If you are a nursing professional wanting to further your career, online nursing degrees could be your answer, and the Master of Science in Nursing combines top quality distance learning with the most modern instructional technology.
You have the option of studying to become a certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) or a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) in just two years by studying at home. Once your clinical experiences and course work are complete you will be able to sit a national board exam that provides you with certification in the speciality of your choice.
Nurse-midwifes are playing an increasingly important role in obstetrics, right through from the first menstruation to menopause, having a wide-ranging first hand knowledge of women’s health issues in general and of childbirth in particular. In addition to providing advice to women during pregnancy, assisting at the birth and providing post-natal care to mother and child, a nurse-midwife also has a good working knowledge of women’s health problems in general.
All Master of Science in Nursing courses are delivered and studied online, and there are also elements of clinical experience that wherever possible will be provided locally to the student. After graduation, the successful students can sit the American Midwifery Certification Board examination (AMCB).
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners deal predominantly with women’s health problems. Although both men and women share the same health problems, they react to them differently, and a woman requires specialized nursing knowledge in her health care. Such differences go beyond just menstruation, childbirth and the menopause, and women react differently to conditions such as cancer and heart disease. Women also have a greater propensity to migraines, depression and osteoarthritis. These differences are being increasingly recognized, and opportunities for Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners have been steadily rising.
This is the right time for any practising nurse to further their career and distance learning is an ideal way to achieve that. Many people worry that they will be unable to handle online teaching, or that a degree obtained in this way is somehow less than that obtained through regular on-campus study. However, if you can use a computer and the internet, and have an email address, then there is no reason why this should not work for you.
Most people who undertake online courses regard them as much easier to follow than a traditional university course. You have access to your lectures online at any time of the day you wish, and you may access them as many times as you want. If you are a working nurse, then your working hours will not interfere with your study, or vice versa. If you have a young family, you can arrange your study around their needs. Your timetable and schedule will enable you to keep up with the on-campus students studying for the same degree.
As for the quality of the degree: there is no difference between the Master of Science in Nursing degree awarded to online students and to regular campus students. They are exactly the same. You get the same lessons, the same course work and assignments and sit the same exams, and the physical diploma contains nothing that distinguishes between the two.
It is a wonderful opportunity for nurses who would otherwise be unable to take time off to study at university, especially for those that live too far away to travel. After your nursing shift you can go home, have dinner and then put the children to bed, log on and carry out your study. That is a lot better than finishing your shift then driving 30 miles to university for your evening class, and then coming home hungry and tired to hungry and tired children.
The only difference is that your classroom is in your home, or anywhere else you can get an internet connection. You will have the same textbooks and other reference material, and the same access to the tremendous support staff. You will have a number of levels of support, including help from other students in your program. In fact you will likely have more support online than you would had you attended campus.
You will also be able to attend the university graduation ceremony if you so wish, and you should because that is one of the crowning moments of any successful student’s career. It ranks right up there with the various other rights of passage that will occur during your life. You can stand side by side with all of those that followed the same journey, and may even have helped you to be there with them. It is an experience that you must not miss, and the first step is applying for the online degree of Master of Science in Nursing - Nurse Midwifery or Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner.
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If you are interested in obtaining a Certified Nurse Midwife or Nurse Practitioner degree, check out The University of Cincinnati’s Online Master of Science in nursing page where you will find all you need to know, including information on funding and grants.
