Online Degrees in MSN

MSN Degrees

A Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) will prepare you to work in an administrative role in a healthcare setting, or perhaps to work in the field of nursing education at a training hospital or a university.  You can earn your MSN with an additional one to two years of full-time study after you've completed your Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), or in some cases, you can enroll directly in an RN to MSN program which will take about 5 years to cover both the BSN and MSN-level curriculum.

At the master's level, nursing education becomes very specialized, and you'll be able to choose an area of particular interest on which to focus. Usually these areas of interest can be broken down into four separate categories: patient age (i.e. geriatric nursing, pediatric nursing, neonatal nursing, etc.), work setting or type of care (i.e. acute care, emergency/critical care), medical conditions or diseases (i.e. oncology, psychiatric nursing) and organs/organ systems (i.e. cardiac care, gynecology).

Once you've earned your MSN, you may pursue additional nursing opportunities such as working as a nurse midwife (if you've chosen to specialize in women's health or OB/GYN care), clinical nurse specialist (CNS), or with the appropriate training, certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA). If you wish to advance into the upper levels of nursing administration or education, you may also wish to put your MSN to good use by continuing on to pursue a Doctor of Nursing (ND) degree.