Completing a demanding degree like an MSN or DNP degree while working in a very busy role is no walk in the park. You need to be very careful or else risk burning yourself out, and when you work as a nurse, this could mean the difference between life or death. Your patient’s quality care should always be a priority, but so too should your own health be prioritized. Only when you care for yourself and your wellbeing can you successfully manage that complex juggle between a DNP degree, your career, and your personal life. It isn’t easy, but that is why practice makes perfect.
If you have so far struggled with balance or are just beginning to manage your BSN and nursing career, use the tips and tricks outlined in this guide. From BSN to a DNP degree, your health matters and will play a huge part in how well you can successfully tackle everything to make progress towards your dreams.
Determining If Your Degree is Essential to Your Career
A BSN, MSN, or DNP degree for nursing is essential, but not all career paths are like this. With nursing, you’ll need a DNP degree to teach or qualify for director and executive level management positions. In other industries, however, you only need experience and to know the right people. An MBA can help you secure that leadership position the same way a DNP degree can help a top-tier nurse, but unlike nursing, no licensing requirements stop you.
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If you aren’t a nurse or in a similar situation where there are license requirements, then you will want to determine first and foremost how essential a degree is to your career:
1. Look at the CV of Others in Your Dream Position
A great way to see what is necessary is to find role models to look up to. This also works in nursing, as you can consider your degree the bare minimum for top-level leadership positions. By simply knowing what credentials your boss has, and other role models in your industry, you can work to emulate their resumes so you too can one day qualify.
2. Check Your State or Country’s Requirements
In nursing, the requirements change from state to state, even for those nurses in the Nurse Licensure Compact. By knowing what you are legally required to have to advance your career, you can choose the best options for you and make sure you legally qualify for your dream role.
3. Read and Ask for Advice
If neither of those options work for you, or you want more information, then ask. You can find people to ask online or right in your own workplace. Asking for advice and tips on reaching your dream position also helps by showing your interest and dedication to one day qualifying for that advanced role.
Choose the Right Degree that Provides the Most Support
If you know you need to complete a degree to make your dreams come true, then make sure it is the best degree for you. Accredited degrees, particularly in nursing, assure you that they reach a minimum standard that your state licensure will accept, but that is still the bare minimum. You will want to make sure that the degrees you choose, for example, that DNP degree, boast the following:
1. Designed for Online
If you are continuing to work while completing your DNP degree or otherwise, it is better not just online, but also designed to be completed online. As many students and institutions have realized this year, traditional learning models do not directly translate well online. That doesn’t mean you cannot have a great education through an online model, just that the degree must be designed accordingly to provide the most support.
2. Career Support
When you complete a degree to progress in your current career, you will want an institution that helps you achieve your goals. In some cases, this will be as simple as securing the clinical hours you need to complete your DNP degree.
3. Accredited
Accreditation assures students that not only is the degree they are looking at a solid one but also that it is from a reputable and established institution. There are many instances of fake or new universities, more or less scamming students out of quality education. By looking for accredited options, you are guaranteed a minimum in standards that employers and state licensure bodies can understand.
4. Made by and For Professionals
The best degrees, especially ones that focus on leadership and management as this DNP degree does, needs to be designed and focussed on your professional career. They are usually designed by professionals, for professionals, and will teach you the theory and practical elements towards directing or managing large institutions of your own.
5. Highly Regarded by Graduates
Recent graduates and established alumni alike who have completed your prospective degree should rave about the degree. If they believe that their DNP degree has helped them secure a great position and helped further their career goals, then the chances are that DNP degree will help you, too.
Before Enrolment: Health Changes to Make
By ensuring a degree is important for your career and that you will be supported as much as possible by your institution, you stay committed to your goals. If you doubt yourself or your degree, it will be harder and harder to convince yourself that it is even necessary. With strong conviction, you can push through the difficulty, but you won’t want to push through without first improving your habits and routines with these tips:
1. Improving Your Sleep Schedule
A good night’s sleep comes from a healthy sleep schedule, and those don’t start overnight. It takes time to build up a good sleep routine and work out the tips and tricks that appeal to you, and those who don’t. By taking a month or two before your degree begins to improve your sleep schedule so you get a good solid 8 hours of sleep per night, you’ll substantially improve your work and study ability.
2. Making it Easier to Eat Healthily
Start by removing temptation, and then start prepping food. Your freezer should be your best friend, and microwavable meals should be home-made. By prepping your food, you can increase the number of vitamins and nutrients and support a healthier brain.
3. Getting Regular Exercise
Regular exercise is important, but it can also be time-consuming and very hard to start when you have work and studying to contend with. Get used to a regular exercise routine long before you start your degree, so you can enjoy the fatigue-lifting benefits of exercise instead of the bone-tired aftereffects when you first start.
During Your Degree: Getting the Support You Need
You are not alone. You have your friends and family, co-workers, and even the rest of those taking the same degree as you. All of these people are part of your support system, and by relying on them, you can juggle the workload better and help safeguard your mental health and wellbeing. It can be very isolating, doing all of this extra work on top of your career, but with these tips, you will be supported and loved:
1. Get Your Friends and Family on Board
You need people to help you, and though they cannot learn on your behalf and just deposit the information you need in your head, there are other key ways that they can help. One of the best ways is by just being there. Having someone work on their own project next to you while you are studying is great for morale, plus you will have a friend right there to enjoy your breaks with.
Other ways that friends and family could help include making dinner, helping you prep healthy meals, and generally just being there to remind you to take those breaks that help keep stress low and productivity high.
2. Inform Your Employer and Make it Count
Your employer should be invested in your efforts. After all, it is always better to have an employee who wants to better themselves and their skillset than it is to hire someone who already has that skill set. In some industries, like nursing, the need for APRNs and nurses with advanced skills is so great that it is very likely you will be able to easily convince your employer to easily sponsor your education.
3. Get Help and Support from Your Classmates
Get the contact details of the others who are doing the same degree as you, and work with them. Even online, there are ways to get together and help each other out. From group video calls to online messaging boards and groups, all the way to cloud-based applications and tools. There are many ways you can communicate together, brainstorm, and learn from one another.
Managing the Silent Killer: Beat Stress with These Tips
Stress kills. It makes our hair go white, or cells die, stomach to knot, and even increases our high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk. Stress kills you. Even if it doesn’t put your health at risk, it causes serious damage to your mental wellbeing. There are, thankfully, many ways to help fight back against stress, or at the very least, learn how to manage it better so you don’t end up burning out.
1. Plan and Take Regular Breaks
Breaks are the best weapon against stress and can actually help everyone improve their studying. If you push yourself too hard, your brain will rebel. Read all the pages you want, but try to recall what you have read, and you may find nothing more than a blank.
Plan breaks and improves the break quality itself. Get out of the room, go for a walk, enjoy a healthy snack; these are great ways to give the mind a rest and refuel before going back in.
2. Have a Dedicated Study Center
If you have a place where you study exclusively, then you can get in the zone faster and more efficiently. More crucially, however, you won’t be intruding on an area that you should be relaxing in. You can study at home by trying to keep it away from places where you relax. This way, you can trick your mind into calming down more easily when the time is right.
3. Rewrite Notes, so You Best Understand
We all learn differently. By rewriting what you learn in explanations that make the most sense to you, you can improve your memory retention and critical thinking.
4. Revise During Waiting Periods
Don’t cram before the exam. Revise regularly. This is particularly important with healthcare degrees. After all, you genuinely will need this information, and it needs to be second nature. Revising either with written notes or voice notes on a regular basis (your commute or during large lines are great times to revise) can solidify what you have learned.
Final Thoughts: Taking Your Time
Online degrees can be spread out. You can take a break and then come back in the next intake period to complete another few credit later. It doesn’t matter how long your course takes to complete, so long as you consistently work to complete it. If you feel like you have taken on too much and are just treading water, or even outright drowning, then it’s important to take a step back.
In most careers, this step back will help keep you from sabotaging your career. In a nursing or other healthcare career, however, it could stop you from causing damage to a patient as well as your career. Take your time, adjust your efforts, and strike the right balance so you can stay productive and strive towards your goal without burning out or taking two steps back.
Prioritize your health and wellness, and don’t forget to take breaks and just socialize. It can be hard to find the time for friends, much less for yourself, but you can easily lose yourself without this focus on you and your loved ones. Take care and allow your friends to be that key support network because together, you can accomplish anything.
