Career Guidance: Where to go after a BSN?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Telemetry.

So I just got through with school in May. I have my first nursing positon on a telemetry floor. I love it, I am SOOOOO lucky to be with such a supportive staff. I plan on working in telemetry for 2 years. My issues are as follows. I don't believe that nurses who stay at their job for a lengthy amount of time get compensated well. There are nurses with 10 years of experience getting paid just 2 or 3 dollars more an hour than I am. So I plan to move around to different hospitals every couple of years to recieve the maximum amout of pay and a broad experience. (not sure if that is a reasonable expectation yet, but we'll see).

I'm living in University housing right now and it happens to be the cheapest place for me to live. I only have to take one class at a community college to stay and my apartment is HUGE. I went to the community college counsler to see what I should take after all my university courses were transfered. I was thinking about getting an associates degree in communication or business management since both of them would only take 15-20 credits for me to get it. Her first question was "Why don't you just go back and get your master's degree?" Well it's like this. I don't feel like the people who run the business part of the hospital understand the medical part of whats going on and I don't feel that the medical people understand enough about business to make all the calls either. So I was thinking having a business degree would help me to see both sides better. I have thought of master's degrees, like public health or FNP, but I really hated nursing school. It stressed me out more than being a tech in the level one trauma center that has 65 beds. I love being a nurse, I like learning about medical stuff, but I NEVER want to feel as overwhelmed and unsupported as I did in nursing school. I mean look! I caught my dad cheating on my mom with my friends mother after 25 years of marriage, and that was not as bad as what I went through in nursing school.

So I guess I'm asking if anybody knows of a master's in business for nursing program? Or if you think getting an associates degree in business would pay off in the future as far as nursing goes?

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Why don't you get a master's degree in business? It seems backwards to get an associates degree at this point.

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I personally plan on going for the MBA part time some time after I start my nursing career. My past career dealt with the financial part of health care and I worked with quite a few RN's who went on to get MBA's and worked for the corporation and were VERY successful. I am really interested in the clinical aspects and look forward to doing bedside care, but I have to be realistic because I have had arthritis since I was 18 so I know my body will not let me do bedside forever.

I would say get your masters in whatever you are interested in - and you will probably be able to apply it somewhere. Whether it be informatics, business, advanced practice, education or whatever else interests you. But it seems to make more sense to work toward a masters rather than an associates at this point for you.

If you have had no business classes in the past, maybe you might want to take a couple at the community college now to ensure that this might be the path you would like to take while also satisfying the requirements you need to stay in your current living situation.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

If you decide to get an MBA or a Master's in Health Administration, etc. ... I strongly urge you to take a few graduate nursing courses as electives and/or maintain close ties with nursing through active participation in nursing organizations, attending nursing conferences, reading the nursing literature, etc.

When people with their graduate education in fields outside of nursing try to be nursing leaders, it can cause problems if they fail to also advance their nursing knowledged. They end up managing nursing services with only an introductory level of understanding of the nursing itself. The BSN is an entry-level degree and you'll need more nursing knowledge to become an expert in nursing. The business education will help you learn the business processes of management -- but you'll still be at the entry level in terms of your knowledge of the content of the department you will be trying to lead.

There are some programs that offer a combination of MSN/MBA programs. I think that is the best way to go because it gives you both sets of knowledge.

Also, note that the Magnet program is OK with the BSN, MBA (or MHA) for now ... but the general trend in nursing is to require a graduate degree in nursing for nursing leadership positions.

And ... while I understand your hatred of nursing school -- I hated it too -- graduate school is often quite different. There is rarely the same pressure and weeding out processes going on, and many people enjoy nursing graduate school much more than they did their undergraduate experience.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
I don't believe that nurses who stay at their job for a lengthy amount of time get compensated well. There are nurses with 10 years of experience getting paid just 2 or 3 dollars more an hour than I am. So I plan to move around to different hospitals every couple of years to recieve the maximum amout of pay and a broad experience. (not sure if that is a reasonable expectation yet, but we'll see).

Look at that plan carefully before you make any decisions. The math does not usually work out in your favor that way. Many hospitals pay less for years of experience obtained elsewhere than experience at their own hospital. The costs of orienting an RN to a new job is quite expensive and hospitals generally take that cost into consideration as they set their pay scales. They generally don't reward people who job hop with higher salaries than nurses with the same level experience in their own hospital.

Also, you lose out on some benefits when you change jobs. In most cases, you lose accumulated sick time -- which can be worth thousands of dollars in sick pay should you have a significant illness, have a baby, etc. In most cases, the amount of paid vacation time increases as you gain seniority with an institution -- and paid vacation time = money. You may also miss out on being fully vested in a retirement plan, or pay extra fees out of your retirement account as you move the money around.

Then there is also the costs of moving -- paying moving vans, going a week or two with NO pay in between jobs, costs associated with interviewing, apartment-hunting, etc. If you find yourself moving a lot, all that gets expensive -- and also prevents you from gettng the financial benefits of home ownership. (Longtern ownership in one place with a sensible mortgate is still profitable, even in today's economy. It's those who went for creative financing and/or those who buy and sell quickly that are in the most trouble today.)

Over the course of a lifetime, all those things add up financially -- and can easily add up to more than just a couple of dollars per hour.

Your plan can work -- if you keep moving up in your career to positions of greater responsibililty and compensation. But be careful, because it can backfire on you financially.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Thanks for all the comments so far. I don't want to be a business person will a small amout of nursing experience. That is what gets on my nerves about the current business people I work with. :) I've thought of becomeing a NP or going into education, but I feel more excited about business because I feel like it can help me accomplish more.

I want to own my own business someday. I want to open an afterschool program to educate children (and their parents) about preventitive health maintanance and diet. That goal is why I became a nurse, I felt like I needed to have a better understanding of illness to learn how to prevent it. I feel that keeping my foot in the nursing door would give me the most current and practical information. But to run my own business I need to understand how business works.

The moving around every few years I thought would broaden my experience. Yes, I realize that job hopping is not so desired, but what about people who do travel nursing? They get paid more than the average nurse does, don't they? I mean I know that their acutal salary isn't that much different, but they get other compensation that makes it worth it. My issue is that I would want to stay longer than the average 13 week stay that most travel nurses seem to do.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Thanks for all the comments so far. I don't want to be a business person will a small amout of nursing experience. That is what gets on my nerves about the current business people I work with. :) I've thought of becomeing a NP or going into education, but I feel more excited about business because I feel like it can help me accomplish more.

...

The moving around every few years I thought would broaden my experience. Yes, I realize that job hopping is not so desired, but what about people who do travel nursing? They get paid more than the average nurse does, don't they? I mean I know that their acutal salary isn't that much different, but they get other compensation that makes it worth it. My issue is that I would want to stay longer than the average 13 week stay that most travel nurses seem to do.

I'm happy to read that you don't want to be one of those business people who are clueless about actual nursing. :yeah: They are the source of many of our problems -- not our solutions.

Travelers can get some valuable experience, but they generally need to settle down in one place for a while if they want to be eligible for promotion beyond the staff nurse role. In most cases (but not 100%) travelers miss out on experiences such as precepting, charge nurse, unit-based committees, etc. These are an important part of the "experience" that people are looking for when they talk about "experience."

Also, a lot of hospitals limit how long a traveler will be allowed to stay at their institution. Travelers cost a hospital more money than regular staff -- by a long shot. Hospitals do NOT want its staff to think they can continue to work at that hospital on a long term basis, but just switch to being employed by the agency instead of the hospital. To discourage that, many hospitals set restrictions on how long a particular traveler is allowed to stay. Those restrictions prevent local residents from working at their hospital as expensive travelers on a regular basis. Local nurses are thus steered into working for the hospital and not the agency, which is cheaper for the hospital.

Also remember that travelers don't get paid sick time, paid vacation time, etc. So every time they take off work or have a break in between contracts, they get NO PAY, which eats into the extra money they earned by being a traveler. They also don't get some other benefits that can be worth a lot of money, such as tuition reimbursement and certain types of insurance, etc.

Unless you want to stay in a staff nurse role indefinitely .... a little traveling is fine, but as a long term career plan it doesn't get you anywhere career-wise. You remain a bedside, basic staff nurse simply doing the same role in a variety of different places. To get some variety in your role, you need to establish longer-term relationships and become more integrated into a particular staff.

Before anyone gets offended ... There is nothing wrong with being a bedside staff nurse your whole life. But that's not what the OP seems to be looking for.

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Look at that plan carefully before you make any decisions. The math does not usually work out in your favor that way. Many hospitals pay less for years of experience obtained elsewhere than experience at their own hospital. The costs of orienting an RN to a new job is quite expensive and hospitals generally take that cost into consideration as they set their pay scales. They generally don't reward people who job hop with higher salaries than nurses with the same level experience in their own hospital.

Also, you lose out on some benefits when you change jobs. In most cases, you lose accumulated sick time -- which can be worth thousands of dollars in sick pay should you have a significant illness, have a baby, etc. In most cases, the amount of paid vacation time increases as you gain seniority with an institution -- and paid vacation time = money. You may also miss out on being fully vested in a retirement plan, or pay extra fees out of your retirement account as you move the money around.

Then there is also the costs of moving -- paying moving vans, going a week or two with NO pay in between jobs, costs associated with interviewing, apartment-hunting, etc. If you find yourself moving a lot, all that gets expensive -- and also prevents you from gettng the financial benefits of home ownership. (Longtern ownership in one place with a sensible mortgate is still profitable, even in today's economy. It's those who went for creative financing and/or those who buy and sell quickly that are in the most trouble today.)

Over the course of a lifetime, all those things add up financially -- and can easily add up to more than just a couple of dollars per hour.

Your plan can work -- if you keep moving up in your career to positions of greater responsibililty and compensation. But be careful, because it can backfire on you financially.

That is great advice (as always from llg) and this is coming from someone who didn't follow it and has always moved from job to job and state to state.

When I lived in Dallas in the early 2000's the saying was always that if you wanted a raise, then quit and move to the next hospital down the line. It was indeed true at least at that time, but I often wonder if I got short-changed in the long run.

Later, I bought the house, finished my BSN and managed to stay at the same hospital for several years now which is now a record for me in regards to staying put and stability.

However, I'm now restless again as my employer won't pay for an MBA for me like they did my BSN.

I'm just like the OP in terms of wanting to learn the business side of health care at some point later. After finishing my BSN, I feel like I have no purpose or reason for staying where I'm at.

They'll pay for NP school so I'll have an MSN but I don't want to be an NP and no one should be in NP school just because their employer wants them to do so when they don't want to be one. It's pointless unless your heart is in it.

I too, have always hated nursing school, and although the MSN/MBA dual degree has always appealed to me, at age 38 and someone who went the long long route in nursing (LPN to ADN to BSN) the 60-something credit graduate degree ahead of me does not sit well.

A 36-42 credit MBA would be more realistic for me. I personally think that a BSN with plenty of nursing experience is fine combined with an MBA.

Now if I were ten years or more younger like the OP, I'd give the MSN/MBA route some very serious consideration.

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Unless you want to stay in a staff nurse role indefinitely .... a little traveling is fine, but as a long term career plan it doesn't get you anywhere career-wise. You remain a bedside, basic staff nurse simply doing the same role in a variety of different places. To get some variety in your role, you need to establish longer-term relationships and become more integrated into a particular staff.

Again, your advice is always top-notch in terms of career development, but I respectfully disagree with your comment about travel nursing not getting you anywhere career-wise.

I know some mid-level and even senior level nursing leaders at my current employer who were travel nurses for up to 5-10 plus years solid before getting the positions they have today.

I work at a major university teaching hospital yet many if not most of my co-workers and managers are native sons and hometown girls who have never left this area of Texas in their entire life outside of vacations to Mexico and Vegas and most of them have only one way of doing anything as a result. Most have never even worked at another hospital.

It frustrates me at times but I learned over the years to adapt.

Remaining a basic bedside staff nurse as you described the travel nurse experience teaches you how to adapt to these situations. A med/surg or ICU nurse in Cowtown Texas community hospital vs. High tech university teaching hospital in a coastal big city are apples and oranges.

I wish that more of my co-workers and managers/administrators would have been travel nurses so that they would get out of their "We've always done it this way" mentality.

I do the whole charge nurse/shared governence/committees thing now as I have finally stayed put for a few years.

But it would be a heck of a lot easier if nurses were forced to work in unfamiliar environments in completely different areas of the country for a few months at least to break the "This is how we do it here" mentality.

Anyone with an RN or LPN/LVN license can become an expert on their floor after several years of experience if they really want to.

But how well can you survive once you are the little fish in the big pond?

That is the real question.

It's much easier to grow from CNA to CNO if you never leave your comfort zone.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

:redbeathe Thanks so much for the advice. I'm thinking better of moving around as often. Speaking of age; I am 27. I have no spouse or children and the rest of my family lives a 1,000 miles away from me. I moved because I was dating a married man twice my age and my parents were in the middle of a divorce after 25 years of marriage. Needless to say I kind of came from Payton Place America. :rolleyes: Anyhow, I had no financial support, or any other kind of support, going through school. While my school experience was nowhere near as difficult as some of my friends who went through it with kids and other issues, I feel like the lack of support caused me to have to drop anything else I was doing to get through school. I gained back the 75lbs I lost after I got out of highschool, and had kept off for 4 years, I didn't feel like I had the time to exercise or take care of myself.

I see myself achieving more education in the future and I know that I want to do more than floor nursing after I get 5 or more years of experience. I don't see waiting until I have all the floor experience I want to start back to school, but I don't want to feel bogged down anymore to try to achieve a goal. I mean I want to date, maybe find a guy, and have a family. I want to be able to go home more than once a year to see my parents and sister. I want to travel and I really really want to get back into martial arts. All of those things take time, time I did not have when I was in school.

While I don't feel like I am the least motivated person in the world; I don't think I'm a real go getter. I'm not one of those people who feel relaxed with just one day off. I don't see much point in doing anything real fast and hurried. If you are always concentrating on the next thing that needs to be done in life, when do you get to just enjoy life? I don't know if that makes any since. For example, I like to spend less of my money and save it so that I can go do the things I enjoy. I want a nice house and awesome furniture, but am willing to say it's going to take me 5 years to get the money together to get it. Where as my friends will pick up all the extra shifts they can to get that stuff now. I'm not saying that I'm not willing to do some extra work to do get what I want, but my friends have this work ethic that does not ever allow them time off! It makes me feel like I'm lazy.

Anyway I'm just starting to wonder if I'm expecting to much out of life. I mean I want to travel, I want a family, I want to be an excellent nurse, I want to advance in my chosen career, I want to start my own business, but I want it without having to work so hard that I can't enjoy any of it.

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How about you work as a nurse for a bit, take *a* course, take care of yourself, heal from the heel and your parents' divorce, and chill.

You are really young. I know, you don't believe it, but you are. Take a little time to get yourself together and *then* worry about what's next.

:)

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