By Danika McClure

For more than a century, the primary function of nurses in the medical environment has been in serving patients in order to treat acute illnesses and respond to immediate injuries. Today, however, with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, and the potential for universal healthcare on the horizon, medical experts have called for a dramatic increase of nurses with advanced degrees.  

According to a 2010 report by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM),  it is expected that the number of nurses holding a bachelor’s degree will increase from the current rate of 50 percent to 80 percent by the year 2020.

The reason?

Nursing has far evolved past the need to simply respond to the sick and injured. Fast-moving changes in technology, more complex patient diagnosis and care, alongside an increasingly complex care environment are further driving the need for nurses to have more than just two years of education.

Instead, hospitals are increasingly upping their expectations for nursing candidates. Many prefer that their nursing staff have experience in leadership, system improvements, health policy, teamwork, collaboration and research and evidence-based practices.

“The ways in which nurses were educated during the 20th century are no longer adequate for dealing with the realities of healthcare in the 21st century,” NAM said in its Future of Nursing report brief. “Nurses also are being called upon to fill expanding roles and to master technological tools and information management systems while collaborating and coordinating care across teams of health professionals.”

In addition, further education in the nursing field contributes to a more culturally competent medicinal practice, and offers students a number of opportunities to move forward in their nursing career. Earning a bachelor’s may provide opportunities for students to explore further education, including DNPs and Ph.Ds, which are also in short supply in today’s workforce.

This is a far cry from how nursing education has operated in the past. Not long ago, nurses didn’t go to college at all, but rather went to nursing schools operated by hospitals that did not offer degrees. In the 1980s, however, the model of education had largely changed, to where associate’s degree programs were the new norm.

Still, these new regulations put many nurses between a rock and a hard place, especially those who have been in the workforce for a number of years. What is to happen to those who have been a part of the nursing field for decades? How will these new requirements affect their already burdened day-to-day lives?

As profiled in a New York Times piece from 2012, many of these individuals have children, spouses, and full time jobs which would typically prove to complicate the school process. But now, in order to secure their positions, many nurses must return to school in order to keep their jobs and maintain opportunities in the future.

For now, many hospitals are giving their staff time to complete their degrees. And with the advent of online degree programs, the RN to BSN prospects are becoming more and more plausible.

“There are several hospitals in our region that will hire non-baccalaureate nurses but give you a certain number of years to finish the baccalaureate, and some that won’t even interview you without it,” said Gloria Donnelly, dean of the nursing college at Drexel University told the New York Times.

Others are wondering how these new requirements will affect the nursing shortage, which has been an issue for decades.

According to Geraldine Bednash, chief executive of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the need for community-college-educated nurses is unlikely to go away, but it’s highly unlikely that they will be working in hospital settings as the demands for baccalaureate degree holders grow.

“I really don’t foresee a day when the nursing pipeline can continue without community colleges, but we have to take steps to ensure our graduates remain marketable, and some programs may not survive in the long run,” Nell Ard, director of nursing at Collin College, told the New York Times.

Since nurses are among the first to see patients, it’s clear that additional training may be necessary to keep them up to date with the new wave of patients that are brought in by changing legislation. Though nurses may have to put in extra hours in order to move forward in their careers, many note that the extra schooling is worth it.

Put best by Jennifer Matton, a returning student who has four children and has been working in the nursing field for years, nurses are uniquely put in positions that allow them to influence serious treatment positions, she tells journalist Richard Perez-Pena. She concludes, “After going back to school, I think more critically about what we’re doing, and I have a better understanding of why we’re doing it.”