For MSN prepared nurses in vascular access/infusion therapy, what is your MSN in and does it add value to your current practice?
What position ate you in with it?
I am interested in nurse education, but not at a nursing school, so I don't want an MSN in education. Considering CNL, CNS or leadership and management.
Thoughts
If you want to do continuing professional education for nurses or any type of training, you would be better off with a masters degree in education. There are M.Ed. degrees, like mine, that is not associated with only nursing practice. And there are masters nursing programs that combine the MSN and M.Ed. Clinical degrees do not include the attention to the process of learning or all that is needed for education. My M.Ed. is in adult education from the University of Georgia, which is one of the type schools in the country. I was extremely pleased with this program for many reasons. There is also a board certification in nursing professional development from ANCC. You could get a clinical masters and combine it with this board certification, but there would be a lot to study about education and training and all aspects of staff development. Good luck with your decision.
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
I received an MSN in Nursing Education in December 2016 and was hired as Infusion Clinical Educator for a large home care agency in October 2017. Although I’m new to this position – I am finding my MSN-ED preparation to be of much benefit. The education focused courses I took – were taught with an academic/faculty preparation emphasis – but the skills learned, such as curriculum development, teaching methods, and evaluation can be tailored to create orientation, competency and continuing education modules/offerings.
The MSN-ED also addresses uniquely nursing education challenges – such as the overwhelmingly content oriented focus of nursing, steeped in rote memorization learning, instead of a context oriented education that teaches nurses how to think through, reflect upon and effectively act upon a variety of changing and overlapping situations/topics/skills. The MSN-ED also teaches simulation and debriefing related to nursing – which again – can be effectively used in professional continuing education.
All said – don’t count out the MSN/Nursing Education degree – it’s not just for academic nursing faculty!