Furthering my education (HELP)

Hi there! Congratulations on graduating and passing boards! I bet you're happy that's behind you. I've been a nurse for 3+ years working neuro step-down, medsurg, and now ER. I don't have my MSN so I can't give you advice on where to go. I have several friends who are NPs or are in school for it now though, so I do have some thoughts based on their stories.

Wait to decide what you want to do. Learn from what you're doing now. Get at least 4-5 years bedside RN experience before you go back to school. I say this for 2 main reasons.

1. You pretty much don't know anything but the basics your first year, your second year you pick up speed, 3rd year you will probably get cocky and have something take you down a notch or two, 4th-5th year you are a nurse that can handle many things, yet you still have only skimmed the surface of what's out there. PLEASE become that nurse before you take on the responsibility of being a MidLevel. If you really want to, start school your 3rd year and work through it. So many midlevels haven't had enough bedside experience to be making the calls they do and NOTHING replaces bedside experience.

2. You will probably change your mind! When I graduated I wanted to be a psych NP, then a neuro NP, then maybe a midwife. I'm so glad I didn't start studying for my psych NP straight out of school because that's not what I want to do now after actually experiencing psych patients. Once you get your MSN you're stuck with it! School is wildly different from real world nursing, so just be a nurse and check out your areas of interest before plunging into something you only have an idea about.

I wholeheartedly agree with CoffeYogaNurse. Until you've been a nurse for a bit you don't really know what you want to do so don't rush into more study. Also I've noticed something that is pretty common with new grads. You start working in the real world of nursing, you are overwhelmed by the workload and experiencing some reality shock. So you often think oh I need to go back to school because I can't keep working bedside. But then you get more experience & realise that you are actually getting good at bedside nursing and can/should continue with it before you try to move on to something else.

I think you should slow down and work for a few more years as above.