Before you enter the field of nursing, there is one key component to consider if you seek advancement during your clinical career, and that’s earning a bachelor of science in nursing degree. Hospitals, clinics and treatment centers rely on a nurse’s knowledge and wherewithal in administering quality healthcare to patients as well as in presenting a clean, comfortable and positive bedside manner.

A nurse of course, is more than the sum of the hospital’s parts. A nurse is the epitome of an exceptional, thorough and experienced healthcare provider whose services and undertakings are widely recognized as both valiant and nurturing – two descriptions not often seen in association with one another – but a description that captures the true spirit of the nurse.

As an informed nurse, you have the healer’s touch, and your ability to assist patients and physicians leads to a successful exchange of thought and action between both parties, which as any skilled nurse will tell you, is not always easy. As part of the hospital staff you are on the frontlines of patient treatment, and it is your expertise that helps guide the patient with managing medicine, therapy, and self-care. Nurses don’t just push around a trolley full of prescriptions and “get well” cards, they are an indispensable fount of medical smarts and altruistic penchants.

Healthcare Has Evolved

According to the Nursing Times, 95 percent of 1,700 people surveyed by a “Reader’s Digest” poll in 2014 placed more trust in their nurses than in their physicians. While the analytics company Gallup found that nurses, doctors and pharmacists were rated as the top three most trusted and ethical professions of 2014. Nurses dominated the list, and have for the last several years. This is a curious finding, as doctors are the medical professionals who facilitate patient appointments, design patient treatment regimens and prescribe medication.

However, as the Boston Globe points out, attending physicians and residents in training are on rotation, so with each new cycle comes a new group of physicians that patients haven’t yet met with. Conversely, nurses remain a constant for the overnight patient, making it easier for both parties to form a relationship. People trust what they see every day, and a nurse who has consistently helped a patient with their smarts and compassion rightfully gains the trust of their patients.

How the BSN Improves Patient Care

John Paris, a Bioethicist at Boston College goes on further to explain in the Globe’s article that “[A nurse is] the one you call if you need something. People tend to place more trust in those that are directly caring for them.” Paris goes on to say that doctors are less likely to deliver bad news, and will often try to sugarcoat the prognosis, while a nurse will reveal the doctor’s findings through body language, helping the patient to understand what’s at hand. It’s also the nurse you meet first when walking into your doctor’s office, or being rushed into the emergency room.

According to the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) educated, registered nurses possess the analytical skills and determinative grit to comb through a patient’s symptoms, medical history, and even body language to ascertain the prognosis of the patient and make them feel at ease in an oft perceived cold clinical setting.

Nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing are able to treat patients for injuries, illnesses and disease – and at every step of the way, supporting patients when the physician is not able to. And unlike doctors, who typically discuss prognosis with their patients using clinical language that’s hard to absorb, nurses are able to educate their patients in an effective yet simplistic way, providing the quality healthcare the patient was in search of from the beginning.

Equipped with a BSN degree, nurses have the ability to administer specialized patient care and earn promotions through the hospital ranks. When you sign-on to become a nurse, you sign-on to be a warrior for health and patients everywhere.