Any MSW/RN's out there? Want to pick your brain

Hello all,

first post on here and i've found a wonderful wealth of information so far. I'm currently a MSW working in a psychotherapuetic environment, mostly with kids now, but have worked with addictions, sexual trauma, developmental delay, and HIV+ clients.

My dilemma is this: Social Work is looking to be a dead end path these days. Most places rely on federal, state, and local funding for their programs (which is drying up or gone completly). I love what I do, but quite frankly, the econonmy and managed care won't support private practice, Social Work schools are churning out grads at an alarming rate and with burn out and lack of opportunity for upward growth with direct client contact, I'm thinking a change to Nursing may be my best option. Are there any of you out there that have made this change or contemplating this change now? Are jobs in Nursing drying up as fast as Social Work? Is the competition for jobs increasing faster than new jobs can be created?

I welcome any and all thoughts. oh, if it makes a difference, I'm in southeast Florida.
Thanks
Well, I'm not a nurse, but I do have a question or two for you. I have applied to an MSW program for the upcoming fall. I haven't heard if I got accepted yet, but I have read and heard a lot of bad things about going down this path. It takes at least 2 years after graduation to get a license as a social worker, and I have heard mixed answers about the pay. I know nursing would be more challenging and the school is more difficult, and I would also be the type of nurse who would need to be in a setting where I was able to spend more time with patients. I don't know if this would be an issue for you, but I know that in many nursing settings, the nurse has so much work to do, there is little time to really meet the patient's psycho-social needs. However, I do think in areas like psych, home health nursing, hospice and probably others, there would be more time for it. I think that in health care, nursing is probably the best career path, compared to social work or other therapy careers. You can't beat the job security and I think the pay is good for the cost of school. Have you considered using your MSW to work in other settings, like outpatient treatment centers, or are you just ready for a change?
I've known (worked closely with) several social workers who thought about becoming nurses, because they saw RNs in the psych settings in which they worked getting paid quite a bit more than they did for doing what looked to them like similar work, but when they looked into what would be involved in becoming an RN, they changed their minds and stuck with social work.
jcmoore07:good luck with your program. i would say, if i had it to do over again, i'm not sure i would have gone down the same path. i love working with my clients and seeing them succeed or helping them when they fail. unfortunately, social workers are flooding my area and there just aren't enough jobs or funding to support the programs. it's an often times thankless, but rewarding career path. i've worked in various settings, mostly in non profit. when i was in a for profit setting, we were forced by managment to 'sell' the service basically or violate the clients choice to leave...wasn't what i thought was ethically sound practice.elkpark:not afraid of the work load at school, or the other 'fun' stuff that comes with nursing really. graduate school is equally stressful in different ways. i'm mostly worried that i'm going to put up this commitment of time, money, and possibly sanity, and run into the same problems i currently have no opportunity for real growth, or the ability to change venues when burnout is approaching. i'm very well aware i'm changing one high burnout profession for another, but i'm seeing that nursing is providing many more opportunities. any nurse i've talked to doesn't express regret...whereas, a lot of the social workers i've talked to are jaded and resenting their choices. psychotherapists in my area are mostly being paid on a fee for service basis, and therefore no work=no money=instability. and the insurance companies are denying mental health benefits at an increasing rate, gov't funding sources are going dry or have been axed completely, so no money for agencies either.
Hello! Sorry so late in responding to your post- I just joined allnurses.com, but have been reading and conducting research on allnurses.com for awhile now. I am both a MSW and RN- I become a MSW first and a RN about 5 years later. I decided to go back to nursing school after moving from a suburb of DC with lots of potential for social workers to a more rural location about 50 miles away with little growth potential at the time. I was seeing lot of nursing positions advertised and since nursing was my original major declared in college I thought I would apply to schools. I have an associate's degree in nursing and am a RN now as well as having my MSW. I think it is a good combiniation for psychiatric medicine/mental health, hospice and case management, but I am finding it difficult to find my niche. I see the psychosocial needs, but find that the managed care model often does not allow the time necessary to address all the needs of the patient. I also find that I want to spend more time with the patient/family than the managed care model allows because of my background and experience in social work (being used to being able to spend at least 50 minutes with a client). Hope this helps!
I also have a MSW and am applying to nursing schools. In my area, there just are not many job opportunities for social workers. I truly wonder what many of the new grads are going to do. In my specific area of social work (gerontology), you will see MSWs taking BSW positions bc the MSW jobs are few and far between. Also, may jobs requiring a MSW want you to be a LCSW (licensed clinical social worker), which in order to get these credentials, you must get 3000 supervised clock hours and sit for an exam. Neither of which are opportunities within your MSW program. You do this on your own after graduation and can take several years. Anyhow, I feel that a transition from SW to nursing is an opportunistic move--you're going where there are more opportunities. Also not to mention, more respect, and more pay.