Question

Do you think that older nurses, who hold only an ASN, should return to school to achieve a higher level of education? Or are their years of experience enough to provide proper patient care in today’s society?

Answer 1

Continuing education is important in every profession time ensure professional growth as well as improvement in quality of work provided.In healthcare activities technological and scientific advancement is occuring day by day to improve the quality of care rendered.So it is essential to get updated in the profession.It doesn't mean that older nurses with basic qualifications has to return school to get higher education,but they have to attend continuing education programmes like in-service education programmes, workshops etc to get updated with new advancement in the field thereby provide best quality nursing management.Experience matters a lot in nursing field as it is essential for skill development and decision making in emergency situations.But we have to be aware of the the changes in society and advancement in terms of equipments,procedures, protocols,cki cli expectations etc.Nowadays due to advancement in information technology the common people are aware of their medical conditions and treatment methodologies.So they have to be provided with complete information on what treatment they are receiving it's indication,side effects,expected outcome, it's advantage over other treatment modalities etc.So the nurses has to be aware of what is happening in the medical field such as new treatment methods, monitoring systems etc.Continuing education is also essential to improve the standards of nursing as a profession,it will help to provide a wide range of services in different levels such as administration, quality control, education,researchactivities etc.In short learning should be considered as a life long process and nurses should utilize all opportunities to learn in order to improve their knowledge and attitude as a professional nurse.