Need Advice...going A Step Back?

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 6, 2006

I answered your question already. Here's what I said. I wish you well and hope you get advice from the other guys too.

I think with an MBA you will have options in nursing if you just get your RN via an associates degree program. That will not be a step backwardsd as you will be an RN MBA regardless of which degee you get.

It also depends on what you want to eventually do or what you think you might want to be doing in the fugure, as you're young and have a long time yet to work. If you want to teach or do something specialty in nursing then the BSN might be required. But if you want to go into administration or some business or IT aspect then the MBA is going to come in handy more than the BSN and the ADN will be o.k.

There really are no easy anwers. I wish you well!

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llg, PhD, RN · May 6, 2006

Another option .... is that you consider health care administration. It would build on your business experience (and education) and put you in the health care industry that interests you. Much of the course work that you have taken for your business degrees would probably count towards a bachelor's, and with your MBA already in hand, you wouldn't have to start at the bottom of a new field. You might want to check out the opportunities for degrees in health care administration -- and the types of career available for people who hold them.

Yet another option is health education. I have 2 friends with a BS and MS in health education and they have good jobs that help people.

Community health and epidemiology are also fields that offer possibilities -- some of which might interest.

I guess my point is ... that when most people think of the health care field, they think only of nursing and medicine. A few also think of things like phyisical therapy, occupational therapy, resp. therapy, and pharmacy. But there are really a LOT more options than that. Someone coming with a degree (or 2) in other fields might find a better fit in some of those other options than they find in nursing.

If being a nurse is where your heart is, then by all means choose nursing. (But because you are also considering education, I thought your heart may not be totally into nursing. )Personally, I feel you would be better off going for a BSN right away (or even one of the accelerated Master's entry programs) because the time required would not be much longer and the BSN will help you move up the nursing career faster. Much of your previous course will count toward your BSN and the number of NURSING courses required by BSN's is not many more than for an ADN.

If you get an ADN, you'll probably have to go back to school at some point to get your BSN -- and that will be hard because you will have spent so many years in school already. If the BSN is only a couple of extra course, then I would definitely get it done NOW rather than wait and maybe have trouble doing it later. I've know too many people in my long nursing career who "always meant" to go back for their BSN, but never got around to it.

Good luck with whatever you decide,

llg

Cindy_A · May 6, 2006

Are you considering nursing because it's an "in-demand" field? Do you have any experience in nursing? Nursing is very different from business. I myself have a B.S. in business management, but I worked as a CNA before I went to nursing school. I'd hate to see you invest a lot of time and money in something that you don't enjoy. But, I certainly don't want you to spend the rest of your life with a job you hate. Good luck with your decision.