Nurses seeking a career in administration or public policy-making have a choice of three dual or joint master's degree programs: the Master of Science in nursing administration/Master of Business Administration (M.S.N./M.B.A.), the Master of Science in nursing administration and health care administration (M.S.N./HCAD) and the Master of Science in nursing administration with a Master of Public Health (M.S.N./M.P.H.). The M.S.N./M.B.A. and M.S.N./HCAD prepare nurses for top-level administration careers as hospital directors of nursing or chief nursing officers. Graduates of the M.S.N./M.P.H. work with governmental agencies and community health centers to review and develop public health policy.
The majority of master's programs in nursing fall under the category of advanced practice degrees. Advanced practice nurses either concentrate their study in one of many medical specialties, such as infection control and prevention, pediatrics, neonatal intensive care, gerontology, wellness promotion, psychiatry or clinical trials research, or become certified as a nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, registered nurse anesthetist or clinical nurse specialist. These highly trained nurses perform many tasks traditionally done by doctors. Duties can include performing physical examinations, ordering lab tests, prescribing medications, treating patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, delivering babies and providing postpartum care.
According to Villanova University's program overview, a master's degree in nursing education "prepares nurses to assume leadership roles as dynamic educators in baccalaureate and associate degree programs, staff development, continuing education and community education programs." A nurse educator must draw on her personal experience as a clinical specialist, as well as be highly knowledgeable of the current trends and new developments in the health care field. This combination is essential because a nurse educator develops curriculum, produces clinical training programs and assesses students' comprehension of course work and ability to perform clinical tasks.
Because of technology's increasingly important role in medicine and health care, the nursing specialty of informatics has developed. Nursing informatics is "a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice," according to the American Nurses Association. Nurses specializing in informatics evaluate how technological advancements can be used to improve clinical procedures, nursing staffing and the overall health care offered to the community.