Significantly more registered nurses (RNs) are obtaining bachelor’s and advanced degrees, a study found. When compared with those who entered the profession during 2004 to 2005, those who became nurses during 2014 to 2015 also included significantly more men and people of color.
Christine T. Kovner, PhD, RN, from New York University, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York City, and colleagues report their findings in an article published online October 16 in Nursing Outlook.
The researchers studied progress toward recommendations made in a 2010 report from the Institute of Medicine on ways nurses could best advance health in the United States. Those recommendations include increasing diversity, encouraging nurses to obtain bachelor’s degrees and advanced degrees, and preparing nurses to collaborate with professionals from other disciplines, including physicians. A “major recommendation” was that 80% of RNs have a bachelor’s degree in nursing by 2020, the authors write.
Dr Kovner and colleagues used multistate nursing workforce data from four groups of new nurses surveyed in 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2016 (2004 – 2005, 2007 – 2008, 2010 – 2011, and 2014 – 2015 cohorts, respectively) to measure progress on these three recommendations.
“The personal characteristics of new nurses have changed over time, and there were significant differences among the four cohorts on almost all personal characteristics,” the authors write.
Significantly more men became nurses, increasing from 8.8% in the 2004 to 2005 cohort to 13.6% in the 2014 to 2015 cohort. The percentage of white non-Hispanic nurses fell from 78.9% in the 2007 to 2008 cohort to 73.8% in the 2014 to 2015 cohort, primarily as a result of an increase in white Hispanic nurses.
“There is evidence from our findings that the [Institute of Medicine] recommendation…to increase the percentage of nurses with bachelor’s degrees is having some success,” the researchers note. Significantly more of the most recent cohort had a Bachelor of Science degree or higher in nursing (48.5%) as their first professional degree compared with the earliest cohort (36.6%). Likewise, more nurses in the most recent group were enrolled in a degree granting education program compared with the earliest cohort (23% vs 11.1%).
In response to a question about which degrees they were pursuing or planning to pursue, 49.2% answered bachelor’s degree, 56.9% answered master’s degree, and 20.4% answered doctoral degree in the 2014 to 2015 cohort. Compared with the 2007 to 2008 cohort, this was a small decrease in the proportion who planned to pursue a master’s degree (59.6% vs 56.9%), but a large increase in the proportion who planned to pursue a doctoral degree (3.1% vs 20.4%).
A recent Medscape report on nurse compensation found that 49% of RNs have a bachelor’s degree, 18% have a master’s degree, and 2% have a doctoral degree.
“The amount of debt with which new nurses graduate could be a deterrent to potential nursing students and further education, thus scholarships and employer-provided benefits remain an important area for both educators and policymakers,” Dr Kovner and colleagues explain. New nurses in the most recent cohort said they had substantial education debt: 67.7% reported some debt, and 12.1% reported $50,000 or more debt. Among those who participated in the Medscape survey, 26% of RNs said they were still paying off student loans.
“The percentage of new nurses whose employers provide tuition or other incentives to encourage nurses to pursue additional education has decreased among the cohorts, such that now more than 20% do not have this benefit. This likely reflects the percentage of nurses not working in hospitals, which historically have had the most comprehensive and generous education benefits,” Dr Kovner and colleagues write.
The Medscape report on nurse compensation found that 67% of RN survey respondents said they received an education allowance or reimbursement.
Approximately 40% of nurses in the 2014 to 2015 cohort said they had learned to work with professionals from other fields, including medicine, social work, physical or occupational therapy, dental, and pharmacy. Collegial relations between RNs and physicians improved over time, rising in relative terms by nearly 7% from 2.84 to 3.03.
Most (90.7%) nurses in the most recent cohort said their education program prepared them “very well or somewhat well” to care for patients with diverse backgrounds.
Effect of Great Recession Unclear
The extent to which the Great Recession, which officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, affected the study findings is unclear, the authors write. “Delayed retirement of older nurses and their increased participation in hospital employment during the recession made obtaining a bachelor’s degree for new nurses more of an imperative to be able to effectively compete for hospital jobs,” the authors write.
“In terms of diversity, as a result of the recession, more men were likely interested in nursing because the financial sector jobs were less available; also minorities were more likely to choose nursing as a stable career in times of recession,” they add.
“Another recession will provide an opportunity to identify the impact of recessions on demographic work for trends. Future studies about new nurses can provide information about education and diversity trends going forward,” the researchers conclude.
The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Nursing Outlook. Published online October 16, 2017. Abstract
For more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar