Why Should You Pursue Masters in Nursing?
Are you contemplating whether you should pursue a masters in nursing? An MSN degree, commonly known as a master’s of science in nursing, is a specialized and advanced degree. It allows you to obtain advanced knowledge and skills and will bring prestige and a wide range of professional advantages.
Pursuing a masters in nursing is an excellent strategy to advance your career and access a plethora of opportunities. You can specialize in your relevant field, join the academia, conduct research and leave a mark in the healthcare sector. The advantages of a masters in nursing extend beyond financial and professional aspects, impacting your social and personal life.
It allows you to enjoy greater work flexibility and job security, alongside gaining more control over your career. In this article, we will walk you through some of the opportunities you can enjoy with an MSN degree.
HERE IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Salary Increments
Pursuing a masters in nursing will allow you to increase your financial wellbeing, and as specialists in nursing earn considerably more. Nurses with an associate degree tend to earn more than $65,000 a year, while a bachelor’s degree brings $80,000 annually. However, a master’s degree can make a valuable employee for any healthcare facility. Nurses with an MSN degree tend to earn much more than their lesser-educated colleagues. On average, MSN nursing holders take home $90,000 a year.
That is not all. MSN degree holders enjoy dramatic increments in their salaries with time. As their experience increases, they are held in higher esteem, and their salaries tend to increase considerably. For instance, nurse practitioners with more than ten years of experience make over $100,000 annually, while nurse practitioners with over 20 years of experience make an average of $105,000 a year.
You can enroll yourself for a flexible BSN to MSN Online Program and advance your academic growth with greater convenience. The salary increments come with a wide range of other benefits, alongside ease of finding lucrative employment opportunities.
Enhanced Professional Reputation
An MSN degree allows you to establish yourself as an expert in the field of nursing and healthcare. It garners your immense respect and admiration in your healthcare facility. You colleagues and other professionals treat you with respect, and you are given the authority of making complex decisions.
A graduate degree allows you to gain expertise that makes your advice and suggestions valuable. It allows you to preside over challenging medical situations and devise solutions to facilitate treatments and procedures.
Gateway to a PhD.
Once you are done with your MSN, you can easily navigate a path towards earning a PhD. A master’s degree in nursing opens a wide range of academic possibilities. You can pursue the path of research and devise new strategies to innovate and advance nursing practices. You can expand your professional opportunities and actualize the dream of earning a PhD. This will allow you to access new horizons of career advancement and leadership opportunities.
A Nurse Educator
Obtaining a master’s degree in nursing opens up all kinds of doors and mediums to become an educator. You can lead and train the nurses within your healthcare facility. Or you can teach a classroom filled with the avid learner as a nurse educator. These professionals are hired by vocational institutions, hospitals, universities and nursing schools. You can channel your expertise towards training more efficient and skillful nurses.
Flexible Hours & Working Conditions
The profession of nursing is very rewarding as you are giving back to your community and helping people day after day. However, the work hours and conditions are exhausting and tiresome. It can be hard to enjoy a normal life routine or family life working 12-hours a day. Most nurses have to work during holidays and special occasions.
Obtaining a Master’s degree can bring a dramatic shift in your work hours and conditions. An MSN degree will make you eligible for leadership roles and managerial positions. You can enjoy more convenient and shorter shifts and greater flexibility. Typically, nurse practitioners with MSN degrees tend to work 40-hours a week.
They also enjoy promotions and enhanced pay scales, which makes it easier to work less and lead a wholesome life.
Leadership Opportunities
If you seek to innovate practices and lead a team, you are strongly advised to pursue an MSN degree. It allows you to obtain specialized clinical skills and advanced management expertise. It will help equip you with leadership strategies and the awareness to lead a team of healthcare professionals. Nurses with MSN degree run and oversee multiple departments, and lead nursing teams on complex cases.
It allows you to gain a specialization in your relevant field. Be it a psychiatric specialization, family nursing, gynecology or more. A master’s degree will make you a specialist in your field and better equipped to lead younger professionals.
Leave a Mark in Healthcare
An MSN degree paves the way for you to leave a mark on the healthcare industry and influence practices or strategies. You can put forward new strategies and suggestions to improve the patient care experience. You can influence treatments and policies as a senior professional within your healthcare facilities. If you pursue the path of research, you can leave a profound impact on the entire healthcare industry.
CONCLUSION
Today, it is much easier to pursue an MSN degree without having to give up your job or undertaking financial burdens. You do not necessarily have to go back to school. Just enroll for an online program that offers flexibility and convenience of scheduling.
