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Abstract
Research linking higher levels of nursing education to improved patient outcomes and The Future of Nursing report (Institute of Medicine [IOM]) recommendation to increase the number of BSN graduates has renewed interest among nurse leaders to create new and innovative pathways for nurses to continue to higher levels of education. The literature review in this paper was conducted to determine the perceived incentives and barriers for nurses pursuing advanced education as it relates to students, academics, health care facilities, personnel and governing organizations. The findings from the literature review are presented according to Lewin's change theory and address issues in each of the three phases, unfreezing, moving and refreezing to create a facilitated pathway for ADN graduates to enroll in an RN-BSN completion
