How Nurses in Advanced Careers Can Build Resilient Work Routines

Nurses, of course, in many ways – the most important ways – are incredibly resilient. They see everyday things that would break the average person, and in situations where people are calling for help, they are the ones who provide it.

And yet, there are important and undeniable facts. This profession has one of the highest turnover rates out of any major career sector in the world. People will spend four or more years getting a BSN only to leave the profession at an increasingly common rate within the first five years of their career. This does not owe to a lack of resiliency, of course, but simply reflects the fact that this is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting work. Or to put it another way, many people eventually simply find that there are easier ways to make a five-figure salary.

And yet, burning out of the profession completely is not the only way to seek relief from the stresses of healthcare careers. In this article, we take a look at how you can build resiliency into your long-term health care goals.

Identify What Aspects of Health Care You Like the Most

This is an important early step in adding longevity to your health care career. Most nurses go immediately into a hospital floor, an emergency room, or, in some cases, a doctor’s office. At least two-thirds of these options are arguably the least ideal health care placements imaginable. You can guess which two we mean.

Working in a hospital is always going to be hard, particularly when your primary role is to put out fires or work with the recently admitted. Simply put, people on your rotation are in bad shape. They are emotionally volatile and very often in a state of decline. These factors make the work more challenging.

But don’t make the mistake of assuming that because this is where you start, it has to be where you end. If you’re not entirely happy with your current role, figure out what you do like about it, and then look for a career that will allow you to do primarily that.

Choosing the Next Steps

Once you’ve decided that you want to take your career beyond the hospital floor, you’ll have many options. You can pivot into administrative careers with an MHA, or you can consider a path of lifelong learning and migrate into an advanced nursing position. In either case, you’ll need a bit more schooling, but it will be well worth the effort, both in terms of salary and career fulfillment.

Administrative roles are a particularly good thing to think about if you’re burned out on the patient care end of things. Many nurses wonder, what can you do with an MHA degree?

Administrators make high-leverage choices that impact hundreds, or even thousands of patients every day. While you won’t have the personal satisfaction of seeing your work impact an individual, you will know that you’re making an enormous difference in your community.

Certification

Probably the most accessible path towards career longevity in the world of nursing is to consider an advanced certification. The reason this path works so well for so many people is that while continuing education is required, it happens while you’re assuming your new role. In other words, you don’t have to pause your life and your career for two to three years, the way you would with graduate school.

Instead, you can start your new job right away and then work on getting your degree. That’s an important distinguishing factor for people who are held back by the idea of expanding their credentials and getting a better job because they have a partner, a child, a mortgage – none of which will wait on them to get a new degree.

Advanced certifications actively require on-the-job experience, so employers already know there will be many situations where they’re hiring someone who doesn’t already have it. They’ll usually pay for any continuing education requirements that you have and allow you to engage right away in the responsibilities that interest you the most.

There are so many examples of jobs possible for those with an advanced certification, it would be impossible to list all of them here in this article.

Flight nurse, travel nurse, nursing educator, case manager – even school nurses will generally have a special certification.

Truly though, there are dozens more. If there is a component of being a floor nurse that you love, there’s a reasonably high chance that somewhere exists a certification program that would allow you to focus only on that.

Graduate Degree

The next best option is to consider a graduate degree in nursing. MSN programs take longer and are certainly more intrusive on a personal level. If you’re going this route, you can still work and, of course, maintain family balance, but you will be making concessions at certain points, almost no matter what.

The good news, at least, is that the depth of those concessions is getting constantly smaller. Online nursing programs make it easier than ever to get your credential in a flexible environment that is every bit as valid as traditional learning models.

If you are considering going this route, know that you should do lots of research before selecting a program. You need to make sure that the university you’re interested in is not only fully accredited but also regionally accredited.

Your state may have different requirements than the national government, and as such, googling “MSN program” or “online MSN program” will turn up dozens of options, many of which might not be applicable in your area. Some, of course, will be, and that’s where you’ll find the opportunities.

MSN recipients can work as nurse practitioners and other advanced practice roles. In these jobs, they’ll make a six-figure salary and have a much wider range of responsibilities.

Conclusion

There are so many different aspects of health care work, both on the patient care end of things and on the administrative side. Too many talented individuals get burned out quickly and leave the profession entirely.

It’s very understandable that not every nurse will want to spend forty years on a hospital floor. Just remember that you don’t have to.

This is one of the most versatile degrees that any college has to offer. Capitalize on that opportunity.