This volume offers a comprehensive listing, from the development of the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program in 1948 to the present, of all literature related to the ADN program. Any item related to the degree programs and their contributions, the AD nurses, their relation to nurses trained in other programs, and their role in the health care system is included. Published and unpublished items as well as dissertations, research reports and monographs, state and federal government documents, materials issued by state and national nursing groups, journal articles, and books are listed.

The Origins and Rise of Associate Degree Nursing Education offers an analytical history of the beginnings and development of associate degree nursing (ADN) programs and the role of the caregivers it produces in the health care system. Nurses may be trained in two-, three-, or four-year programs, but all are eligible to take the accreditation examination to be licensed as registered nurses (RNs). The question of distinguishing between "professional" nurses from bachelor programs and "technical" nurses from the associate degree programs has become an important and controversial issue in nursing. Advocates have long contended that the associate degree nurse is vital to the American health care system. This study, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, confirms this view. In recent years the Foundation has invested more than $6.1 million in the development of the ADN, awarded by junior and community colleges. Many participants in the ADN projects for the Kellogg Foundation have noted that, despite the importance of the ADN and the controversy about its place in nursing education, the literature is scattered and hard to identity. The Origins and Rise of Associate Degree Nursing Education and the companion bibliography will provide much-needed information to educators, hospital and nursing administrators, nursing leaders, and public policy makers--all of whom must cope with the growing nursing shortage and increasingly difficult issues in health policy and administration.

This report summarizes the results of the six-year-long Registered Nurse Shortage Project, a study of 27 community college nursing program models that were designed to attract more students. The study was conducted by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), in collaboration with the Metropolitan Life Foundation, in response to reports of acute shortages of nurses, and a continuing trend in decreasing numbers of nursing graduates. The project encouraged community colleges to develop initiatives to recruit nursing students from specific groups, such as minority and male students, firemen and paramedics, and LVN/LPN program participants. Colleges were also invited to establish or strengthen relationships between the college and local health care providers. For each of the college programs, a description is provided, which includes a project overview, accomplishments, the challenges faced and keys to success, and whether the program was to be continued beyond the six-year span. Examples of successful programs included a cooperative 2 plus 2 Tech Prep/Associate Degree curriculum developed with a local high school, the creation of a course of study to bridge the gap between the LPN and RN curriculum, and a linkage with an ESL program to help students with limited English achieve success in the registered nurse program. Includes a list of 41 additional resources. (VF)