New Grad who wants to go back to school for MSN/MHA

Nurses New Nurse

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So a little bit of background information...I have a contract of 18 months at a PICU in a Magnet designated teaching hospital. I've been working for a good 4 months now... (3 month orientation). I thought I had everything I wanted especially since so many of my peers had a hard time finding a good job after graduating. I love dealing with kids, etc, etc. I even thought about doing CRNA in the future... But recently I've been crying on my way home from work. It's too stressful for me... and I know a lot of the senior staff says it'll get better in time but it's driving my anxiety level up the wall.

I've been thinking about going back to school and I think I want to take the MSN/MHA route. St. Joseph's College of Maine offers a complete online program. Do you think this is a good idea for me while I'm working and still gaining experience? I don't plan on backing out of my contract, I plan on finishing it. But will it be hard for me to find a job after getting those 2 degrees if I don't have experience in terms of managment? By then I would like to say I have a decent background of clinical skills under my belt but I don't really know what I can do in terms of being a better candidate in the job market.

Also, I'm a bit nervous in telling my manager what my plans are because I'm still so new with little experience. Telling her I want to be on the executive level may seem a bit silly to her. But I'm thinking I'm obligated to tell her and I can also get a bit of tuition reimbursement.

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Four months into your contact is way too soon to say, "I don't like this, I'm going to leave.....and by the way, could you pay for a bunch of school while I count down my days left?

Instead, I suggest you have a conversation about coping skills.....and figure out how to feel better about the work you just started doing.

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Four months into your contact is way too soon to say, "I don't like this, I'm going to leave.....and by the way, could you pay for a bunch of school while I count down my days left?

Instead, I suggest you have a conversation about coping skills.....and figure out how to feel better about the work you just started doing.

I agree completely, and would like also to reassure the OP that the level of anxiety you're feeling is completely natural and expected at this point in your career. The transition from nursing student to practicing nurse is notoriously difficult and stressful. Back in the Dark Ages, when I went to school, we were warned about this in school and graduated expecting to just have to hunker down, grit our teeth and suffer through that first horrible year or so, and then things would get better.

Apparently, that's another of the many things that no longer gets discussed in nursing school, and new grads seem to feel that something is wrong when they are unhappy and v. anxious a few months into their first job (either there's something seriously wrong with the job, or there's something wrong with them and maybe they should give up on nursing). I would encourage you to focus your attention and energy for the time being on getting more comfortable and competent in your current position. Everyone has to suffer through this first year. Things will get better as you develop more confidence and expertise.

Best wishes! :balloons:

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Specializes in Telemetry, Med/Surg.

If you seriously want to someday master the art of managing nursing (administration), you first need to learn the art of knowing and understanding and managing the stress your staff will go through for most of their career. The best nursing administrators are those who have served their time - and mastered it - in the trenches. The one's who "put in their year" before escaping to grad school are often the worst at administration, and speaking as someone who put in fifteen years before pursing a grad degree and a management job - if you think your patient load is causing you stress, wait until you're managing 50 or 100 nurses. You will wish you had your bedside job back.

Learn your profession before trying to manage those who will probably spend their entire career at the bedside. They'll appreciate your hard-earned knowledge (and the booksmarts that come with your later improved education). If you don't - they won't pay attention to you. And why should they ... if you dont' have the foggiest clue about how to relate it to real-world experiences?

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