Bedside care may forever remain the quintessential image called to mind when anyone imagines a nurse. Important though direct patient interactions are, they are just one component of a larger health ecosystem. Leadership, education, and administration are each vital elements of modern medicine.
Some may argue even that they are more impactful. A bedside nurse touches the lives of thousands of people over their career, while a nursing leader can touch even many thousands more with their decision-making. Educators are arguably yet more impactful. Every year, they help pave the way for hundreds of new nurses destined to impact many thousands of lives.
It's all made possible through graduate study. In this article, we take a look at how getting a master's degree as a nurse can extend your influence and reward you with an engaging new career.
The Value of Graduate Education in Nursing
Graduate programs (MSN, DNP, MPH) allow nurses to build advanced skills that simply aren't taught in undergraduate training. What those skills are will depend on your focus. For example, a nurse interested in entering education might focus on research, policy, administration, not to mention teaching pedagogy.
Not only does this education path qualify nurses for more responsibilities, but it also often allows them to pursue higher compensation and greater stability. For most leadership positions within the field, it's a prerequisite. Even in cases where you do not strictly need a graduate degree, these skills learned are invaluable.
Master's programs focus on critical thinking and systems-level problems, and the value of leadership. Often, these opportunities can be highly specialized to accommodate your very specific interests.
For example, are you fascinated with how data influences medical care? There is a master's program for that. What about problem-solving, leadership, social equity? Whatever your interest area, there is certainly a class and quite possibly an entire program designed around it.
The bottom line: graduate programs open doors that are simply otherwise inaccessible. For a nurse planning for long-term career growth, it's a no-brainer. One to three years of your life now for a lifetime of work you'll enjoy.
Your Road to Nursing Leadership
Nursing management positions are often a segue between patient care and administration. They focus on operations, scheduling, and maintaining patient care standards. They may be involved in bedside care as well, but often their focus is more on an administrative track.
If you're wondering how to become a nurse manager, the path could involve a couple of different options. Some nursing leaders are appointed based on merit. That's to say, they do not go to graduate school but demonstrate strong leadership qualities through their work. In many cases, graduate school is necessary, and in most cases, it's the most expedient way to get the job you're looking for.
It's through graduate school also that you are able to access the entirety of the health care ladder. For example, through leadership programs, you can eventually become eligible for executive-level positions like a chief nursing officer.
Getting a Nursing Education Job
On the other hand, if your interest is in training the next crop of new nurses as an educator, the requirements are going to look a little different.
Technically speaking, universities are able to hire you as long as you have a graduate degree. However, most people who are interested in becoming a nursing educator at this level will focus specifically on a program designed with that training in mind.
One of the reasons for this is that it's through graduate studies that you learn not only the ins and outs of the profession, but also education-specific considerations like research, educational strategy, and academic writing.
Making Graduate School Work as a Nurse
Nurses who want to transition from patient care to management or education have the obvious disadvantage of needing to work while getting the credentials that will move them into their ideal career.
Nursing graduate programs are generally designed with this fact in mind. For this reason, it's common for graduate programs to take place in the evenings.
That said, nurses certainly do work at night and on weekends and holidays, for that matter. And so most traditional formats will create at least some friction for nurses who want to get their graduate degree while continuing with their work.
Online programs have an answer to this problem, allowing nurses to engage in a flexible, prerecorded format. In many situations, the student is given deadlines, and as long as they complete the work within the designated time frames, they earn their credits.
It's important when considering graduate school to choose not necessarily your ideal format, but the one that is most likely to result in you getting your degree in a timely manner. This, of course, will mean different things for different people.
Conclusion
There are many pathways for nurses who are interested in changing career paths or simply learning their profession at a deeper level. If you are a working nurse interested in graduate school, consider speaking with your current management staff. They may be able to connect you with tuition assistance programs that will make the process easier.
Getting into graduate school isn't easy, but that's not the same thing as saying it needs to be prohibitively hard. Find the path that makes the most sense for you and commit.
