Career Development and Staffing Reflective Journal

I anticipated discussing one of the aspects of possible career development that we had talked about having a guest speaker discuss. As for staffing, I expected to discuss how staffing changes are made and who makes those decisions.  In class we actually talked about master's and NP degrees and what that entails.  We also covered travel nursing and some of the specifics that go along with that, such as how long of an orientation travel nurses get, that they have to apply for RN license in each state, and that most agencies require 2 years of experience.  I also learned that there is an MSN and there is an NP, although they are bother master's degrees.  The NP degree is better when anticipating that you would like to do more clinical work.  Our staffing discussion was also interesting.  The dilemma was brought up that a day position opened up for application and usually the nurse manager offers the more desirable position to the most senior RN on night shift first; however, they need those senior nurses on night shift or else they would all be new nurses.  We also did a scheduling exercise.  I enjoyed these discussions since they were real-life examples and it gave me a greater appreciation for staffing.  I also was interested in learning more about NP programs and about being an NP, so this was a great way to find all that out.