Experienced Nurse Seeking Career Advice

[lynndelaga]

Hi, guys. I'm an ADN registered nurse, and I want to get out of bedside nursing. My experience has been 10-11 years working in various departments: seven in the NICU and PICU, one in Pediatric Sedation and PACU, and nearly 3 on the IV/vascular access team. My initial plan is to continue my education and obtain my BSN. I want to stay in the hospital, and I love nursing, but I don't know what I should do after obtaining my BSN. Do I get a non-specialized MSN? I'm really interested in designing new grad programs for the hospital or product line management. What to do? Any advice is much appreciated. :)

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - you obviously have mad skills in your area of expertise but I agree with your conclusion that a BSN or higher is needed to move ahead in your career. This may not be the case if you can land a position with a vendor related to your clinical area. They hire clinical experts to train their salesforce, conduct client hospital inservices and develop training materials. These positions are scarce, but well worth exploring.

If you decide to move on to your MSN - PLEASE consider Nursing Professional Development (aka education) as a specialty. We are desperately short of qualified educators since schools have been pushing everyone into NP programs for the last 10 years.

[lynndelaga]

Thanks, HouTX. Yes, lol...I consider myself to have "mad skillz". I've done plenty PICC insertions, IV starts, arterial sticks, and helped with intubation of infants plenty of times to feel as though I've exhausted my skill set.My passion has always and probably forever will be education/teaching. My experience as a new grad warranted the type of compassion I feel seasoned nurses lack when teaching new graduates/those new to the nursing field. Because of my maltreatment as a new grad (in what seems so many years ago), I felt compelled to teach others to stay focused and inspire/motivate new grads to continue on in our field. In fact, my dream job is to design a new grad program for hospitals.Perhaps an MSN with a certificate in education is the route for me. I need something generic so that I don't limit my options if teaching is not for me. I do know, however, that I don't want to go the NP or administrative route, lol. Thanks for the advice!

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

If I were you with your experience I'd do an RN to MSN program, and as you said, a cert in Education as to not limit yourself. It's fairly hard to find generic masters programs though, they all want to push you to a specialty.