This is a new thread that I thought would be nice to have, talking specifically about the reasons that people have chosen to seek a advanced practice nurse degree, via a direct-entry/second-degree program. It is not intended to be a place to focus on specific nursing schools, rather it is a great place to talk about the process you went through or are currently going through in order to make the change to nursing from another career.

For me, the desire to go into nursing is more to expand what I currently do. I work in community mental health with very at-risk people who have a range of psychiatric and medical issues. It was always my plan to seek a degree in nursing to become a nurse practitioner (even before I got my Master of Social Work degree), but then I thought I wanted to only focus on psychiatric/mental health. However, after being in my career for three years, I found that my biggest interest was in helping people both with their mental health needs and medical needs. I spend a lot of time in my job helping people go to see their PCP and helping them follow the treatment recommendations once they are back in the community. So, my hope is to gain a strong background in nursing and preventative health care and focus my practice on people who are at risk, have multiple health and mental health diagnoses, and partner with their mental health providers for more cohesive care. I choose to try and go the MSN route vs an RN certification or BSN because I know that I want to work at the NP level, and feel confident that I would be satisfied at that level of practice, so I'm shooting for the stars.

Eventually, if this plan works out, I'd be interested in furthering my education by going through a DNP program -- possibly in psychiatric/mental-health. I'd love to be able to do both health and mental health care for people who are at the highest risk and often have barriers to receiving care.

What about you? What has helped you make the decision to seek out a nursing education?