Why I Got a Non-Clinical Masters Degree. Rachel ChinQuee MSN,RN

Nursing offers so many options to branch off into and as a profession we are truly blessed to have a multitude of possibilities. This is some of my story on how I ended up obtaining a Masters in Nursing Leadership.

I started my nursing education at a community college, I was more than happy to simply become a Registered Nurse (RN) the fastest way possible. After graduation, I truly only cared about being a badass ER nurse, getting my own apartment and making that nurse-money. My first job was in a busy emergency room that simply required an Associates Degree. Many of the nurses who worked with me had varying levels of education, BSN nurses did get paid $1 more per hour, however I didn’t see where they were much smarter than any one else.I was blessed to  work closely with many amazing  Nurse Practitioners (NP). Watching them work, diagnose, and be a physician extender, I realized that role was not for me. I didn’t see my self as a mid-level practitioner, being on call, and quite frankly only making $80-$100 thousand dollars a year on average. In my mind it wasn’t worth it.

After a two-year stint as an ER nurse I moved into a high acuity Surgical ICU. I had an uncle who was a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), and his advice was to quickly move into an ICU so I could go to CRNA School. CRNA’s as many nurses know are highly paid and well respected. It sounded like two great features of the role that I desired.

Unfortunately, after about a year in that ICU, I realized no matter how well CRNA’s were paid, I wasn’t comfortable with that level of acuity. I did feel a lot of guilt that perhaps I was just a lazy person, or didn’t like nursing. I was 3 years into my nursing career, 28 years old, and I had no idea what the next 40 years of nursing would look like for me. An NP in the ICU that I worked for told me they saw me in administration and I took the first step to apply for a coordinator role.

I’m not sure how, I landed a job with my own office as a transplant coordinator with only 3 years experience and an Associates Degree, but I did! The role had very little training, and more work than 10 nurses could handle. Working as a salaried nurse was a culture shock, as I took work home with me night after night. The commute to the beautiful office and overloaded work assignment became too arduous, and two years into the job, I started looking on indeed for new options.

Lets recap… that means I had 3 nursing jobs in my first 5 years as an RN. While the exposure was fabulous, I still had no idea what I wanted to do and I was 30 years old. In the two years as a transplant coordinator, I had started my BSN, but only because the role required me to sign a contract stating I would do so. Here I was now 30 years old, no BSN and no clue what I truly wanted.

I had started to believe that I would obtain my BSN and try to find a quiet nursing job, that would allow me to think as little as possible, and focus on my outside life more than work. Nursing was simply a means to an end, as over the past years, I just couldn’t figure out what I liked. And then I started doing Utilization Management.

Again I got wildly lucky and got 1 of 4 roles as a Utilization Management nurse, for a large health plan that had just won a state contract! This position also came with a work at home option. To say I loved this job, would have been an understatement. Essentially I would determine medical necessity on requests from doctors for the members we had; I took into account finance, quality, and contractual metrics. I quickly became the subject matter expert and preceptor for my state. Many of my peers encouraged me as a leader, and came to me for advice on many areas even those outside of our day-to-day work. A light bulb went off, and I realized that Nursing Leadership was the path I wanted to take. I quickly finished my BSN, and moved into an accelerated MSN program. I graduated with my Masters in Nursing Leadership from Nova Southeastern University and made $100 thousand dollars in the same year. When I started doing what I loved, I excelled.

There is much more to my professional story even after that role and my MSN, but I will leave that for another post.

If I could have given my younger-self advice, I would tell my self to keep searching and not have guilt over disliking what others loved. For a long time I felt bad that I didn’t LOVE nursing. There are so many roles in nursing and even more that will be created over the years. Take your own path and keep searching until you have that inner discernment that you are making the best choice for you!

SOURCE: NURSEALOT