Writing Development in Associate Degree in Nursing-to-Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Students

Moving Out of the Comfort Zone

Tyndall, Deborah E. PhD, RN
Scott, Elaine S. PhD, RN, NE-BC

Dr. Tyndall is Assistant Professor, and Dr. Scott is Associate Professor, College of Nursing, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.

The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

Address correspondence to Deborah E. Tyndall, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, East Carolina University, 4165 N. Health Sciences Building, Greenville, NC 27858; e-mail: [email protected].

Received May 14, 2016

Accepted November 01, 2016

Journal of Nursing Education 56(3):p 182-185, March 01, 2017. | DOI: 10.3928/01484834-20170222-11

Background:

The nursing profession has made several unsuccessful attempts to differentiate practice between nurses with associate degrees and baccalaureate degrees entering the workforce. Writing competency has been identified as one potential area of differentiation.

Method:

A descriptive, qualitative research design was used to explore Associate Degree in Nursing-to-Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing (ADN-to-BSN) graduates' perceptions of scholarly writing development in their baccalaureate studies. Nine recent graduates from a public college of nursing participated in semistructured interviews.

Results:

Findings from content analysis revealed three phases of awareness in development of a scholarly writer: being a scholarly writer, assessing writing abilities, and connecting to practice.

Conclusion:

The study findings provide insight into competencies that could differentiate practice between ADN and BSN nurses entering the workforce. Although this study aimed to find out how ADN-to-BSN students are shaped as writers, findings suggest that the experience of learning to write may also be shaping students as professional nurses. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(3):182–185.]