Clinical Nurse or Research Nurse?

[CARAMELLA]

Hello nurses and student nurses,

I’m in my 3rd semester of nursing school (one more to go). I concurrently work for one of the largest cancer centers in the US and have a host of career planning resources at my fingertips.

The hospital I work for offers 2 new grad residency programs: one for a clinical nurse track and another for research nursing. I’m currently in an administrative role that has given me a major look into/understanding of both clinic research AND nursing administration (up to the executive level). After spending so much time in clinical rotations, both sides are meshing together and starting to make perfect sense.

Im wanting to take a shot at the research nurse track and work my way on to FNP. Mind you, research nurses practice very few physical skills and are mostly coordinating, assessing, and documenting heavily. I’ve been told that with my background, I’d be a good fit for this role.

Do you think it would inhibit (in a major way) me in becoming a Nurse Practitioner in the next 3-5 years? What would you do if given the opportunity?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I would go the clinical route if given the choice. Research is extremely specific. There are fewer job openings and it will have almost zero cross-over ability...meaning...if you start out as a research nurse you will have a very uphill battle ahead of you if you decide you would like to do something different. Frankly, it surprises me they have an internship for it. Most research nursing positions I have seen want 3-5 years of acute care experience.

[CARAMELLA]

2 hours ago, not.done.yet said:

I would go the clinical route if given the choice. Research is extremely specific. There are fewer job openings and it will have almost zero cross-over ability...meaning...if you start out as a research nurse you will have a very uphill battle ahead of you if you decide you would like to do something different. Frankly, it surprises me they have an internship for it. Most research nursing positions I have seen want 3-5 years of acute care experience.

Thanks for your input. I've been hearing this a lot. The person that coordinates/recruits for the residency program said that I would more than likely be a good candidate for "administrative roles". I plan to go PRN in a skilled nursing facility concurrently to keep up with skills. I also plan to stay within the research role (if taken) until I'm done with FNP school. Considering that many NPs at my hospital came from 'direct entry' programs, I feel that I'd still have a nursing background. What do you think about that?