MSN Nurse without clinical experience please help!!

[Sspino]

I'm a new nurse that has worked in a private home setting that really shouldn't be called a nursing position for three years. I am 90% with my MSN program in Leadership and Management and would like to know what opportunities will be available with my lack of clinical experience? I'm trying to avoid doing floor nursing for a long period of time. Any suggestions?

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

And millennium-bashing raises its ugly head once again.

[JC3374]

I feel disappointed only as a student when I hear other students that hate bedside nursing. I get it--it's hard. I understand the concept of developing your career eventually to move away from bedside to another scope of practice or management. But I do not understand someone pursuing nursing that abhors the bedside skills that ARE nursing. Am I confused? And as I said, this is a very common consensus amongst my peers. Nurses fresh out of BSN programs already determined to become nurse anesthetists and NPs. Why and how is this allowed without a few years of bedside nursing under your belt? Is this even safe? I don't begrudge anyone--there's room for all different types of folks in nursing. We are all valuable. I'd like to practice home healthcare but it's impossible without a few years of good experience. Yet a nurse with no clinical experience can get a Master's? Help me understand this?

[LadysSolo]

We had a student on the floor when I was still working at the hospital pursuing my NP. She was a BSN student. I answered a call light, and grabbed her to help me put the patient on a bedpan. She said (and I quote) "I am NOT going to school to put people on bedpans!" I said "Excuse me, I am two months away from my NP, and I STILL put people on bedpans! Now come help me!" And she did, unhappily. Some people just do not understand doing whatever it takes.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

And millennium-bashing raises its ugly head once again.

I'm right on the cusp between generation x and the millennials. I don't see it as millennial bashing but part of what has been going on for generations: our parents say we're the worst generation, our grandparents viewed our parents as the worst generation, and on back into history probably until the dawn of time.

[melissamabd, DNP, RN]

I so agree. There's nothing less credible than a superior with an advanced degree who has never worked in one's position. And I am saying that from a 35 year, master's prepared perspective. The best managers demonstrate their commitment to doing the work as well as directing it, even if just to convey that to a team.

[Lola Lou, BSN]

I worked for a CNO who had less than 2 years of clinical experience before getting the position. He did a great job typing up new policies based on EBP but was never able/willing to help on the floor when the turd hit the fan. I want my nursing leaders to have experience and a fairly extensive nursing knowledge bank. I'm still a new nurse and these are the people who I look to for guidance. Wouldn't you know, he always pointed me towards the updated policy...

Thankfully there were always supervisors and more experienced nurses on the floor to lean on. Moral of my story is: get the experience, lead by example, and then they will follow (usually).

[mlalte]

Have you looked into Managed Care - Health insurance? There is a new market for nurses to provide care coordination and chronic disease management.

[run123]

What about working for nurse information hotlines or as a nurse for health insurance companies?

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Experience is required for nursing information hotlines. Same for insurance companies. Without experience, how sound do you figure clinical judgment to be?

[annie.rn]

Um..... Perhaps you could work as s home health nurse manager. Without several years of acute care experience..... You shouldn't be a nurse manager in acute care. I think you shoul really focus on getting a job that moves you towards your goals .....

I respectfully disagree with this. I worked home hospice and my immediate supervisor had very little clinical experience. (She had only worked at managing her husband's medical practice) It made it very difficult for the nurses under her because when we were in a patient's home trying to solve a clinical problem, she was almost useless. She was a lovely person but not very helpful for us nurses in the trenches.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Have you looked into Managed Care - Health insurance? There is a new market for nurses to provide care coordination and chronic disease management.

What about working for nurse information hotlines or as a nurse for health insurance companies?

And how would an inexperienced nurse be able to manage care or evaluate medical claims when he/she has no actual experience in providing care? Just as a new grad is clueless as to how little they actually know upon graduation, a Masters' prepared nurse is equally clueless when it comes to the real world of nursing.

Health insurance companies in my area require a great deal of real-life experience for consideration. Would you really want a new grad (MSN or otherwise) who has no understanding of the realities of the medical field, just book learning, to decide your fate when it comes to your personal medical treatment?

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

And how would an inexperienced nurse be able to manage care or evaluate medical claims when he/she has no actual experience in providing care? Just as a new grad is clueless as to how little they actually know upon graduation, a Masters' prepared nurse is equally clueless when it comes to the real world of nursing.

Health insurance companies in my area require a great deal of real-life experience for consideration. Would you really want a new grad (MSN or otherwise) who has no understanding of the realities of the medical field, just book learning, to decide your fate when it comes to your personal medical treatment?

Apparently, there is a program out there which you may inquire as to how they pull that off: an entry level MSN / Case Manager nursing program.

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