Associates in Nursing over BSN if you already have MS in Health Care Admin?

[health care analyst]

I know people say go for the BSN over the Associates degree for future career opportunities but what if you already have a Masters in Health Administration? It's not an MSN, but nurses were definitely in my master's program. I'm thinking I will still be able to become a nurse manager in the future if I just have the RN licensure (no BSN) since my Masters is in Health Care Admin.

Any thoughts? The associates at community college costs less than a BSN and I am still paying off undergrad and grad school debt.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but an MSN is the only sure path to management in an acute care environment these days. This is largely due to the influence of the "magnet" movement and evidence that shows how much more effective magnet-certified facilities are. Graduate nursing education is also the level at which specialization occurs, since our undergrad degrees are designed to produce nursing generalists. In fact, I know several nurse executives with other types of graduate degrees who had to go back and get their MSNs within the last 5 years in order to keep their jobs because of the changing expectations/requirements.

Other types of graduate degrees do not contain any advanced nursing content, which is very different from generic health care content. There are a couple of other graduate degrees that are still being recruited into acute care organizations. MHA with a formal internship & MBA with specialization in health care finance (a very different animal than the rest of the financial universe).

I understand the concern about amassing more student loan debt. Most larger hospitals have tuition reimbursement programs that can help offset the costs of graduate education.