While we recognize the major stakeholders influencing this bill, such as the military, we must not forget the minor stakeholders who would be dealing with the outcomes of the bill on a daily basis.
Governmental Objectives:
According to Halloran, “There's a troubling nursing shortage and an impending surge in the numbers of elderly who will need nursing care-as will the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, whom medics already cared for in the field.” With the increasing nursing shortage, the government is going to want a “quick fix” in getting medical corpsman their RN licensure to reverse the nursing shortage. This would also provide job security for those medical corpsmen after they leave the service. Currently most nursing programs do not receive enough funding to increase their enrollment size, thus affecting the nursing shortage negatively.
Political Influences:
Unfortunately due to the new development of this bill, there are few published or concrete data expressing the opinions of nurses or other health care professionals. One particular article we found sparked our interest as the author is a RN lobbyist supporting this bill. His article can be found on the right side of our page. Other political influences include the military and nursing organizations across the nation.
Political Impact of Policy Change:
The implementation of this bill has the ability to strongly impact many areas of health care. Nurses who have completed traditional Associate or Baccalaureate programs may feel resentment towards the corpsmen who will become RNs without completing the traditional two or four year program. The community and patients will be directly affected by this bill due to the possible change in patient care provided by a medical corpsman versus a RN. This bill may influence the decision of possible prospective military recruits as well. Recruits may see joining the military as an easier and less expensive pathway to obtaining RN licensure rather than attending a two or four year university. Current military corpsmen may see this bill as a way to shorten their time in the military and have a job opportunity available to them upon leaving.
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Our group agrees with all of the previous groups’ comments. We do not think that this bill should be passed. We feel that becoming an RN through attending a 2 or 4 year nursing program provides the essential knowledge of not only the basic medical skills, but also effective communication, critical thinking, and providing the patient with holistic care. Allowing corpsmen to take the NCLEX without attending nursing school would be demeaning to all the nurses who have taken the time to attend these vigorous nursing programs. It’s true that letting corpsmen take the NCLEX exam and become RNs would potentially be a quick way to decrease the nursing shortage. However, this “quick-fix” could very likely jeopardize the quality of care expected from an RN. We agree with Stephanie’s group’s idea of perhaps allowing corpsmen to obtain an LPN license as opposed to an RN license. This way they can practice basic nursing skills they have learned in the service such as inserting IVs, wound care, and administering medications. We do not think that just anyone should be allowed to take the NCLEX, including individuals who have served in the military, no matter how much medical training they have received. However, if a corpsmen really wants to become an RN, perhaps some type of a bridge program could be created for them to complete before taking the NCLEX.
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