Graduating with a Master’s in Nursing offers you the opportunity to climb the career ladder. In the healthcare field, this is truly one big key to a future of success. In fact, career prospects take up the top three reasons why, as stated by Nurse Journal, one should get an MSN degree!
Beyond the immediate Master’s in Nursing career options, earning an MSN is the only way that you can continue your education towards a specialization like oncology, mental health, or pediatrics. And in the meantime, MSN holders earn, on average, at least $22,000 more annually than nurses holding their RN licensure. So, what’s out there for you, in both the short- and long-term? There are plenty of advanced nursing career options be excited about.
Right after you earn your MSN degree, you’ll be eligible for new roles in healthcare that utilize your leadership abilities and management potential. For example, you might find yourself in jobs like these:
- A Nurse Manager/Administrator, who maintains the efficiency of their department. Staffing correctly and delegating responsibilities, Nurse Managers and Administrators keep an eye on the big picture strategy of their healthcare organization, while meeting the day-to-day needs of their local objectives.
- A Clinical Nurse Leader, who are skilled communicators. Implementing consistency from top to bottom, Clinical Nurse Leaders balance the power between administrators and nurses in order to ensure premium patient care.
Goodwin College’s MSN degree program is geared to help you land jobs like the above, particularly within the in-demand field of population health. Population health nursing involves managed care across various populations and demographics. The term was actually first coined as recently as 2003, in “What Is Population Health”, by David Kindig, MD, PhD, and Greg Stoddart, PhD.
As a new and developing field, the opportunities for career advancement are (and will continue to be) vast, especially for change-makers and policy-shapers like Goodwin College graduates. A 2015 George Washington University study found that all kinds of leaders, including CEOs, Presidents, Directors, and Professors, across varying sectors, such as health administration, consulting, insurance, and academia, agree that population health has a growing responsibility in our communities. Improving the quality and care among particular groups of patients will continue to define careers for aspiring nurses. Finding your career in population health management does good for you, your patients, and the healthcare sector as a whole. You can keep moving healthcare innovation forward with your MSN!
The jobs you can land with a Master’s in Nursing will keep you engaged and well-paid for your entire career. However, if you decide to continue your education beyond your MSN, there are many additional paths that you could take, once you have an MSN degree in hand. You may want to become:
- A Nurse Practitioner, helping physicians by performing patient assessments, delivering diagnoses, ordering tests, writing prescriptions, and more.
- A Nurse Midwife, overseeing patients during prenatal care, including providing gynecological examinations, educating families about childbirth, and assisting during delivery.
- A Nurse Anesthetist, working in a clinical setting, you preparing patients for surgical treatment, calculating, and administering anesthetic dosages.
- A Family Nurse Practitioner, ensuring the health of children by working in pediatrics.
- A Nurse Educator, inspiring the next generation of nurses in Universities, community healthcare centers, hospitals, and more.
Titles like these are only available to those with a graduate nursing degree.
So, what’s out there for you, after your MSN? The simple answer: An exciting career in healthcare leadership, or with more training, a clinical specialization. No matter your choice, there are flexible options to suit your individual strengths and interests. In as few as 20 months part-time and online, for example, you could be on your way to a strong leadership career in nursing.
Learn more about earning your MSN at Goodwin College by calling 800-889-3282, or by visiting us at https://www.goodwin.edu/landingpages/masters/msn/.
Goodwin University is a nonprofit institution of higher education and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Goodwin University was founded in 1999, with the goal of serving a diverse student population with career-focused degree programs that lead to strong employment outcomes.