Advise required for career choice?

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I graduated with ADN in 2009 and then my BSN in 2013. Currently, I am employed as a RN, Case manager and I enjoy my work. I would like to further my education in the field of Anesthesia but can not finance my education. My director suggested that I do DNP in Organization Management and it will allow to be at a CEO position of a hospital. But, I would have to start off with a directorial position at first and then get mentor-ship and eventually can become a CEO. It is time consuming and don't know if I will still have the desire to become a CRNA. Any advice in what I should do?

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Do you have ICU experience? That is a general requirement for CRNA school. If you don't have this experience, the next step is to get a job in ICU and to start saving money. This may mean not having cable or unlimited data and not going out to eat. Do whatever it takes, if this is your dream. I think getting a DNP in organization management is a colossal waste of time and money. (Sorry ANA!) Especially if that's what your director wants you to do and not what your heart is set on. (There are nursing administrative degrees that are on the masters level and quite adequate if that is something you still may be interested in).

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First figure out what path you are interested in taking since CRNA vs CEO are totally different.

You stated you enjoy case management. They why CRNA? Do you have any clinical experience as an RN? To apply for CRNA school, you need ICU experience first. That would involve a training program & usually working night shift for a while.

For CEO, you would need to try a managerial job first, then grad school. Either route could be quite expensive & a very long journey!

Good Luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Hmm - the vast majority of healthcare CEOs that I know have heavy-duty finance backgrounds and a wide range of increasingly higher-level admin jobs before they made the leap. I know a couple of nurses who have made the climb, but they also accumulated a ton of administrative experience along the way (both are PhDs).

I think that the whole "there are a ton of jobs for NPs" message is vastly overblown. I know several NPs who are currently working in other areas after they became thoroughly disenchanted with the mind numbing routine of slogging away in a clinic with no hope of advancement or variety to look forward to.

My advice? Keep your eyes open for newly emerging opportunities for nurses. Health care is changing rapidly in the US and we nurses (the 'liberal arts' health care profession) are usually the best qualified/most adaptable people to fill the gaps. That's how Case Management - and many other areas - began. A hot new specialty is Patient Safety - mixing clinical expertise with engineering & psychology to make significant changes. There are already some MSN programs out there.

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Well I do enjoy being a case manager because my job also involves with Discharge planning and I enjoy bedside care and interacting with my patients. But lately with a lot of turn-over and applications of different process models in our department, it seems that bed-side care is negligible now and more about ensuring pt. meeting criteria's and faxing clinicals on a timely basis!! I will research into Patient Safety as suggested in the comments! Thank you all for your response.

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