Staff Nurse with a MS Nursing degree?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am wondering if nurses with MSN degrees are hired into staff nurse positions. I am a current RN from a graduate entry (GEP) program (direct entry -- I had a previous Bachelors degree). I have had a very hard time finding a job in a hospital or in a unit I am interested in due to the fact that I do not have a bachelors IN nursing, even though my classes were taken at the Master's degree level. I do not have a Master's degree yet, but will in 2 years as a Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist.

Currently I am working as a psychiatric nurse in a non-hospital setting but have ALWAYS dreamed of being a NICU nurse. I will be graduating with my neonatal CNS in 2 years. However, I do not want to start working as a CNS immediately because it truly is my dream to be a NICU nurse for at least 5-10 years (or more!). Do you think a hospital would consider hiring me into a staff RN position with a Masters degree?

I truly wish I had chosen to do the bachelors degree program instead of the masters degree program.. because then I would be able to get a NICU job now and not have to worry about this.. I thought that it would look "better" to have this higher level education in order to get a job.. but hospital policies have become very stringent in the past year (where I live) and now ONLY take BSN students..

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
CXG174 the other writing a book on nursing care plans.

Oh yippee, just what we need another care plan book.

Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.
Oh yippee, just what we need another care plan book.

LMBO! Took the words right out of my mouth! Haha! :)

Specializes in geriatrics.

You will probably eventually find a staff nurse position, although getting a Master's prior to actual nursing experience in a specialty seems like a waste of time. Masters are often Clinical Nurse Specialists or NPs, requiring you to have bedside experience first. The school will sell you anything...they want your money.

I have friends who went that route, and in this economy, a Masters with little to no experience didn't help them at all. It just amounts to more debt.

LMBO! Took the words right out of my mouth! Haha! :)

Hey SOMEBODY has to update the things. You know they are outdated as quick as they come out. Future classes of nursing school students are depending on it!:lol2:

I am a graduate of a GEP program, probably the same one as the OP. I definitely feel that such programs should all be done away with altogether. Obviously this is all in hindsight. I did my research before starting the program, heck my career before nursing WAS research. It all sounds like a great idea, and even the nurses I asked before the program thought it was a good plan to do a graduate entry if I knew that I wanted to be an NP ultimately. The thing nobody really thinks about is trying to work after getting your RN license in the middle of the program WITHOUT a degree. I kick myself in the butt for not doing an ABSN.

To the OP, hang in there and look for a job, any job that will get you experience at the bedside. I graduated the GEP in 2010 and was extremely lucky to get hired as a new grad at a hospital that considered the GEP a BSN equivalent and I got paid the same as BSN's. Shoot, I was lucky to get hired PERIOD!!! It was tough for most of my classmates at first, but almost all of us have found jobs as nurses.. maybe not in the hospital (some do home health or community health or clinics). The majority of us are in the hospital setting though. We are almost all working, 1 year later.

The tough part is if you want to work in another state or transfer to another program when you haven't finished the MSN yet. It was a painstaking process, but I was able to leave IL and get licensed in CA and find a program that will let me finish my MSN there, although not in an NP program. I'll take it though. At this point, I really love being at the bedside and have so much to learn. I'm not worried about the NP part. I did med/surg for a year, and now starting on a tele unit. The hospital I'm in has a NICU and eventually I'd like to get in there!

To the OP, get your foot in the door in any hospital and get some experience. It will go a long way and you will find your path to the NICU. In my GEP class, we had one student get hired off the bat in the NICU where she did her preceptorship, and another RN hit the jackpot getting a job in the PICU at a hospital we didn't even do clinicals in! So don't feel hopeless. Other GEPers have made it out just fine!

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