The success of non-BSNs in graduate nursing programs

Although there is a great need to increase the number of master's prepared nurses, admissions criteria often limit the pool of possible applicants to those with a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN), and/or require that non-BSN applicants complete special requirements to compensate for their lack of a degree in nursing. One of the few schools that admits RNs without the BSN, and does not require make-up of undergraduate nursing courses, is Yale University School of Nursing (YSN). Yale also has a program for preparing college graduates at the master's level for entry into nursing practice. Those individuals spend the first of three years in prespecialty basic nursing and the last two in the regular master's program. To determine if there was any difference in success among the groups at YSN, the three groups of individuals admitted to the two-year master's program at Yale--Non-Nurse College Graduates, BSNs, and nurses with a non-nursing baccalaureate degree were compared on their theoretical and clinical grades at the end of the first and second years of the specialty programs. Data were gathered from 435 students who had attended Yale over a ten-year period. No significant differences were found among these groups on clinical or theoretical grades at either the end of the first or second year of the program. This study indicates that although careful selection of candidates for graduate study is essential, intelligent, motivated individuals are able to acquire skills through self-learning and professional experience that are usually provided in baccalaureate nursing programs.