Career Reroute (sorta): Some Career Advice CNL vs CNS vs NP international health, migrant,

[meredithpagemiller]

Hi there,

I'm hoping to get some general perspective on what my options are to approach a pretty specific career path.

I hope to work as a APN with an international focus in under-served communities including migrant and refugee populations both in the U.S. and internationally. What I am looking for is job flexibility in the sense that I can work in acute patient care as well as program management and on the ground field investigations for infectious disease outbreaks. My dream job would be to work for the Epidemic Intelligence Service with the CDC.

I have a Master of Public Health focusing in Tropical Medicine and then served abroad as a health volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps where it became abundantly clear that I wanted to have more of a clinical background. For the last few years I have been working as an Infectious Disease Analyst for a Travel Medicine company so I have a solid foundation in the global epidemiology of neglected tropical diseases and infectious disease risk factors concerning naive populations.

I am quitting my job this summer to start taking nursing prerequisites and this is where I am having trouble narrowing down which nursing specialty would be the best fit. The end goal would be a MSN and to be employable so the question is whether I choose to apply for an ABSN or direct entry MSN program and go for an NP, CNS, or CNL. I am concerned that the CNL could possibly be a limitation due to the lack of floor experience and international recognition of that as an APN specialty.

Any and all advice and perspective is HIGHLY appreciated.

Thank you! Career Reroute (sorta)

[elkpark]

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

The CNL is not recognized as an advanced practice specialty here in the US, either. It's not an advanced practice role and was never intended to be one. It has limited demand even here in the US. The CNS role is very versatile and flexible. You might want to look into that further.

Best wishes for your journey!

[LookForward]

Pick one that really aligns with your interest. Medicine is really hard so start looking into the job descriptions of positions you want to obtain and see if these are things you can be willing to do 50 to 60 hours a week..maybe more.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

I would go for the master's direct entry. You gaduate as a generalist but ready to specialize with a doctorate. But you might be able to mesh your previous degree with nursing before a doctorate.

[FNP2019, MSN, APRN]

Hi Meredith,

I come from a similar background as you (MPH international health and development) and spent the last 8 years working in global health programs in DC before going back to school for my FNP and a complete career re-route.

Please do careful research into jobs available once you're done. I have and there are VERY few opportunities, as advanced practice nursing is not recognized internationally. If you've got colleagues at the CDC, start connecting with them to find out if they accept nurse practitioners. You might find yourself up against MDs, who ARE internationally recognized, and passed over.

You can certainly go the project management route, but keep in mind 1) your clinical skills may not get used AT ALL. (this is what drove me from the field and you'll be frustrated as you see your fellow clinicians, especially international colleagues, go from being valuable members of the healthcare system to managers pushing paperwork); 2) you certainly don't need a clinical degree (and the $80,000+ in debt you'll go into for it); and 3) funding is drying up in international development at an astonishing rate. Especially for HQ-based staff, as they are moving most operations out to the field where qualified locals can (and should!) be doing the jobs that used to be done by us expats.

My recommendation:

Network, network, network. Find the people who have jobs you want and talk to them. Find out who else is doing them.

TL;DR: What specialty do I recommend? Probably NONE of them.

Best of luck!