tylerpenn

Hi John, Im also a public health major, im finishing mine in the fall and planning on going to a second degree nursing. Im stuck between UK and EKU. Are you doing the second degree nursing at UK? What was your GPA?

My GPA is only a 3.01 unfortunately. It is improving though, I was on the deans list semester before last and last semester the presidents list so hopefully it will continue improving. I will definitely have to check that program out. Although Id say that ivy league school would cost me an arm and a leg.

What about the outrageous cost of bellarman? It says the program cost 50,000 and to plan on borrowing 80,000 to pay for it!? In private loans I might add.

Good point sourapril, I probably should have specified a few things. In kentucky there tends to be less public health jobs in general, and of those about half of them require a nursing degree, this is based on my own observation of getting weekly emails from the kentucky public health association that lists new jobs. When I search places like Indeed or other job sites I find alot more public health job openings so maybe the area that I'm at just doesn't have very good outcomes for MPH students in community health. I do think that a background in public health is excellent to have in addition to a nursing degree, which is why I plan to sit for my certified health education specialist (CHES) in addition to getting a BSN would maybe be a powerful combination. Too bad I cannot find a masters program that offered a MPH and RN. And to answer you question about what I would like to do with my degree, I would like to be a community health educator, hopefully that addresses metabolic syndrome/obesity something like nutrition, fitness etc. Keylimesqueez I have also noticed that clinical degrees pay better than non clinical, this is another reason I like the idea of BSN over MPH. Many of the jobs posted in Kentucky that warrant a MPH only pay start at $15 an hour! I don't know how I could ever pay off my student loans at that.

Im going to try to bring this one thread back to life. I too am quite surpised more nurses have not jumped on board of this specialty. Im not a nurse yet but Im a public health student looking to get into nursing to eventually practice integrative medicine as an ARNP. Interestingly I dont see alot of famous holistic ARNP like you do MDs, DOs, DC, LAC etc. Dr Mark Hymen is both Bill clintons and Hillary clintons personal physicians and he is the chairmen of the institute for functional and integrative medicine. In the affordable care act it made reference to "integrative healthcare" multiple times. Also I found a grant that physician residents can get for training in integrative medicine from the department of health and human services for Preventative medicine residency with integrative health care training. and in the description is says "preventive medicine physicians who can address public health needs, advance preventive medicine practices, increase access to integrative health care" " Harvey Fineberg's 5 dimensions of integrative medicine included: health care that 1) embraces the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual factors; 2) encompasses a full spectrum of health interventions including approaches to prevention, to treatment, to rehabilitation, and to recovery; 3) emphasizes coordination of care across an array of caregivers and institutions; 4) is patient-centered; and 5) is open to multiple modalities of care, not just ‘usual care,” but also unconventional care that helps patients manage, maintain, and restore health".

Hello, I'm currently a public health student at the university of eastern Kentucky. I love public health, and Kentucky certainly needs a lot of help in the public health area. The degree I'm currently in, certifies me to be a health educator (CHES). Our professors encourage us to pursue a MPH, but I do not think this would be a wise decision, nursing seems to be a much better route to make it into the public health field for a few different reasons. 1) Most of the students who have done their internships at health departments are not getting jobs there. 2) Many MPH students in community health also are having trouble finding jobs, environmental health seems to be more jobs but I'm interested in community. 3) Most of the students in our major that do their internship at health departments say that a majority of the employees at the health departments are nurses. 4) One graduate from the MPH program, who was promoting the masters degree to our class, who was working at a health department said this in response to a question about why so many nurses are in public health instead of MPH: "unfortunately they (health departments) prefer nurses over MPH graduates even though MPH graduates are better trained for public health". Given all the different opportunities nurses have in a variety of healthcare, public health, admin etc, and given the aforementioned, wouldnt it be more wise to pursue a second degree nursing over MPH? When I tell people Im considering doing nursing they seemed confused as to why im doing another bachelors over a masters. Im seriously considering doing a second degree nursing to have more opportunities in public health. What Im looking for is some encouragement/validation from real people that are nurses in public health rather than just relying on my own research. Thanks ahead