As of 2013 all new nurses in the UK entering the field will be required to obtain a degree in order to practice their profession. This means that a lot of current nurses will have to make the decision what they want to do in the coming years.
Currently only about one quarter of nurses hold degrees for their practice. The rest have gone through training courses or gotten diplomas in order to be nurses. Why such a sudden change?
According to the government’s chief nursing officer, Christine Beasley… the field of nursing has become more attractive to new students and having the proper education will allow nurses to take their responsibilities with not only more care, but with more experience.
The exact requirements for the full degree which will take 3 or 4 years have not been yet decided upon, but they will definitely cause the need for qualified nurses to increase since more people may think twice about becoming a nurse with the level of degree they will be required to have.
Garth Long, who is the education advisor at the NMC, had this to say. “There’s been a tendency to think that nurses should work in residential settings to consolidate their skills.”
He goes on to say, “But there will be much more health care in the community in future. Nurses need to be more confident and analytical in their work. More people are a degree course that will provide a future career, so this will help recruitment.”
How this effect in the coming years will effect the way care is administered and how nurses view their job is yet to be seen. This has probably been needed for a longtime, and this will provide what everyone needs to the betterment and cleanliness of health care facilities.