Statistics & Nursing

20 years ago I was told by a career counselor I should go into research. Well I figured it was out of reach and required "brains". I'm just a very curious person who likes to play detective. I went back to school as an experiment, did well in nursing school, got my RN and am taking statistics now in preparation for the BSN program I'm starting next fall. I have never been so excited by any class outside of my honors physiology class as I am with this one. There is only one other stat class I can take- honors statistical analysis - sounds impressive, I'll see. Other than that one, the only other opportunity will be grad school. My question is how can I get into a position where I can still be at the bedside (I like to teach) and get more experience in the world of statistics/research. Heck I did something crazy, I bought SPSS base 13.0, and advanced module professional version at the student rate so I can figure out how to work it. But now the version is so new, the books about SPSS that I have found are outdated. Second question, can anyone steer me in the right direction regarding SPSS in the way of text?

This thread is more of a teaser for references and ideas. I realize there is a lot of work a person can do with stat, that is why I've gotten bit with the bug; tell me what you do with stat that is very exciting to you.