Baccalaureate Degree Essay

Baccalaureate Degree The time and research I have completed in my Bachelors of Nursing program at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, has been invaluable in my nursing career. This past year has really broadened my mind of the nursing practice and what all it entails. I have a better understanding of a plethora of things including: nurse management, spirituality in nursing, leadership, nursing theory, policymaking, nursing ethics, and community health. My Associates Degree program help teach me the building blocks of nursing and how to care for patients, while my Baccalaureate program really help me learn how broad the scope of practice is for nursing. Both programs were essential in teaching me the Texas BON Differentiated

There are two Texas BON Differentiated Essential Competencies, which I achieved in my Associates Degree program and two I achieved in the Baccalaureate program. The competency that I found to be from the Associate Degree nurses was the ability to “Function within the nurse’s legal scope of practice and in accordance with the policies and procedures of the employing health care institution or practice setting” (Texas Board of Nursing, 2011). Although both programs have had lots of emphasis on the legal scope of practice as nurses, I believe my Associates degree program focused more on this. The basis of my Associates degree program was to know my scope of practice and how to find them, both Board of Nursing and hospital policies and procedures, and making sure I had the skill and knowledge to perform these. The second competency achieved from my Associates degree program is “Assume responsibility and accountability for the quality of nursing care provided to patients and their families” (Texas Board of Nursing, 2011). As nurses, it is our job to make sure we are practicing responsibly and being accountable for our actions. We should be able to use nursing judgment to determine whether a task is correct and incorrect. Our decisions can be life changing for patients so we must make sure every task, or action, is for the benefit of the