Which MSN would you go for?

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 13, 2020

Where do you want to go with your career? That should be the number one consideration in choosing a graduate degree path.

shellfrmmo, ASN, BSN, MSN, CNA, LPN, LVN, RN · Oct 13, 2020

1 hour ago, Rose_Queen said:

Where do you want to go with your career? That should be the number one consideration in choosing a graduate degree path.

It will either be HCA or FNP- problem is not sure of job opportunities available for HCA in my area.

HiddencatBSN, BSN · Oct 14, 2020

Right, but those are very different paths. Deciding which job you want is going to depend on what sort of work you want to do.

Ioreth, ADN, RN · Oct 14, 2020

I may be answering sideways, but if it isn't useful then feel free to scroll on. Here's my thought process when I think of MSN for myself. I would consider (again, for myself) advanced practice palliative care nurse or nurse practitioner specializing in palliative care.

This is the only thing I would consider getting my MSN in, and whether or not to go NP would depend on what my hypothetical employer requires. I really would rather not have an NP since my observation (which may not necessarily be true) is that NPs have fewer legal protections in comparison to other LIPs.

Palliative care has become my ultimate nursing goal and I'm fine with taking the long road getting there. Everybody's life/nursing journey is different, but I need several more years as a nurse first before entering palliative care. I love the problem-solving aspect of palliative nursing, and I want to have as many tools in my nursing toolkit as I can, so I'll likely be a floor nurse for a while longer, do a little oncology, probably renal and cardiac. My goal is to work in-patient, but I want to work out-patient palliative care too so that I get a good sense of the big picture.

But that's my choice. Sure I answered your question, but my choices may not apply to your situation. I would sit down and consider what these MSN options will bring you. Do you want to do them both? Is it worth it to do them both? Find out what your goal is and then make the map to that goal.

Edit: to answer your other question, my general practitioner is an NP and I love her. She's worked as a floor nurse, so she gets my struggles and what nursing does to nurse bodies. She also knows the limits of her practice and sends me to specialists when it is warranted. I felt like when I was seeing a general practice physician, they wanted to keep me seeing them and manage my health themselves when I really needed to be seen by a specialist. My health is not complicated, but I've had some blood and electrolyte weirdness that were beyond what a general practitioner should be doing. I'm grateful for my NP's willingness to hand my care off to another.

JKL33 · Oct 14, 2020

21 hours ago, shellfrmmo said:

When asking peers many say the Masters Healthcare Administration route is the one they wish they had taken or that they recommend. Others love having their Nurse Practitioner. Anyone with insight? Anyone want to give me their experience? I am 46 years old. Still have 20 years of work ahead of me.

What other people wish they would have done is mostly relevant to their situation and their preferences for the type of work they wish to do.

The first question, which must be answered mostly from within, is what type of work you wish to do? Do you want to be directly involved in providing clinical care to patients or not? It seems like people are able to get a general idea of this after practicing nursing for awhile. What type of work are you doing right now, and do you generally enjoy it?

NightNerd, MSN, RN · Oct 14, 2020

Do you like direct patient care, or do things like running charge, precepting, and generally supporting your team feel better to you? What do you like about the nursing jobs you've had so far? If you were to work as an NP, what patient population would be your choice to work with? Is there any interest in nursing you haven't explored yet that you'd like to - maybe even something that doesn't necessarily require a degree? Those questions will guide you much better we can; you need to pick the pathway that you will enjoy the most for the remainder of your career.

shellfrmmo, ASN, BSN, MSN, CNA, LPN, LVN, RN · Oct 14, 2020

I really want to do FNP. I do. Just trying to weigh my other options. I get tunnel vision a lot and want to make sure not to think it through more. Of course, I have some time yet. I don't plan on starting that process until 2022 BSN student loans are paid for.