Master degree in nursing

Question:

I have been accepted into a direct entry MSN program, but am getting cold feet. Most things about nursing excite me, but there is one issue that I am really struggling with. I am currently a software engineer, and my nurse friends and I have the same question: Would a task oriented job like nursing give me the intellectual stimulation I want from my job? I have no doubt that nurses are plenty smart, so please don’t take this as a condescending statement. It is more a question of how you use your brain.

The problem I am faced with is I don't know what it will be like to be a nurse, without quitting my job, moving, and going to school. I want to be as sure as I can be that this is the right path for me before I pull up roots.

So, my question to all of you is
Does nursing provide you with problem solving type intellectual stimulation? If so, how? Tell me what area of nursing you work in, and the types of things you have to think about, and any other words of wisdom you might care to share.

Answer:

Despite what some may seem to say and or think, nursing is no longer strictly a task orientated profession. Within the scope of the profession, one is expected to observe and interpret data, make assessments and be a full member of a patient's care team. As a RN you are still expected to be your patient's primary advocate and if one will, protector. If a treatment, medication or procedure ordered is not having the desired outcome and or may cause harm, as an RN you are responsible for knowing what is what. Just because a doctor orders are incorrect and you follow them will not get one off the hook should something go down.

Sharing of thoughts will all very well, still can not replace experiencing nursing first hand as described above. As you will soon find out, speak to 10 nurses and you will get 11 or so different responses about the profession.

Different areas of nursing require different special talents. For those who can work in fast paced areas and can process information on the fly, there is emergency room/trauma or the critical care units.

Am I correct in assuming you have no prior experience in nursing or education in said profession> Most direct entry MSN programs are just that, masters in nursing programs which means you will have the same training/experience as nursing students in ADN or BSN programs. In short your employment options are probably not going to be the same. Most MSN grads teach or work in other of nursing, but not normally on patient care units.
One difference between nursing and software engineering is that nursing has a lot more ethical moments in it. Sooner or later, as a nurse, you are going to see someone do something so wrong, so perverted, that the only right and ethical thing to do, is to report them. It could be another nurse, it could be a physician, it could be a CNA. If it's your boss, or your best friend, what are you going to do? What are you going to do, after you go to all the trouble to report this person, and all they get, is a slap on the wrist?

I know a master's degree nurse that the only nursing job she can get, is in a nursing home. She works in a gift shop now.

I too used to be a software engineer, and I thought that nursing might be good for me. I figured out in time, that it was not. I recently got back from six months in the Basque Country of Spain, learning about the aborigines and their quaint customs. I got back, graduated with a bachelor’s in Spanish, and now I am going to start a master's. I can't wait to get back. Don't you want to travel, see a city with a real Roman wall, meet the Lehendakari, dance all night in a disco with a woman half your age, and stagger back to your hotel at 5:00 AM, singing out loud?.

Nursing, or this San Sebastian and A Coruña are even prettier. The countryside is to die for.

Many nurses are plenty smart, but what about the nurse who spends an entire shift playing computer solitaire, while important orders in a patient’s chart go ignored, who doesn't see anything wrong with acting that way?

You could make a wrong decision. If you do, nursing process from your first semester should help you to correct that mistake. It will show you the way, anyway. Assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate. Repeat until problem is fixed, or you can live with the result.

Some areas of nursing may be more appealing to you than others; different positions offer different degrees of intellectual stimulation. And a lot depends on what you find intellectually stimulating.

If you are going into a direct entry MSN program, I am assuming that you will be choosing an area of specialization as an advanced practice nurse? (This is the case with most direct-entry masters programs).
You're likely to encounter a range of options, especially for positions that require a greater degree of autonomy.

(And I don't know why Earle seems to think that nursing precludes international travel any more than any other type of work. In fact, it probably offers more opportunities for travel than many other types of work.)