go from BSN to MSN

The Path from BSN to MSN: Your Complete Guide to the Master's in Nursing

Registered Nurses are part of an evolutionary movement to refine and improve healthcare in the United States. But in order to effect change for the better, you have to be willing to change, too, or you might find yourself professionally on the outside looking in. RNs are seeking additional education to become leaders and healthcare best-practices facilitators for today and tomorrow. But don't blink: tomorrow is traveling at warp speed!

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN): The Degree You Need

Some RNs seek additional education and certification because they want to be one of the top players in their field. Others see how nursing is becoming an integral force in the future of healthcare and want to be a part of that evolution in nursing. They want to be one of those people who get in on the ground floor of a healthcare system where nursing roles are rapidly changing. Some RNs see the need for improvement in our healthcare system and know they can be pioneers in improving the future of healthcare. Maybe, for you, it's all that and more.

A master's in nursing could help get you ahead of the healthcare curve that we're seeing today. But not all degree programs are created equally. It's important that you earn your degree at a school that is recognized by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). If you specialize in a competency, like Nursing Education, additional affiliation with the National League for Nursing's Nurse Educator (CNE) organization is important. Another valuable recognition your school should have with its MSN, Health Systems Leadership degree program is American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) affiliation. If respected professional nursing organizations do not certify, affiliate or collaborate with a school or college, then seek advanced education elsewhere.

If you are also U.S. military Active Duty, a Reservist or a Veteran, be sure your MSN program is offered at a college or university that is recognized as one of the Yellow Ribbon, Best for Vets, and Top Military-Friendly rated schools.

Upon completion of a Master of Science in Nursing degree, you may be able to work as a leader or educator in the nursing industry, with proven skills in communication, patient safety, group dynamics, and healthcare theory application. You should be up-to-date on current technologies and how to integrate them into the patient-care or healthcare team environment.

Is an MSN Degree Really Worth It?

You already have what it takes to be a compassionate, effective RN. Still, you want more for yourself and your future. You want to be able to give more to your patients, to new nurses, to your company. But a Master's degree in Nursing takes time and most of all, a commitment to success. Is it worth the effort?

Most colleges and universities recognize an RN's need to balance work and family while pursuing an MSN, so online classes and flexibility are now the rule, not the exception. A Master of Science in Nursing degree can be earned online. Classes can be completed at your own pace and you should have the same, perhaps even better, access to your professors. Your Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) likely took you 2½ -4 years. Following the accelerated program, you can complete all MSN classes in as little as 15 months!

You have the time.

One thing employers recognize is that a RN who has made the effort to pursue additional education while juggling work and personal commitments is going to be an above-average contributor to their healthcare organization.

What Can I Do With an MSN?

The question should be, what do you want to do? 

Some of the qualities of an MSN are:

  • Operates as an independent thinker, yet is readily available to help others develop professionally
  • Ability to focus on a single problem with losing sight of long-term or collective goals
  • A passion for nursing and superior healthcare delivery
  • Able to create a plan to achieve a needed result

Those are qualities that can be learned! In addition to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a candidate for a MSN program needs to consider what the best direction is: leadership/management of others, or nurse education?

Graduates holding a MSN in Health Systems Leadership may be eligible for positions in a variety of acute care and community health settings; for example:

  • Nurse Manager
  • Program Manager
  • Nurse Director or equivalent
  • Quality Improvement Director
  • Patient Safety Director

MSN graduates with a concentration in Nursing Education may be eligible for positions in healthcare and academic settings including:

  • Patient Education
  • Clinical Nurse Educator
  • Director of Professional Practice
  • Director of Staff Development
  • Nursing Faculty at the practical, associate or bachelor degree levels

MSN in Health Systems Leadership

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."
--President John F. Kennedy.

The MSN degree with a concentration in Health Systems Leadership could qualify nurses for a number of job opportunities, not all of them strictly with healthcare providers. The study program itself will focus on quality management, leadership in a clinical environment, safety, outcome and resource management, supervision of care coordination for superior health practices and evidence-based practice.

Healthcare-based opportunities include nurse management and other supervisory roles at:

  • Home healthcare companies
  • Hospitals
  • Human resources departments
  • Large corporations
  • Outpatient facilities
  • Personnel or patient safety departments
  • Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies
  • Physician offices
  • Program management departments
  • Quality improvement departments

Already there is a decline in requests for the traditional nursing home living arrangements; aging Boomers and their families are seeking technology-assisted healthcare (professionally monitored medication tracking for seniors and mobile support, for example). You could be part of this trend, or you could be one of the developers of a technology-based healthcare program for extended living and retirement communities.

Some of the best non-hospital opportunities for nurses with the MSN degree include:

  • Computer systems design and related services
  • Data processing, hosting, and related services
  • Navigational, measuring, electromedical, or control instruments manufacturing
  • Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing
  • Pharmaceutical wholesale companies

MSN in Nursing Education

You know from your own experience that the best teachers are those who have worked in hospitals and other healthcare settings; they can share valuable knowledge that only comes from personal experience and can direct students toward the paths that lead to success. They can also define the steps student nurses should take to avoid failure.

Are you able to explain processes and do you enjoy making a positive difference in many nursing students' lives? Then you have skills that could make you an excellent nurse educator. With a Master's degree in Nursing Education, you'll be able to confidently speak to the foundations of nursing education, statistics and healthcare policies. You will help nursing students with curriculum development and address the ways to integrate technology into the nursing environment. You may be a faculty member at a university or the clinical director of nurse education for a hospital or school.

For every student you teach, you will have helped thousands of patients' healthcare. How's that for making a difference?

MSN Classes

The courses required for your MSN degree are fascinating and will increase your confidence in your ability to lead and educate others in various healthcare environments. Some of the curriculum includes:

  • Advanced Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Physical Assessment
  • Assessing & Evaluating Nursing Education
  • Curriculum Planning & Development
  • Health Systems Finance, Management
  • Nursing Education
  • Policy, Politics and Advocacy in Healthcare
  • Statistics
  • Teaching & Learning Strategies
  • Technologies
  • Quality Measurement & Management

How long will it take to earn a nursing master's degree?

How long it will take to earn the Master of Science in Nursing degree depends on you. A hybrid program combines online learning with classroom learning. For some students, face-to-face collaboration and interaction with other students is needed to get the most out of a particular class. Worldwide Learn says that because the point of distance learning is to offer academic flexibility for working professionals, most of the institutions that offer hybrid programs try to minimize the time spent in physical classrooms.

For other working professionals, 100% online learning programs are the best because they offer convenience without compromise. It's also convenience without having to find a parking space! Nobody knows more about multitasking than a BSN, and online classes are for the kind of person who can balance a busy personal and professional life while pursing higher education. Another advantage to online learning is that you may acquire even better technical skills, navigating online systems and programs. Those skills may transfer to your new management, supervisory or professional educator role, because you'll be using the latest industry-standard simulation software and web-based networking tools.

Simulation software? If only you'd had access to this technology when you earned your BSN degree! You'll be amazed at how it assists the learning experience by simulating the skills needed in real-world workplace settings.

If you think your ability to interact with professors will be limited by online learning, you're wrong. In fact, busy professors, like you, prefer the convenience of communicating online and are able to respond to you, one-on-one, more completely than if you were vying with other students in the classroom setting. And putting your questions and ideas in the written word increases your own ability to communicate as a professional manager in the healthcare environment. In the online learning environment, you'll discover:

  • Faculty is accessible by email and through forums 24/7 but will also schedule virtual office hours for one-on-one real-time meetings with you.
  • You can work at your own pace and complete coursework anywhere, anytime that fits your personal and professional schedule.
  • It's 2:00 a.m. and you've hit a virtual wall trying to complete an assignment! Technical support for online classes is available 24/7.
  • Remember those frantic trips to the library to find a necessary book or paper? You'll have access to an online library that holds the reference material you need.
  • Career Services will be available to assist you in making the move to another workplace where you can use your MSN degree to its and your best advantage.

A Master of Science in Nursing degree could be completed in 15 months.

If We Don't Change, We Don't Grow

"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today."
--Malcolm X

If you think you have no time to waste earning a Master of Science in Nursing degree, you are absolutely right! Think about the last 15 months. Where did you go? What did you accomplish? Now think about what's possible for you in the next fifteen months: You can literally change your life! With your MSN degree, you will professionally go anywhere you want to go, do anything you want to do and the next time you review your life, you'll be proud of your many accomplishments!

It's just not enough to earn a living. It's time to learn a living! That's the only way you'll have the life you were meant to have. Remember this: If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.

Prepare for the Future Today with an MSN Degree

When you contact ECPI University today about a Master of Science in Nursing degree with a concentration in Health Systems Leadership or Nursing Education, you take the first step toward becoming a nursing professional. The ECPI University difference: smaller class sizes and easy access to your instructors, free tutoring, before-and-after career services. We will ensure you've got the tools you need to succeed.

Enroll in the nursing master's degree program at ECPI today. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

Learn more about ECPI's College of Nursing TODAY!

DISCLAIMER :ECPI University makes no claim, warranty or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.

For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.