Mind the Gap or Miss the Bar: Pushing Through to 80 by 20

Are we closing the gap on baccalaureate nursing education? After more than 2 years of promoting the benchmarks in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report,1 many are reporting they have a pretty solid feeling for the baccalaureate nursing preparation levels in their facilities, their system, and their state or region. Progress has been made, and this issue has gained momentum, but as with all big goals, there is the early “low hanging fruit” and there is the “last gap.” What is the baccalaureate nursing education gap, and how do we approach it, knowing that it is likely to require a new set of strategies?