What is a Good Minor for a Nursing Major?

For some college students, choosing a major is easy. The hard part is choosing the right minor. A minor is a specialization, or a secondary academic discipline that interests you. It should complement your major or help you prepare for some aspect of your future career. For example, if you major in journalism, you might minor in political science, business, or even sports management, depending on the direction you hope your career will take. As a nursing major, you’ll want to choose a minor that opens up options for the future. Right now, you’re following a calling and a passion to help others as a nurse, but in the future, you may also want to lead, counsel, and inspire others. A minor in healthcare administration, counseling, or psychology might give you a head start to your future self. 

Discover how these minors might augment your career aspirations and set you up for a long and fulfilling career in nursing. 

Healthcare Administration Minor

Understanding how a healthcare facility runs from the top down will help you better do your job as a nurse. With a healthcare administration minor, you’ll learn what it takes to manage a hospital or public health system. You’ll learn about the structure and function of the U.S. healthcare system, how and why people use health care, and how to assess access to health services across diverse populations. A healthcare administration major will also help you understand the finances behind healthcare systems and the critical need to effectively manage human resources. And it will give you an introduction to the regulatory nature of healthcare.

With a grasp of what it takes to run healthcare facilities, you can determine where your unique skills will fit into the broader scope of an organization or system. A minor in healthcare administration could also be the first step to a leadership role in the future.

Counseling Minor

As a nurse, you’ll care for the whole person, and that includes their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. A counseling minor will teach you basic communication and interpersonal skills for the therapeutic setting. You’ll learn about psychopathology theories, research, and diagnostic criteria. And you’ll be introduced to abnormal psychology and learn about current strategies in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. This foundation will help you better identify issues that you may need to refer to other healthcare professionals. 

Even in your day-to-day work as a nurse, there will be many opportunities to use the skills you learn with a counseling minor. Part of your job will be to make certain that your patients and their families understand a diagnosis and a doctor’s instructions. And many counseling techniques have become mainstream. For example, tools to practice mindfulness, destress, think more positively, and to achieve an overall better sense of well-being are now used throughout health care. Your job as a nurse is to help patients get better. That’s why you’ll advise them on how to take medications and follow therapy routines. You may even coach them through the treatment process. And you can teach them about proper nutrition and the benefit of exercise.  

Psychology

If human behavior interests you, you might prefer to minor in psychology. Through these courses, you’ll learn about the social and cultural determinants of behavior, how personalities develop, and the types of mental disorders that people might have. 

Psychology can be a valuable minor because it will help you better understand your patients as well as yourself. You’ll have to develop good relationships with your patients so they trust you and feel comfortable in your care, and the study of psychology can help you learn how to do that. You’ll be able to understand the behavioral and environmental factors that may have led to their illness, which will give you a greater sense of empathy and compassion for your patients. You’ll also refine your communication skills, which will help you interact professionally but humanly with both patients and their loved ones. 

If your goal is to become a psychiatric nurse who works with those who suffer from mental illness, a psychology major will prepare you for this type of work. It will also look good on your resume when you’re ready to begin the job search.