Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9304280450
SECTION: NURSES PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SARAH COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Barbara Kolarik, director of nursing at Catawba Hospital, said that from an LPN, or licensed practical nurse, up through a Ph.D., in nursing, there are more speciality areas, more choices and a larger salary range for the nursing profession.
An LPN, according to Kolarik, has completed a 12- to 18-month training program that prepares a person to perform fairly technical skills in a defined setting, such as a hospital, clinic or physician's office. With that, she said, goes comparable pay.
A person can always receive this degree and later on return to school for an associate degree and become an RN, or registered nurse. Many programs, said Kolarik, offer transition programs "so that first level nursing skills can be challenged, and they only have to take second year nursing courses."
An RN who received this level of nursing through a diploma program probably went to one of the few hospital-based programs left.
Kolarik said Lynchburg General Hospital and Danville Memorial Hospital still have these programs, and that the educational requirements "and ability to progress are vastly different." These are not, she said, college credits.
Although in 1965 the American Nurses Association issued a position paper stating that the professional nurse would be bachelor-prepared, and that any others would be considered technically prepared, the determination behind this position wavered somewhat as the nursing shortage increased.
However, Kolarik said that an RN with a bachelor's degree has the ability to go on for her masters or Ph.D., and thus receive fair compensation in the job market.
"To go on for your bachelor's degree - which is the beginning level for any profession - is declaring that you have a higher education and are prepared to take on roles and responsibilities that are expanded. It used to be that a lot of directors of nursing and teachers were diploma graduates, but now, the criteria for advanced practice has increased. Nursing is a very complex field," Kolarik said.
For those nurses who choose to receive their doctorates, they can now, more than before, choose to stay in the clinical setting or choose to teach in a university setting. One can become a nurse researcher, although expense prohibits many hospitals from designated a role solely for this purpose.
"You'll see more and more Ph.D., requirements in the teaching profession. At any level of nursing, a masters degree is required to teach," she said.
In addition, the demand for nurses with higher educations will increase along with health care reform.
Dr. Mildred Hopkins, director of the Roanoke site and administrative assistant for Radford University's School of Nursing has been in the nursing profession for 40 years. She started with a bachelor's degree, and has seen over the years a drastic change in educational requirements.
She views the reasons behind this change as a change in technology, and a change in our population.
"We're seeing many more older people, there's a large portion among the aging," she said.
Hopkins said that while there are now more opportunities for nurses, they also face increased pressure because it's "incumbent to advance educationally. But it's also part and parcel because health care is becoming so much more complicated - and we need more research."
Hopkins said the associate degree nurse is going to be around because there will always be a need for two levels of nurses in the RN field.
"This is one way that will prepare people to become RNs without a four-year degree. The problem is that nurses today need a four-year education," she said, in order to be referred to as colleagues.
In addition, specialized fields such as physical therapy, she said, are now requiring an additional year of study, or a five-year, masters degree program.
This is not discouraging prospective nurses, she said. Despite the nursing shortage of the late '80s, the field is now viewed in a more respected light. It has better options, better salaries, and is thought to be a stable profession.
She said each year Radford graduates between 17 and 20 RNs who have returned to earn their bachelor's degrees, and some are nurses on a year's leave so they can be full-time students.
Hopkins said as more masters-prepared nurses enter the marketplace, hospitals begin to designate certain jobs for that level. Clinical nurse specialists are being hired more within a hospital setting.
"These nurses bring a great background to a nursing unit - they are a wonderful liaison between the nurses, families and doctors. Hospitals are now seeing the value of having these people on the staff."
In addition to hospitals, Hopkins said that across the United States more nursing centers are being established. These are nurse-run clinics, often related to universities, that can give nursing students experience.
"These are certainly going to be one of the major alternatives in terms of patients exhibiting symptoms and being able to be treated by a nurse practitioner," she said. This alternative begins to look more attractive because it costs less for the patients, and often a nurse practitioner is sufficient.
"Nurses are not trying to be junior doctors," she said, but they are anxious to advance their profession and offer more to the public. Hopkins said the Roanoke Valley has been slow to embrace the concept of alternative health care, but it's catching up.
by CNB