on the nurse’s financial circumstances being required to go back to

school for their BSN.

In conclusion, there are some positive and negative circumstances to consider on whether

or not a BSN should be the minimal requirement for entry-level to practice as a RN. Although

society would like to believe that most nurses are practicing on a BSN level and treat them as
PROS AND CONS OF REQUIRING A BACHELOR’S IN NURSING 3

such, political and economic views are different. These views do not fully support this

requirement as the nursing shortage continues today. Some employers will help pay for further

education with tuition reimbursements if funds are available, but some nurses will have to pay

for it themselves, hindering them from returning back to school for further education. Although

the patient outcomes should be considered the utmost importance while trying to make this a

requirement, I believe it should be a personal choice to further one’s education due to most

societal, political, and economic views on this topic that will in some way halt this from going

into effect.

Black, B. P. (2020). Professional nursing: Concepts & challenges (9th ed., pp. 90). Elsevier.

Smith, T. G. (2010). A policy perspective on the entry into practice issue. Online Journal of

Issues in Nursing, 15(1), 2. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,athens,shib&db=rzh&AN=105146461&site=ehost-

live&scope=site&custid=s8863137

Ward-Smith, P. (2011). Everything old is new again. Urologic Nursing, 31(1), 9-10.

https://doi.org/10.7257/1053-816x.2012.31.1.9