While having a bachelor’s degree isn’t always a requirement for becoming a nurse, more hospitals and healthcare facilities are encouraging nurses to get their bachelor’s degrees as the complexities of the healthcare environment increase.
About 40 percent of hospitals and other healthcare organizations are requiring new hires to have a bachelor’s degree in nursing, while 77 percent of healthcare employers are expressing a strong preference for BSN program graduates, according to the American Association of Colleges for Nursing.
“The BSN prepares nurses to practice the full scope of nursing responsibilities across all healthcare settings,” the Association notes. “For more than two decades, policymakers, healthcare authorities, and practice leaders have recognized that education makes a difference when it comes to nursing practice.”
A Growing Demand for Nurses With BSNs
Higher levels of education have been proven to lower patient mortality, improve patient outcomes, and better tackle the growing complexities of healthcare, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.
“We found that hospitals with a larger proportion of nurses with BSN qualifications have significantly lower risk-adjusted mortality for surgical patients, regardless of the specific pathway nurses take to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing,” the Institute noted in its summary. “In other words, it does not matter whether nurses obtain their BSN through a traditional 4-year program at a college or university or an RN to baccalaureate completion program; all paths leading to a largely bachelor’s qualified hospital nurse workforce contribute to better patient outcomes.”
The Institute also found that for every 10 percent increase in the proportion of BSN nurses in a hospital, there was a 5.5 percent decrease in surgical patient mortality. Hospitals with 80 percent of its nursing staff having BSN degrees have mortality rates 25 percent lower than hospitals with only 30 percent of their nurses having BSN degrees.
Why More Wisconsin Nurses Need Their BSN
While a majority of nurses in Wisconsin have bachelor’s degrees in nursing (65.9 percent), the state’s nursing workforce is still not meeting national benchmarks, according to a workforce analysis.
The 2022 RN Workforce Survey report indicates that about half (50.9 percent) of RNs in Wisconsin have a bachelor’s degree as their highest nursing degree, with 30.9 percent having an associate degree as their highest degree.
“While steady progress has been made in educational attainment in Wisconsin, the state still falls short (66 percent) of the 2030 national benchmark of 80 percent of RNs prepared at the bachelor’s level,” the report states. “Efforts to increase access to bachelor’s education for RNs will require addressing barriers to continued education for those with associate degrees, as well as barriers to increasing nursing faculty.”
Increased Job Opportunities For Nurses With a BSN
If you’re a nurse in Wisconsin who has considered getting a BSN, now is a great time. And if meeting national benchmarks isn’t enough of a motivator to get your degree, consider how many job opportunities will open up in the field throughout the next decade. Nursing occupations are expected to increase nationwide by 6 percent through 2030, adding roughly 197,000 job openings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some of these occupations can also be completely remotely by nurses who have past clinical experience. Jobs like a case management nurse, telehealth triage nurse, data abstractor nurse, prior authorization nurse, and much more can be filled by individuals who have nursing credentials and a secure home internet connection. Many of these roles offer salaries in the mid-80,000 range, according to a recent article in TheStreet.com.
Nurses who are interested in pursuing a career that helps more than just patients can work as nursing educators. For example, Jill Saxton, an instructor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee RN-to-BSN program offered through UW Flexible Option, found fulfillment through helping others.
“I can relate to the students because I did that same kind of work, and I did it at home on my own time. I can help them figure out ways to get those classes and studying in and still have a life outside of it,” she says.
Jill enjoys being an instructor because, like all nurses, she’s an advocate for patient care and loves working with students to help them learn how to give the same terrific care. The nursing courses she teaches are challenging, “but that’s because we have people’s lives in our hands,” she says. “After giving 20 good years of nursing I had a lot to share from my own experiences.”
If you’re currently working as an RN and want to further your education, consider the UW Flexible Option RN-to-BSN program through UW-Milwaukee. It’s 100 percent online and can be completed on your schedule. Check out our list of Frequently Asked Questions to learn more.