need career advice

[suea513]

Confusing about my career...

Hello, i am currently working in MICU about 3 years. I feel confuse about what i am going to do in the near future and my career. I like to study adult pathology and many diseases related cardiovascular, pulmonary. And my current plan is to be ACNP. Sometimes, i want to teach nurses or keep working. There are so many ways in nurse job, it is hard to decide what i really want to do. Maybe i am slump season now, but i want to set my goal surely. I need sincere advices.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Sorry you haven't gotten any responses yet.

It would probably be a good idea to take time to clarify your career goal because although some pre-requisites and the entry qualification (MSN) are the same for NPs and nurse educators, the actual graduate programs are different. Your clinical experience would qualify you for admission to ACNP programs so you're in good shape there.

But if you decide that you'd rather move into education, you should start accumulating some experience in that area. Most of us began as preceptors with AHA instructor certifications for BLS/ACLS, etc & working with unit-based inservices. That will provide you with a better sense of the educator role so you can determine if this is what you'd like to do. I hope it is. We need more young, energetic & qualified nurse educators.

Best of luck on your career progression. Keep us posted on your progress.