Healthcare Career Exploration Practice Test

Advanced practice nursing requires education beyond the bachelor’s level to develop the advanced clinical skills and scope of practice needed for roles like nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, or nurse midwife. The most common graduate degree that prepares nurses for these advanced roles is the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). The other options—RN, BSN, and LPN—are undergraduate or entry-level credentials and don’t provide the graduate-level preparation required for these specialized positions. (Some paths now lead to a Doctor of Nursing Practice, but the traditional graduate degree for advanced practice is the MSN.)