Going Back To Graduate School - need advice

Nurses Career Support

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Specializes in ICU RN.

Hello am a new graduate with 7months of experience working at a teaching hospital at the ICU medical. i have applied to walden university to start my Master in nursing, am interested in education or leadership and management. am confuse with which one to specialize in. and the job market is in demand. please i need any advise.

thanks

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Hello am a new graduate with 7months of experience working at a teaching hospital at the ICU medical. i have applied to walden university to start my Master in nursing, am interested in education or leadership and management. am confuse with which one to specialize in. and the job market is in demand. please i need any advise.

thanks

You need to decide what your goals are which should help you decide what area to pursue for graduate education. Each of the areas you mention encompasses some aspect of the other areas. Ask yourself what are your strengths and weaknesses. Write a pro and con list for each area. Check with a nursing advisor from Walden to see what area the nursing students are gravitating to keeping in mind that that may not be the right area for you.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Decide your goals FIRST. Don't do like I did: I got an MSN in management and leadership and then decided (oops) that I didn't like management. So...back to school....very frustrating. Should have done a clinical MSN first. Duh!

Word to the wise: if you are undecided, don't start an MSN! Get some more experience either in the ICU or some other area and then decide.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I strongly agree with TraumaRUs. If you don't yet know what career path you want to follow, then you should wait a little and take the time to get to know yourself as a nurse. There are far too many people out there investing in educational programs that prepare them for jobs that they don't like. Find out what you like first ... and what your talents are as a nurse ... BEFORE you invest all that time, energy, and money in a graduate degree.

Get involved in some projects in your workplace to see how you adapt to leadership/management. Be a preceptor to see how you like teaching. etc. etc. etc. Once you figure out what type of work you like to do ... and what type of leadership work you are good at ... THEN follow that path by pursuing a graduate degree that will help you move in that direction.

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