Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the US, with increasing opportunities for nurses to move into an ever-growing number of advanced and vital senior job roles. Nurses are becoming health and social care leaders, decision-makers, educators, researchers, and policy-formers. This also means nurses are playing a big part in shaping the future of healthcare across the globe.
To enable and support that, Registered Nurses (RNs) need to consider not just their work experience and expertise to date but also the merits of pursuing further education in nursing. This article explores further and continuous education opportunities in the field of nursing.
Are employers the main drivers for advancement?
The decision to take the next step in a nursing career and acquire a more advanced qualification may be inspired and supported by some nurses’ current or future employers.
Studies show that there is a growing need for advanced practitioners in nursing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there will be a forecasted 38% growth in demand for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) between 2020 and 2030.
The reason employers are so keen for nurses to take further education programs is partly due to the much-discussed aging population worldwide, which is putting strain on the medical care system. The rapid advancement of healthcare technology also makes it imperative for employers to support improved and expanded nursing skills and knowledge.
In addition, advanced NPs are skilled and knowledgeable personnel who can enable healthcare providers to deal better with some of the shortfalls in trained doctors. In the US, NPs have the credibility and ability to take on considerable responsibility, including prescribing, diagnosis, treatment management, healthcare prevention, and education. They are often vital in rural areas or within busy hospitals, for example.
Having fully qualified NPs on the staff also means having individuals who can lead clinical teams intuitively and steer policies and procedures in the right direction.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) are rewarded for their qualifications and experience, as they carry a substantial degree of autonomy in the management of many aspects of medical intervention, whether it is delivered in primary, secondary, or specialist medical facilities.
One review of research into the importance of APRNs concluded that “the APN has a positive impact on patients in terms of health outcomes, quality of life, satisfaction, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility to the health service.”
Pursuing further education makes a nurse an asset to their current or future employer. However, there are also personal motivations and rewards for doing additional and advanced nursing qualifications.
Attaining career goalsÂ
Being an RN can be a deeply fulfilling and rewarding profession, with many small and large ‘wins’ from interacting with patients every day. However, some nurses start out as an RN but already have a well-formed vision of their future and see this as a stepping stone to advancing their career in healthcare. This could include an ambition to apply for the nurse practitioner roles mentioned above, which are increasingly available throughout the US.
Other RNs may desire higher-ranked roles over time, as they can see the financial and credibility benefits that their senior colleagues enjoy.
For some individuals, wanting to move onward and upwards can stem from a desire to have more responsibility and autonomy. RNs are limited in their clinical tasks compared to the enhanced clinical expertise and authority of NPs. As NPs can do some tasks that physicians traditionally conducted, they can be seen as a mid-way role between traditional nursing and being a doctor.
RNs or NPs who have built up considerable experience in modern-day nursing and would love to put that to good use can pursue qualifications to advance in nursing.
Many RNs looking for the next big step in their career enroll in a program to acquire a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) as the next logical step. Online nursing program provider Wilkes University succinctly explains the differences between doing an MSN and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). It also explains the increased earning potential and other advantages that MSN graduates can enjoy. The MSN at Wilkes can be completed in as little as two years, with fully online coursework and no on-campus studying required, so nurses can obtain their education without sacrificing personal and work commitments.
Those who are keen to take on more responsibilities as a nurse and expand their role should consider channeling their ambition into the best undergraduate nursing program to match their goals.
Expanded career opportunities
The purpose of enrolling in advanced nursing degrees is not always about staying with the same employer or even within the same category of healthcare.
One of the great things about further education for nurses is that it leads to a world of possibilities. This is largely because the skills and knowledge acquired during an MSN degree program are highly transferrable and universally respected in healthcare. Armed with advanced qualifications, nurses could more easily move to a new field of nursing, a different state, or potentially a whole new country.
The most in-demand specialties for nurses include critical care nurses, nurse midwives, operating room nurses and nurse case managers. Mental health and advanced nurses for geriatric healthcare are also being actively recruited internationally as well as nationally.
Some nurses may simply want a much wider choice of jobs to apply for in their local area. For example, the MSN enables nurses to build on their existing nursing degree to specialize in an exciting and more fulfilling area of the profession, such as psychiatry, adult gerontology or women’s health. Graduates could also become a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) in a community-based setting, providing essential services to patients of all ages over a longer period.
Further examples of the opportunities that an MSN creates include advanced nursing positions in pediatrics, neonatal care, schools, prisons, and military bases. Nurses can explore the many categories of specialism available to advanced nurses, as it is highly likely they will find the role that makes further education worthwhile to them.
Go beyond clinical roles
Advanced nursing qualifications are often a gateway to less clinically active job roles. In effect, an MSN qualification can take a nurse from the ward, clinic, or community practice to the board room or lecture hall. Further education as a nurse creates opportunities to take up managerial positions in nursing or to become a nurse educator, mentor, or preceptor, for example. Nurse mentors or preceptors have an immensely rewarding role, as they are guiding and supporting new nurses to achieve their full potential.
As it is vital to recruit more nurses in leadership and education roles, nurses may even receive sponsorship for the MSN program. Some larger healthcare providers, medical organizations, and government bodies fund places for nurses to study for advanced degrees.
If medical research is the niche that excites and interests the most for a particular nurse, advanced nursing qualification could make that non-clinical nursing role possible for them. There are also exciting patient advocacy positions that are only open to nursing professionals with extensive experience and advanced qualifications within the healthcare sector.
Personal and professional skill development
For some who enroll in further education in nursing, the primary motivator is to acquire new skills and understanding and perhaps focus on clinical experience that has been unavailable to them. Sometimes, this may involve a desire to add to personal as well as professional abilities, building transferrable ‘soft skills’ that are valued across all employment sectors.
Being a nurse requires stamina, commitment, and a great deal of compassion. They are also constantly communicating and relationship-building with patients, their families, and colleagues. One of the many benefits of pursuing further education for nurses is that they receive the chance to enhance and expand these abilities immeasurably.
The best MSN programs emphasize helping students with personal development as well as professional learning. For example, during the study program, students have clinical placements and learning exercises to build organizational and communication skills.
They will also focus on areas such as critical thinking to evaluate and respond to patients’ needs faster. Attention to detail and resourcefulness will also be expanded, and students will certainly acquire new interpersonal and leadership abilities. In addition, students will grow in confidence, decision-making, and resilience.
Having built their character and professional credentials, nurses can achieve greater visibility and respect from colleagues and senior personnel. This improves their promotion prospects and can be a massive boost to job satisfaction levels.
The importance of challenges
Nurses may find that challenging themselves to come out of their comfort zone and do something new is just the refresh and reboot of their career needs. Engaging with a program of intense and focused learning can be re-energizing. It should give nurses’ self-pride a boost, too, as they take on and tackle an important academic and vocational advancement.
New challenges are also known to stimulate an individual’s brain as well as the production of positive hormones. This, in turn, manages the risk of anxiety and low mood, helping nurses feel more alert and excited about their working life.
Conclusion
By pursuing further education, there will be new job opportunities nurses can take advantage of, with financial incentives offered by employers who desperately need senior nursing personnel. Additionally, nurses will also get a renewed and boosted sense of job satisfaction and personal achievement.
Many individuals become nurses for personal reasons, including the desire to ‘matter’ and make a difference in health outcomes. Taking qualifications can amplify this by building credentials, personal and professional knowledge, and skills to make a difference.
Alongside this, when rising through the ranks and taking on advanced roles in nursing, there are many other career benefits that can enhance daily life. This could include a more predictable and steady work pattern, for example, with fewer shifts or even shorter working hours to fit around family commitments.
Nurses may well enjoy greater job security in an advanced practitioner nursing role, too, with new priorities and tasks to master.
There is also a good chance that nurses will feel more confident and self-assured as they put their advanced nursing qualifications into practice. They may be uplifted to know that their further education has enabled them to be even more of an asset to patients and colleagues. All of this can make the commitment to doing further education worthwhile.
For some nurses, the hunger for knowledge and advancement extends over many years. Many nurses who work towards MSN degrees then go on to take a doctorate degree in a medical field of great interest to them. This could be due to a desire to progress to research positions and professorships or simply a way of continuing to enjoy the sense of achievement that can come from advanced studies.
In other words, if nothing else, a good reason for nurses to take advanced nursing qualifications is that they could enjoy their nursing role even more and start an exciting journey into life-long learning in a career they love.
