A 6-week bridge course designed to ease the transition of registered nurses into baccalaureate degree programs focused on critical thinking, learning styles, professional roles, values clarification, time management, and career planning. It also oriented students to Web Course Tools, used for distance learning. Outcomes included role and campus…

Community health nursing curriculum components in a sample of baccalaureate nursing programs were investigated. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of 12 National League of Nursing (NLN) accredited, generic, baccalaureate nursing programs representative of the four NLN regions in the United States. Community health nursing content in theory…

The overall trend, particularly in associate degrees and diploma programs, is falling admissions. In baccalaureate and higher degree programs, there has been a slight shift in fall admissions from publicly supported institutions to privately supported institutions. Declining enrollments will bring about increasing destabilization of nursing…

Nine criteria for a minimum-required curriculum for undergraduate nursing education are discussed. They include (1) inquiry, abstract logical thinking, and critical analysis; (2) literacy: writing, reading, speaking, and listening; (3) understanding numerical data; (4) historical consciousness; (5) science; (6) values; (7) art; (8) international…

The authors focus on the group processes involved when nursing faculty from various specialty backgrounds form teams in order to plan and implement an integrated baccalaureate nursing curriculum. It is important that anxiety be channeled toward positive action so members can progress from frustration to collaboration. (Author/EA)

This report presents the analytical results of a survey of U.S. baccalaureate nursing schools conducted during 1999 by the American Colleges of Nursing with a description of the extent of women's health content in the curriculum and selected recommendations designed to strengthen this content. Additional resources are included that describe the…

Continuing nursing education is discussed: its contribution to the profession's currency by increasing the knowledge base for practice; its relation to the autonomy of the profession; its contribution to direct access to baccalaureate education for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses; and its effects on clients. (CT)

The articulated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science nursing program at the University of California-San Francisco School of Nursing is designed to alleviate nurses' fears about their professional futures by giving nonbaccalaureate registered nurses an opportunity to earn bachelor's and advanced degrees while they continue to work. (Author/JOW)

There is no inherent flaw in the concept of single-purpose institutions as an appropriate vehicle for delivery of nursing education programs. Those programs that have successfully completed the rigorous reviews associated with accreditation have earned the right to be recognized as legitimate members of the higher education community. (Author/MLW)

Changes in the traditional applicant pool have promoted the development of nontraditional educational pathways in collegiate schools of nursing. The authors describe a cooperative arrangement with a provision that allows students to transfer to a bachelor's nursing program before completing their diploma studies. (Author/MLW)

The challenge of leadership training for registered nurses returning to school for bachelor's degrees may be addressed by using (1) learning contracts, which support adult responsibility for learning and (2) nominal group process, a means of identifying individual learning needs and preferences so that teaching can be tailored to individuals. (SK)

Records of 276 registered nurses who took the National League for Nursing Mobility Profile II, a test to validate lower-division credits, were analyzed. Grade point average (GPA) from associate degrees was the strongest predictor of test performance. Baccalaureate nursing programs should consider using GPA as a validation criterion for nursing…

The authors discuss the care-cure dichotomy (baccaulaureate students were found to be care-oriented; the associate degree students were cure-oriented) and the problems these attitudes present. (Author/BP)

The relationship of educational preparation to the problem- solving performance of 55 hospital employed baccalaureate and associate degree nurses working in Wyoming hospitals was studied. Participant data were collected that might correlate with problem-solving ability: age, years of experience in nursing, years of work experience in a…

This publication is a compilation of highlights from papers presented at the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) project's regional conferences during 1983-84. Papers address pertinent issues in ADN education and practice. "AD Education: Are the Parameters Real?" (Julia Perkins) examines the parameters of associate degree nursing education from a…