“The Impact of BSN Education on Nursing Practice: Moving toward the ’80/20′ Recommendation in WV”
The Future of Nursing West Virginia has produced a white paper on how West Virginia is moving toward the “80/20” Institute of Medicine recommendation.
The research reveals that BSN prepared RNs practicing in hospitals results in:
- Decreased mortality rates
- Decreased readmissions
- Increased likelihood of failure to rescue a patient
- Improved reduction of hospital-acquired conditions such as pressure ulcers andpulmonary embolism
- Reductions in length of stay, mortality related to heart failure, and lower rates of postsurgerymortality
- BSN nurses are more satisfied with jobs, tend to stay in positions longer and are four times more likely to pursue graduate education
WV is not only falling short of the IOM recommendation to increase the number of BSN nurses (40%); WV has also failed to graduate more BSN prepared nurses than ADN nurses in the last
two years. This is a dangerous trend that can have detrimental results to the citizens of WV in terms of current and future health care delivery and outcomes.
Unfortunately, there has only been a 3.8% total increase in the