Is it worth doing Master's in Mental Health Nursing?

BethZgredna

Hi,
I am a second year MH Nursing student and quite frankly as much as I enjoy patient contact I really dislike working within teams (i.e. politics, gossip etc.)
 I was wondering if someone more experienced in the field could advise me if having Master's would give me more autonomy and independence please.
Also, what can you do with your Master's? Could it for instance enable you to work as a Nurse Therapist?
I'll be grateful for any advice :-)

[Deleted User]

A masters degree tends to be a requirement expected as you progress further up the bands the NHS use. 

Your going to find nursing in general you are expected to work in a team. 

Manxman_in_exile

If you don't like working in teams you have made a spectacularly poor career choice - especially mental health where service delivery is often focused around teams.

A master's qualification won't necessarily open any different doors.  In the MH trust where I worked there seemed to be as many RMNs with master's degrees as without them.

To be honest, asking this question at all as a second year student suggests you didn't do much research into your chosen career.

Manxman_in_exile

Sorry - my previous post sounds a bit harsh, but the point still stands.  I was a manager in a mental health trust for 25 years, and a significant part of that was involved in managing workforce information, workforce planning and commissioning workforce training.  I would advise you to have a long chat with your course tutors to see whether you've made the right career choice in the first place, or whether anything can be done to improve your experiences

Having said that, I've looked at your first post again and it doesn't really make sense.  You say:  "...as much as I enjoy patient contact I really dislike working within teams (i.e. politics, gossip etc.)".  With respect, the one does not logically follow from the other.  "Working in teams" has absolutely nothing to do with politics, gossip etc.  Working in teams is about more than one person, often from more than one clinical profession, working together as a team to provide the best outcome achievable for a particular patient.  That's all working in teams is about.

Unfortunately (from your point of view) people working closely together can also result in other perfectly normal aspects of human behaviour, such as talking about other people, talking about politics, talking about what was on TV last night and discussing why hospital managers are such ****heads.  There's nothing wrong with that, and if you don't want to join in you don't have to.  But be aware that if you try to cut yourself off entirely from this sort of interaction, your colleagues will think you are a bit odd, a bit stand-offish and a bit arrogant.  And you may end up socially and professionally isolated (and very unhappy) as a result.

To be frank, if you can't cope with the gossip and small talk, you may not be cut out to work as a menatl health nurse.

Speak to your tutors.  They get paid a lot of money to advise people like you.  Make them earn it.

Good luck.

JamoLew

Totally agree with Manxman
Just to add that many Band 7 jobs have as a requirement a master level education nowadays

Dox

BethZgredna said:

Hi,
I am a second year MH Nursing student and quite frankly as much as I enjoy patient contact I really dislike working within teams (i.e. politics, gossip etc.)
 I was wondering if someone more experienced in the field could advise me if having Master's would give me more autonomy and independence please.
Also, what can you do with your Master's? Could it for instance enable you to work as a Nurse Therapist?
I'll be grateful for any advice :-)

If you don't like politics, gossip etc then steer the conversation away onto other topics. But as others have said, your concept of working as part of a team is pretty odd. Teamwork is essential in almost all fields, particular those involving patient care.

polgara

JamoLew said:

Totally agree with Manxman
Just to add that many Band 7 jobs have as a requirement a master level education nowadays

They will have to have completed their preceptorship at a Band 5 level first though.  Frankly there are very few jobs in the NHS/Care sector that don't require good team working and given the risks in mental health nursing to the service users/colleagues and your own physical and mental health its generally even more of an issue.  Maybe you need to reframe what you think of a being part of a team - if its the general chitchat thats the issue then dip in and out as you need.  You don't need to engage in discussions about last night's soaps if thats of no interest to you but you will need to have a level of friendliness towards your team colleagues.  Politics - the NHS is a political football so people on the front line will have personal views about what's going on particularly if it affects them or their services. If you have differing opinions then you can choose to either engage or not - there are lots of people from all walks of life in the care sector, and accessing those services, with differing views.  

I agree with talking to a tutor - this is a sector that is all about building rapport and gaining trust - there is nothing to be ashamed about saying that its not right for you and changing direction before you feel trapped in a career that will not make you happy.

dinglebert

As a mental health nurse for over 30 years, both as ward charge nurse and also community team leader, there is no position in nursing that does not involve team working.  It would be a dreadful job if it didn't.  The chats, the conversations, the humour are just what is need sometimes to help make sense of the work you will have to do and the toll it can take on your own mental health.

Ironically it was after gaining my higher qualifications that I knew it was time to stop seeing patients.  I had stopped caring and believe when I say that is not an uncommon event after 20 odd years of giving. 

I moved in Clinical Informatics where I was able to use my experience and training to help patients and staff in a different way.