Increasingly, management level nursing positions require a graduate degree in nursing or health services administration. They also require leadership, negotiation skills, and good judgment. Graduate programs preparing executive level nurses usually last 1 to 2 years. Within patient care, nurses can advance to clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, certified nurse- midwife, or nurse anesthetist. These positions require 1 or 2 years of graduate education, leading to a certificate or master's degree.
Some nurses move into the business side of health care.
Their nursing expertise and experience on a health care team equip them to manage ambulatory, acute, home health, and chronic care services. Some are employed by health care corporations in health planning and development, marketing, and quality assurance. Job prospects in nursing are good. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005 and, because the occupation is large, many new jobs will result. Job prospects will be even better if nursing school enrollments level off or decline, as they have on a cyclical basis in the past, thus reducing the number of qualified applicants.