Outcomes of ADN-BSN partnerships to increase baccalaureate prepared nurses.

The limited supply of BSN nurses hinders efforts to increase patient care quality and address health disparities. In largely rural and economically disadvantaged areas, associate degree prepared nurses provide the majority of nursing services. To address a statewide need, a BSN Program and 3 ADN Programs formed a partnership to take BSN education to rural and medically underserved areas. This article describes the program planning, implementation, and evaluation using an adapted assessment framework with partnership principles as its foundation. Interactive television, internet education components, local clinical experiences, and distant nursing faculty liaisons were used. The nursing course sequence was completed by 101 of 102 students. Hall's Professionalism Scale, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test measured the increases found in professional socialization and critical thinking. Use of the adapted theoretical framework represented a strategic approach to developing a distance delivered nursing education program.