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 Published and unpublished items as well as dissertations, research reports and monographs, state and federal government documents, materials issued by state and national nursing groups,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.

There are three types of basic programs preparing nurses for licensure--a two year (AD), a diploma, and a baccalaureate program which confers a college degree (BSN). Lack of articulation between the AD and diploma programs and the baccalauareate programs has caused many licensed nurses to seek college degrees in other disciplines. Recently there has been a movement towards graduate nursing education, and the National League for Nursing, assuming program and product differences, has stipulated that only nurses holding BSN degrees are eligible for admission to graduate nursing education. Through these restrictive practices, competent nurses are lost to other disciplines. The purpose of this study was to explore possible program and product differences in the three basic nursing programs that might help to justify the current use of "type of school attended" as a criterion for admission to graduate nursing education. Subjects for this study were senior students and nurse-faculty from the three types of basic nursing programs. Tests were administered to the students to measure I.Q., dimensions of personality, and degree of professionalization, and their State Board Scores were recorded. Nurse-faculties were surveyed for their evaluation of both programs and graduates. School catalogs from the three programs were reviewed to explore comparability of philosophy, objectives, and course offerings. Analysis of variance with a Tukey a posteriori contrast was used to examine mean group differences on the measures used to assess the student characteristics under study, and multiple-regression analyses were used to explore the possible impact of age and ethnicity on any of the demonstrated mean group differences. Proportional analyses and descriptive comparison were used to compare faculty ratings and curricula. Among the findings, some of the most significant were: (1) although group differences were demonstrated on Responsibility scores (a measure of personality) and Obstetrical and Psychiatric Nursing State Board Scores, results of multiple-regression analyses suggested that group differences in I.Q., age, and ethnicity might help to explain these between group variances; (2) there were no consistent patterns or overall mean group differences in traditional-professional orientation although significant mean group differences were found in five of the six dimensions used to assess this measure; (3) there was a general consensus of the nurse-faculty that the thirty-two student characteristics under study were equally important and equally exhibited by all students from the three programs and that the three programs had relatively similar objectives; (4) although a majority of the nurse-faculty groups believed that jobs requiring technical and patient care skills should be held by AD and diploma graduates while jobs requiring leadership, teaching, administration, and public health skills should be held by BSN graduates, examination of students and program characteristics did not support this position; (5) examination of the courses and required credit hours of the three programs revealed a great deal of overlap in the basic nursing courses and demonstrated that all groups were within approximately the same range. General education and liberal arts requirements were approximately the same for the three groups, but the BSN schools usually required a broader base with more depth in liberal arts and general education. In general, it was concluded that there was not sufficient differences between programs and products of the three basic nursing programs preparing nurses for licensure to warrant the use of "type of school attended" as a criterion for admission to graduate nursing education