I'm an RN. Now what?

[RNCourtney]

I graduated from Nursing school in 2009 and have been working on a Adult/Pediatric Med-Surg floor since. There are, of course, days that I love my job, and days that I would rather do anything than show up. I am fortunate enough to work with some very wonderful people, and that helps keep me going on those nights when all I want to do is give up; however. . .

I never dreamed of being a nurse. Honestly, I needed to do SOMETHING, and the medical field in and of itself always interested me, so I figured nursing would be a good place to START. The problem I have run into is this: I have no idea where to go from here.

I knew the moment I began in nursing school that I did not want to stop with my RN. Everyone always told me that the sky was the limit when it came to Nursing, and that the opportunities would be endless as far as advancing my career and my education. Instructors would speak about jobs in Research and Education and etc, etc, but honestly, I have no idea where to start to even find something I would be remotely interested in. I feel that I was well prepared to be a floor nurse, but I would have liked some specific information about these "possibilities." Would I be interested in being a CRNA? A CRNP? Unfortunately, I just don't know. I don't have the kind of information I would like in order to feel confident in beginning an advance degree program or anything like that.

I know this - I do not wish to be a floor nurse forever, and would like to begin advancing my education now, before I get too comfortable with the status quo.

Honestly, I need ideas. I need a jumping off point. A comprehensive list of possibilities.

Any help?

[caliotter3]

I would start looking at all the MSN programs available to me, including generic MSN as well as those that lead to the nurse practitioner role, etc. Unless, you decide to go into another healthcare career, I would think that you should think about one of the nurse practitioner roles or CRNA, or for that matter, PA, if you want a different practice view. Good luck with your choices and decisions to be made.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

You seem to be bright & motivated -- so I definitely want to urge you to consider nursing education as a career direction. The world of workplace clinical education is changing rapidly. We left the role of "inservice queen" a long time ago.

Today's clinical education world is one of designing programs to ensure that organizational goals are supported by a skilled workforce. This means working alongside project managers to make sure that effective training programs are part of every new application or technology. We help managers by analyzing performance problems & providing solutions. We act as liaison to nursing schools. We facilitate quality research - the list goes on and on. Our salaries exceed that of our colleagues in academia - particularly if we have advanced credentials and high levels of instructional design expertise.

Our skill sets focus on all things education as well as clinical nursing skills. This includes design & development of self-paced online programs as well as distance learning 'webinars' for groups. I love it - it's always challenging & never boring.