Certification is promoted as a way to expand nurse responsibilities, increase salary, and survive cutbacks. Indeed, insurance companies are pushing for certification of nurse specialists, says Carol Shaner, who administers certification programs in the continuity of care and gastroenterology. Though nurses receive higher salaries in specialty areas, those salaries are lower than those of physician specialists. So many new opportunities for nurses. So many programs to jumpstart lucrative careers.
Experts say no.
In fact, most MSN and certification programs require at least one year of full-time experience. Since so much of graduate school is a shared experience, new BSNs are not desired students. Also, Wheeler adds, graduate school involves independent working in a clinical situation, and new nursing graduates have no experience with that. The best path for new nurses is the traditional one, nursing experts say. Newly-minted nurses should seek a hospital nursing staff position upon graduation.