{"id":1675,"date":"2019-05-26T19:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T19:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2019-05-21T13:31:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T13:31:54","slug":"we-need-smart-well-educated-nurses-no-ifs-no-buts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2019\/05\/26\/we-need-smart-well-educated-nurses-no-ifs-no-buts\/","title":{"rendered":"We need smart, well-educated nurses – no ifs, no buts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As I write this Blog, RCN Congress is taking place and nursing is in the news in the UK for the right reasons. For example, a call for the safe staffing legislation in all four UK countries as well as highlighting the need to review how nurse education is funded to help address the current workforce crisis. However, recently the debate about whether nurses need a degree has re-emerged in the media alongside a call to go back to the (so called) good all days<\/em> when nurses had a practical training. For example, two letters were published in @thetimes on 11th<\/sup> May, perpetuating the (false) allegation about the disaster<\/em> of a graduate-only nursing profession. \u00a0I am also regularly asked by members of the public why nurses need degrees<\/em>. In this Blog, I am going to discuss these issues further arguing that we need smart, well-educated nurses.<\/p>\n

Student nurses in the UK are required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to complete 2,300 hours of both practice and theory \u2013 i.e. a 50:50 split with both elements of the programme having equal weight. The difference between when I trained in the mid-1980s and now is that rather than just being taught how to do a skill, students are educated about the evidence behind what they are doing and taught to think critically about what they are doing. My mother tells me stories of her days as a student nurse in the later 1950\u2019s and early 1960\u2019s when they spent hours cleaning the sluice and had to do exactly what they were told to do by the matron or sister in charge of the ward. As graduates, today\u2019s nurses should be quicker to challenge the rituals of the past than students of previous generations in the so called good old days <\/em>and ensure patients are provided with evidence-based care.<\/p>\n

A definition of critical thinking I like is:<\/p>\n

M<\/em>aking reasoned judgments that are logical and well-thought out. It is a way of\u00a0thinking\u00a0in which you don’t simply accept all arguments and conclusions you are exposed to but rather have an attitude involving questioning such arguments and conclusions <\/em>(see: https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/what-is-critical-thinking-definition-skills-meaning.html<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Critical thinking is a graduate level outcome and this is a primary reason why nursing must<\/strong> continue to be a degree entry profession. Indeed, data from several research studies provides evidence that patient outcomes (mortality and morbidity) are related to the number of graduate nurses on a ward\/unit. These data are described in an EBN Blog by @barrett1972 in October 2016 (see: https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2016\/10\/10\/degree-level-education-in-nursing-time-to-move-the-discussion-on\/<\/a>) but in summary:<\/p>\n