Earning a Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration is a great move to advance your nursing career. This degree provides the knowledge needed in administrational duties to start getting hired in leadership positions. This means you can finally start working in those higher positions and making that higher salary.
There are quite a few positions you become eligible for after earning your Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration, all of which pay very well. You’ll need to pick a program to enroll in first though. That’s where we can help—keep reading to discover which are the best nursing administration master’s degree programs.
Best Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration Programs
Earning a master’s degree is a huge undertaking, so it is important to make sure you earn a good one. While there are thousands of programs out there for nursing administration, you’ll want to be sure you attend one of the best. This will ensure a quality education and the credentials needed to be hired for your dream job. The following programs are some of the absolute best you can enroll in, and many of them also offer BSN programs.
Gardner-Webb University
Gardner-Webb University offers an online or hybrid MSN in Nursing Administration. This program focuses on preparing nurses for leadership roles by educating them in a variety of disciplines. Students will cover subjects in nursing, public health, business, education, and more.
The MSN program offered through Gardner-Webb University focuses on a Christian-based education and teaches students how to best care for patients using their faith. The program is designed specifically for busy, working adults and can easily be completed in as little as two years.
John Hopkins University
While John Hopkins University may not offer a Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration program, they do offer an MSN in Healthcare Organizational Leadership, and an MSN in Advanced Nursing Practice. These programs are offered in an on-campus format, and the healthcare organizational leadership option can be combined with an MBA as a dual degree.
These programs are taught by internationally recognized instructors, most of which have first-hand experience in the nursing field. Both programs focus on developing each student’s unique perspective on frontline nursing. Students will learn how to evaluate, manage, and if necessary, improve the healthcare delivery system.
John Hopkins University also allows students to tailor their degrees by focusing on information technology, health policy, case/population management, or management administration.
George Washington University
George Washington University offers an MSN in Nursing leadership and Management. This program is offered in an on-campus format and is designed to help you develop your leadership skills as a nurse. Skills are developed by training students to act strategically, participate in policy changes, and help guide their organizations.
Courses in this MSN program cover everything from business functions to research methods. Students will learn about policy issues, different leadership methods, healthcare coaching, and economics and finance. Students will also participate in multiple leadership practicum experiences to help prepare them for work after graduation.
Duke University
Duke University offers an online MSN degree program in nursing and healthcare leadership. This program is designed to be completed online, but you will have to participate in an in-person practicum experience to graduate. Students will study all aspects of nursing administration from financial management to leadership practices.
The coursework in this program is specifically selected and designed to create an education based on real-world problems and situations. This curriculum combines both traditional nursing administration concepts and theories with more modern ideas to give students the best possible education.
Florida Atlantic University
At Florida Atlantic University, you can enroll in an MSN in Nursing Administration and Financial Leadership. This MSN program is completely online and offered in both a part-time and full-time format, making it easy for any student to complete the degree. FAU even accommodates students who are unable to attend their campus for the required practicum.
Florida Atlantic University’s MSN program is designed to educate students in relative material for primary, secondary, and even tertiary levels of nursing administration. Students will learn about leadership in nursing, philosophies and theories of nursing, financial administration, and human resource management.
University of Cincinnati
If you enroll at the University of Cincinnati, you can partake in its online master of nursing administration program. This program is designed to be completed just as easily part-time as full-time, offering flexibility to students who are busy with other priorities, such as work and family.
This program consists of 40 credit hours of core master’s courses and 504 hours of nursing practicum. By requiring so many practicum hours, the University of Cincinnati is allowing students the opportunity to practice their learned theories and continue to learn through hands-on experience. All courses take into account any recent developments in nursing administration, keeping students up-to-date.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham
At the University of Alabama in Birmingham, you can enroll in an MSN in Nursing Health Systems Leadership. This program is offered in a part-time, hybrid format. Classes are a combination of online and on-campus, and students are not expected to attend full-time. This helps embrace students who are trying to continue working with earning this degree.
The University of Alabama’s MSN program is designed to be completed in around two years and includes coursework, on-campus labs and intensives, and an eight-hour practicum. Everything taught throughout this program is designed to give students the best education with plenty of hands-on experience.
University of Houston
The University of Houston offers an MSN program in either education, administration, or family nurse practitioner. The MSN in Administration is offered both on-campus and online, though students of both paths will be required to attend an on-campus orientation to the program.
Students in this program are taught advanced courses about theories, research, and clinical application. All of these subjects are designed to help students function in a high-level and competitive environment with ease. The program requires students to participate in a lot of face-to-face research, providing students with the opportunity to practice their learnings prior to graduating.
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students can either enroll in an on-campus MSN program or an online MSN program in healthcare leadership and administration. Both programs are great options for nursing students to enroll in, but the online MSN will offer more education in the area of nursing administration.
The MSN in Healthcare Leadership and Nursing Administration is designed to help students learn how to manage and care for patients in a clinical environment. There are major focuses on understanding a patient’s clinical progression, patient safety, quality improvement, and evidence-based practices.
Columbia University
Columbia University offers a bit of a different program: a Master’s Degree in Advanced Clinical Management and Leadership. This program is offered on-campus through Columbia University’s school of nursing and consists of 30 total credit hours. It is designed specifically for registered nurses (RNs) with bachelor’s degrees.
Columbia University recognizes how frequently new advancements are made in nursing and strives to keep this master’s degree program up-to-date on recent developments. Students master new technologies, practice new evidence-proven practices, and lead transitions to new types of patient care. Students are also taught to focus on clinical care and patient-centered communication.
Earning your Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration from any one of these universities is guaranteed to help you advance your career. Employers will be thrilled to see an accredited program on your resume and having a master’s degree will likely result in a great salary. While you can earn your degree from any college that offers one, earning it from a well-known and accredited school is the only way to guarantee a well-rounded education.
What You Can Do with a Nursing Administration Master’s Degree
With a nursing administration master’s degree, you can easily be hired for several jobs. Most of the desirable, higher positions require you to have earned this degree before applying. Some of the more popular choices include positions like the following.
Nurse Administrator
As a nurse administrator, you would be the head of one or several departments within a hospital. This means the responsibilities of hiring new staff, creating work schedules, managing budgets, keeping records, and general supervision of your department would fall on you. Working this job, you would likely earn an annual salary of around $81,000.
"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"
Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot
Nursing Consultant
Nursing consultants are vital to the functions of a hospital. They are the ones who evaluate the overall delivery of healthcare in a hospital, as well as some individual patient cases. Bringing in a fresh pair of eyes to see if anything needs improving is a great way to continue providing quality care, and that is what nursing consultants do. If you become a nursing consultant, you would earn around $89,000 per year.
Health Services Manager
Health services managers are responsible for managing facilities that provide health services. This means they do all of the hiring, budgeting, supervising, and maintaining of records for a facility to ensure optimal working conditions and services. Working in this position brings in an average annual salary of $99,700.
Nursing Executive
Nursing executives are exactly what they sound like: the executive nurse of a facility. This is the highest position in nursing that can be achieved and results in the overseeing of the entire nursing team, patient care, and decisions to help support a hospital’s goals. Nursing executives earn an average of $70,000 to $100,000 per year, based on experience, education, and employers.
Clinical Nurse Leader
Clinical nurse leaders are responsible for overseeing patient care. They take charge of the design, development, and implementation of patient care and work out the details with the clinical-level healthcare team, rather than at an administrative level. Clinical nurse leaders make an average of $90,000 per year.
All of these positions are easily obtained with a Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration. As you can see, these are all positions that earn great annual salaries and there are plenty of other positions out there that earn just as much. Working in leadership positions in a medical environment can be a very satisfying job for those who wish to help people and these jobs all do just that.
Conclusion
For anyone with a passion for nursing and a desire to lead people, earning a Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration is a great career choice. This degree can easily be earned while working as a nurse and will help you develop the skills you need to advance your career. Choosing to attend one of the top schools listed above is the best way to ensure a sound education and it will help you get hired for those higher positions.
After earning your Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration, you will see many new career opportunities pop up. This degree will open a door for you to get the jobs you have always dreamed of working, like a nurse executive or clinical nurse leader. If this sounds like the life you want, we definitely think you should start applying to these schools to earn your Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
