For Direct Entry MSN students - how do you know what to specalize in?

[rd290]

Hi! I'm new to the board. I'm looking into applying to the Direct Entry MSN program at VCU next year. I've been working in the IT field for 8 years now and I'm sick to death with having to sit in front of the computer all day long. For those of you that came from non-health career backgrounds prior to getting into a NP program, how did you decide what to specalize in? Do NP programs allow students to do a rotation in each specality prior to deciding which way they want to go? I'm not sure how it all works. I've always loved pyschology and wanted to be a counselor, but the pay is low IMO. Based solely on my interest in psychology, I figured I would go the Psych NP route...I see it's in big demand and the supply for PMHNPs is low, which makes me wonder why it's not one of the more popular NP specialities that students want to pursue. Please help! Any thoughts or insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think you are asking a very good -- and important -- question. It's perhaps the biggest weaknesses of many of the MSN-entry programs. It's not reasonable to expect to know what specialty will suit you best until you get some experience in the field.

I suggest:

(1) Talk to the people at the school and really look closely at the curriculum. Will you get a chance in the early stages of the program to experience a large variety of clinical specialties and patient populations? Will you be able to switch your focus area after having those experiences in the event that you discover a better fit for yourself?

(2) Get some experience (as a volunteer? as a nursing assistant?) prior to entering school. Yes, it will require a big investment on your part and may delay your entry ... but isn't that better than spending thousands of dollars on an education that prepares you for a career that you discover later is not something that suits you?

Get some actual experience working in the health care field with a variety of patients (either as a student or as a volunteer or as a nursing assistant or something) BEFORE you make the big investment. That's the sensible thing to do.

[dp1200]

I agree with the previous poster about getting some sort of health care experience. Not only willl this help you sort out what direction you want to go in, it will help you get your foot in the door down the road.

I'm in the exact same boat - a burned out software engineer who can't stomach the idea of doing that anymore. I'm currently working as an EMT (love it!) and working on prereqs for a direct-admit NP program myself. I'm currently leaning towards an adult acute/critical care track.