confused about advanced practice!! please help

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I am a second year nursing student at a local community college and am trying to write a paper for my leadership class on masters degrees in nursing. I have found out that masters degrees mean advanced practice, but I am still confused! Are there 4 specialties for advanced practice? and are these the 4 things that the masters in nursing come in? someone help, please!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

The four advanced practice nursing roles are:

Nurse practitioner and then there are sub-specialties such as family NP, acute care NP, geriatric NP, etc.

Certified Nurse Midwife

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist

Clinical Nurse Specialist and there are sub-specialities in this also.

You can get your MSN in an advance practice area, but you can also get an MSN in education, management and leadership and other tracks too.

Hope this helps.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Hello, kjorris and welcome to allnurses.com

I think you mean these areas: To become an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) as a Nurse Practitioner (NP), Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Certified Nurse Midwife (CMN), or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), one must obtain a Masters in Nursing and attend a program for one of these areas.

Masters degree doesn't always mean advanced practice. One can obtain an MSN and not be an APRN.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy the site.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

I see you and I were giving essentially the same information at the same time, traumaRUs. :wink2:

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Hello, kjorris and welcome to allnurses.com

I think you mean these areas: To become an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) as a Nurse Practitioner (NP), Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Certified Nurse Midwife (CMN), or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), one must obtain a Masters in Nursing and attend a program for one of these areas.

Masters degree doesn't always mean advanced practice. One can obtain an MSN and not be an APRN.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy the site.

thanks everyone for your help. I am still confused, this is the problem i don't understand what I can obtain a masters in nursing in! I don't know where to look for these things and my teachers at school told me to just look at advanced practice, but that is AP nursing and not the only thing to get a masters in nursing in! am i making any sense? I am starting to confuse myself!! thanks again!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

What Siri and are trying to explain is that EVERY MSN (Masters degree in the Science of Nursing) is NOT advanced practice.

You can get an MSN in management and Leadership for example which is what I have. Then, after I finished my MSN, I did a post-MSN certificate as a clinical nurse specialist.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
thanks everyone for your help. I am still confused, this is the problem i don't understand what I can obtain a masters in nursing in! I don't know where to look for these things and my teachers at school told me to just look at advanced practice, but that is AP nursing and not the only thing to get a masters in nursing in! am i making any sense? I am starting to confuse myself!! thanks again!

The degree is a Masters of Science in Nursing.

To go into Advanced Practice, you will graduate from a program for the specialty you seek such as NP, CNS, CNM or CRNA.

Now, as traumaRUs pointed out, if you desire NP or CNS, you can obtain a sub-specialty in many areas such as Family Practice, Geriatrics, Psych/Mental Health, OB, Peds, etc........several different areas.

If you do not desire advanced practice, you can get your MSN and go to a program for specialty in Education, Leadership, Life-Care Planning, Legal Nurse Consulting, Nurse Administrator, Nursing Informatics, Forensic Nursing, etc......several different areas.

Here is a link to allnursingschools.com that outline many MSN programs and might help you:

http://www.allnursingschools.com/featured/msn/

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

great article here: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education/career.htm

see other mods provided good info too.

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ah ha! The lightbulb has clicked on! Thank you so much! I just needed someone to tell me exactly what you great people just did! I am going to check out the websites you both provided. You would not believe how long I have been looking for information on this topic (about 2 months), and I was more confused today than I was before I started my research! Thank you so much! I am so glad I somehow found this site! Hopefully this will clear up my question, but if not, I will be back to pick your brains some more! Thanks again:yeah:

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

You are welcome, kjorris. Glad to help.

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