Master's in Nursing Specialties

The health care administrator focuses on the design and management of efficient health care delivery systems. These systems are complex and require advanced decision-making skills. Comprehensive knowledge is often required in the following fields:

• Professional development
• Organizational design
• Strategic planning
• Health care access/utilization
• Health policy
• Marketing
• Information systems
• Continuous quality improvement
• Total quality management.

The role of the nurse administrator or nurse manager is to assist the nursing staff in delivering quality patient care by working to implement patient care guidelines. Nurse administrators make sure that shifts are adequately staffed by managing the delivery and use of supplies, and by managing the budget in their place of employment. Nurse administrators and nurse managers may work in these settings:

• Hospitals
• Long term care facilities
• Various health care agencies.

The nurse case manager works to ensure that quality health care is being delivered in an efficient, cost-effective manner to individual patients as they move from setting to setting within the health care system. A nurse case manager usually specializes in the delivery of care to these (and other) specific populations:

• Adults
• Families
• Children
• The elderly
• AIDS patients
• Patients with cardiovascular disease

A nurse educator provides both new and advanced-degree nurses with the education they need in order to deliver a consistently high level of patient care. Nurse educators may fulfill the following job tasks:

• Serve as instructors for nursing programs at all levels
• Lead staff development and community education programs
• Serve as consultants when guidelines for clinical practice, public health policy, or related guidelines and policies are being developed

There is currently a shortage of qualified nursing educators, so now is an ideal time to pursue this career path.

Get more in-depth master's in nursing degree information or learn about other types of nursing degrees or nursing career specialties.

_{Note: This scholarship information is provided in cooperation with the National League for Nursing.}