PICU Nurse unsure of what to go to graduate school for.

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello! I have been a RN for 2 years now. My first year was on an Adult/Peds Med/Surg unit. Since then, I have been in the PICU and I absolutely love this specialty. I am at a good time in my life to go back to school. I have a BSN but I am unsure of which route I want to go for graduate school. My options and thoughts on each are:

Nurse Educator: I am considering this because I think I would enjoy being an educator in the PICU for both the staff and parents. Also, I could then become a professor once I am done with bedside. This way I could continue with bedside as long as I'd like and eventually move into different positions at my own pace.

Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner: Now this one would be hard to find the kind of job I would want. I would love to be in the PICU but if not in the PICU then at least on a Peds unit of some sort working with the physicians and nurses. The only downside is that I really don't feel like I have enough experience to come out of NP school and be the best I could be on the kind of unit I would want to be on. Also, this rushes me out of bedside nursing.

If you have any advice or input I would really appreciate it! Even if it's a degree I haven't thought about yet. This has been quite the internal struggle. :)

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