Having a Master's Degree in Nursing: A New Option for New Nurses

Ever since I graduated in my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and passed the Board Exams, I was already having a tough time landing a job. I have been applying for a Nursing job in almost all hospitals and clinics here in Manila for almost 2 years now, passing my resume including all my credentials, but it seems that I’m having a hard time finding my luck. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

Having a Master's Degree in Nursing: A New Option for New Nurses

Last year, I was able to meet a reviewer who graduated just a year ahead of me. I was really amazed at the way he taught his students. I am a big fan of nursing reviewers who really have the ability to get the attention of his/her students. I am very eager to be a reviewer myself. I guess teaching is what I really like. So I started looking for ways to get myself to teach Nursing.

Being a Clinical Instructor or a Nurse Lecturer is a new option for nurses here in the Philippines. It is a moderately high paying job compared to being a staff nurse in a hospital. The requirement for being a Nurse Lecturer is around 5 years of clinical experience and of course, having a Masters Degree in Nursing.

Although 5 years of continuous clinical experience is needed to land a job in Nursing Education, some Education Institutions here in the Philippines loosened their belts a bit. I was able to look at schools that required just around 6 months to 1 year of clinical experience and 18 units in the Graduate Studies. I tried on applying in those schools but I wasn't qualified because of the lack in experience.

At the moment, I'm continuing with my Masters Degree in Nursing while looking for a hospital where I could have my clinical experience. Hopefully, I'll be able to land a job after my endeavors.

Although having a career in Nursing Education seems to be a promising opportunity, acquiring units in the Graduate School requires a lot of efforts. Being in the Graduate School requires the student to be as independent as possible from the professor. The professor is there to solely guide the students. The students are the ones who'll do all the work. There are a lot of reporting and tons of paper works.

Being a Graduate student also means that you'll have to be in intensive research that would go on for months or even for a few years. Although, some may consider being in the Graduate School, as being in a "toxic" environment, for me, I'm having quite a lot of fun.

I love the way the lessons are being taught in the graduate school; where students are given much freedom to express themselves to everyone, and there is a continuous flow of thoughts and ideas from the students and the professors.

For, me, being in the Graduate School is stepping into yet another level of a professional discipline by fully understanding the dimensions of a particular discipline, in my case it is Nursing. I can say that being in the Graduate School opened my mind into much more possibilities and questions about the world of Nursing.

In just about a year from now, hopefully I'll be able to gain the title of Masters of Arts in Nursing (MAN). By that time, I can have the title on my name. For me, it's not just the title that counts but the things I've done to elevate the discipline of Nursing through my studies and research.

Having a Master's degree is not just elevating your qualifications amongst others but developing a scholar within you that will enable you to make a change for the betterment of the discipline. I can say that with experience and continuous education, a true nurse that could bring about constructive change will surely be born.

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Salvie

About Salvie

BSN, RN from university in the Philippines.

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

How much exactly did the college institutions pay for this article to be writen? :jester:

New grads are not being hired BECAUSE OF LACK OF EXPERIENCE.

Having a MSN as opposed to an associates or BSN doesn't solve that. They will still not be hired. Only difference is, now they are standing in the unemployement line with much higher tuition payments to make.

Only people who win in that situation is the colleges who filled there classrooms.

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Specializes in PeriOperative.

The majority of new grads have bills to pay, and racking up more debt without any thing close to a guaranteed job at the end is likely to make the problem much, much worse.

I don't work in HR, but I have heard that new grads are a liability and take a while to train. Having a masters degree does not change those things. Furthermore, if a hospital is going to invest in you, their goal is for you to stay so that their investment pays off. If you go in with the goal of staying just long enough to be able to leave and teach...why would any hospital hire you?

And, not to be mean, I want nursing students to be taught by those with years and years of clinical experience. If clinical instructors have only been working out in the field long enough to hang blood product once and insert one or two IVs, and have limited exposure to various disease processes, we are doing a huge disservice to future nurses.

I really do wish you the best, Salvie, but I'm not sure if this plan will work, logistically. Good luck in all your future endeavors.

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Specializes in med/surg, TELE,CM, clinica[ documentation.

A MS with no bedside experience is no better than any other new grad with no bedside experience. But, you will expect a higher salary won't you? Just my opinion.

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Hello,

I'm a relatively new nurse looking for options outside of bedside nursing. I started on a busy med/surg floor and left that after 3 months because I absolutely hated it. I took a new job as an admissions nurse at a hospital but also have the potential of being "plugged into" the floor and taking a team of patients, much like the med/surg nursing at the previous hospital. I don't hate my job, I hate when I'm plugged in. I'm trying to decide if getting a masters would help with getting out of the hospital environment. I love this field, but can not do bedside nursing. It's something that I've simply struggled with admitting but I realize now that it is not for me. I'm also struggling with the option of completely switching fields, going into something like business. As far as a masters degree goes I'm interested in research and public health. I like more of a "behind the scenes" nursing, figuring out problems, preventing infections, education, etc. But I'm not sure of the type and amount of jobs out there. So I'm also just considering management. As you can probably see my mind is all over the place and any input would help!

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Specializes in Emergency Department, House Supervisor.

I am an experienced nurse who went back for my MS after 10 years of experience. I met a lot of MS students with no nursing experience. In fact, their MS would be their ENTRANCE degree into the profession...and guess what. Now I am getting my PhD...and it's all paid for by the government...as long as I teach afterward (and naturally one would need some experience to teach).

They ALL have jobs.

Don't let the voice of "reason and experience" deter you. Much of the debt incurred for the graduate degree can be paid by other institutions and grants geared toward getting nurses to get their masters. There is a movement to make the MS the entrance degree...like it is for Physical Therapists and Licensed counselors.

Go for it!

SyckRN

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