graduate education in school nursing

bergren · Aug 5, 2005

What you have are GOOD options!!! I think both are viable and valuable, and since you might like to work in mental health / psych, why not go that route which would leave both the options open: school nursing and mental health.

Call Dr. Ann Marie McCarthy at U of Iowa and ask the same questions - I know her and respect her opinion. Call the responsible person at Sinclair and ask these same questions. You do not need to apply to ask the questions. Good luck and let us know what you end up deciding.

I hope you don't mind if I run my situation past you Bergren. I have shared my situation on this site, but I am not sure if you have read it. I graduated from nursing school with a BSN in 1969. I worked as a school nurse teacher for two years. Then I became an elementary school teacher. It was strictly by accident, but I liked it, so I stayed in that field instead of becoming a pediatric nurse which is what I had intended to be. I ended up teaching Kind., first ,second and third grade for approx. 25 years. I got an MA in education, and I also received 24 post grad credits in education and educational administration. I became teacher of the year in 1996 and had a great career until I retired three years ago. I decided that I wanted to go back to nursing, and I took med surg refresher course two years ago. I did very well remembering a lot and learning a lot. The instructor thought I had excellent assessment skills and gave me an excellent evaluation. After that, I had two surgeries, and I remarried. So I was quite busy, and I couldn't follow up on the nursing. Although I cannot work right now, I will be able to in the not so far future. So, I decided to get an online master's. I am able to do clinicals. I just have to make a decision as to whether I should get my master's in psych. nursing or school nursing. I thought working in a school would be good, because that is where my experiemce is. But, I also have an interest in psych. nursing (either gerontology or child psych) . The University of Iowa has a great school nursing master's, and I like the fact that they offer courses as electives in behavioral problems and learning disabilities in children. MU Sinclair School of Nursing, the state university of New Mexico and a local state school all offer good psych nursing programs. Maybe I should apply to all of them and see where I can get in and then decide. Any comments and/or suggestions would be helpful. This site has helped me at least narrow down my interests. Thanks. Krisssy