The importance of continuing education in nursing cannot be overstated. Here’s a closer look at the many benefits of periodically refreshing and strengthening your knowledge and clinical skills.
Maintaining and Enhancing Nursing Knowledge
Earn your BSN to enjoy opportunities to sharpen your skills, broaden your understanding of best practice and prepare to take on more responsibilities in a hospital or healthcare organization. GCU’s RN to BSN program is tailored to meet the needs of the RN student and maximize the strengths that working RNs are expected to already possess.
Staying on Top of Evidence-Based Practices
Change is arguably the only constant in healthcare. With each passing year, clinicians add to the ever-growing body of knowledge. New standards of care and interventions are developed, and new technologies are integrated. It is essential to be current on the latest evidence-based practices and implement them into your own approach to patient care.
Choosing a Specialization
An RN to BSN degree path can pave the way for your future trajectory in healthcare. Whether you have your eyes set on becoming the next unit educator or supervisor, or beginning a career in higher education, they all start with your BSN. This is partially because, once you have a BSN, you may become eligible to apply to graduate-level nursing degree programs.
Advocacy for Patients
As a registered nurse, your patients look to you to provide the best possible care. It is vital that you are current on the latest evidence and are prepared as an advocate to handle any given situation. A BSN is designed to give you a strong base of knowledge and skill to draw from.
Enhancing the Direction of Your Career
Too often, nurses rely on the strong, nationwide demand for healthcare providers for job security. But employers prefer to hire and promote providers who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to nursing with professional development.
As an example of this, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) explains that a wide range of employers (including Magnet hospitals and the military) and professional nursing organizations value BSN-prepared nurses. In fact, the AACN states that BSN-prepared nurses are often valued for their critical thinking, leadership, case management and health promotion skills.2
By choosing the RN to BSN degree program, you are affirming your dedication to give your patients the best possible care. This is a value that no healthcare organization can do without. Furthermore, nursing education can lay a firm foundation for pursuing a nursing specialty or different work setting. Some examples of career paths you might consider pursuing include:
- Cruise ship nurse
- Flight nurse
- Parish nurse
- Public health nurse
- Charge nurse
- Critical care nurse
- Cardiac care nurse
- School nurse
Once you understand the importance of education in nursing, a world of possibilities awaits.