Fork in the road

[richwv]

I'm currently working in a Cardiac ICU unit and I'm wanting to go back to school. There are two paths I'm considering. The first path is a getting a dual degree in MSN/MBA. I already have a bachelor's in Business Administration so this may work out well. However, I'm not thrilled with being in hospital administration. Seems to be many long hours and taking home a lot of work. What other doors will open besides hospital administration with this degree? Second option is CRNA. I enjoy patient care minus some situations (GI Bleed clean ups etc...) and I enjoy learning new things plus the autonomy that comes with a CRNA. But the idea of the 2-3 years of intense schooling they go through scares the life out of me. I'm just looking for anyone's two cents. Thank you for your time and I appreciate any feedback.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I have to completely agree with you on the whole administrative track - it is very stressful & getting more so every day! I don't know about your area, but in my neck of the woods, CRNA programs are very hard to get into - the course work is so intensive & you really can't work while you're in the program.

Have you considered Informatics? This specialty is expanding very rapidly. There are a number of distance education graduate degree or certification programs geared to nurses and other clinicians. Take a look at AMIA for a list of programs - http://www.amia.org/. Positions are available not only with hospitals, but also with the big companies that provide software.

Of course, I would also like for you to also consider nursing education - there are so few of us and we >> are aging rapidly. Academic salaries are ridiculously low, but qualified educators earn 'management level' salaries in healthcare organizations, especially those of us with high-demand skills such as developing online learning or simulation-based training.

Best of luck to you!