Nursing Fields
There is now in our country, an alarming shortage of trained and licensed nurses to fill the positions that are critical to quality of care for the healthcare consumer. On every floor in a hospital, nurses are practicing in a wide variety of nursing fields, from an emergency room nurse assessing a heart attack victim, to the nurse that provides education and skill polishing to the whole nursing and medical staff. Nurses fill a variety of roles, aside from the traditional bedside care of the sick and wounded. Nurses are advocates for their patients, and are greatly responsible for the level of care received by the patient, and their lasting memory of the experience. Nurses are concerned with the treatment of the patient, not necessarily the patient's treatment, which is the role of the physician. Nursing fields are not limited to the hospital anymore. Nurses can serve in the military, work for public relations firms or health insurance companies, be a school nurse, an entrepreneur, a nurse educator, a home health nurse, a public health nurse, a free-lance writer . . . the possibilities are endless!
Nurses can start out with an entry-level training program and progress through PhD level if so desired. An associate's degree is a two-year registered nurse (RN) program that focuses greatly on teaching the essential information and skills necessary to practice nursing safely in a variety of nursing fields. The next level is a four-year degree program that awards a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN). This route many take longer but it is well worth the time vested. This type of program offers a wider range of learning experiences, in many different facets of healthcare, in practice and in theory, which is why many associate degree prepared nurses continue on to receive a BSN. Many healthcare institutions across the country require that the nurses they hire have a minimum of a BSN to work for them. The next level is a master of science in nursing (MSN) degree. This is for the nurse who has been practicing for a while, and wants to practice more autonomously, for example, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and nurse administrators. A PhD or doctorate level nurse can be prepared in almost any discipline.
An entry-level graduate nurse will receive a longer orientation, usually six weeks, in specific area of the hospital. The nurse will work under a graduate license until he or she has studied sufficiently and passes the board test for full RN licensure. At the end of the orientation period, the new nurse and supervisor meet to evaluate the nurse's comfort level in performing the specific skills, assessments, and interventions pertinent to the nurse's level of autonomy. From here, new opportunities abound for additional training in many different nursing fields and modalities of healthcare. The student pondering a career in healthcare should truly check out nursing, a holistic approach to provide care and support in an ever changing and progressive field. With so many nursing fields available, there's one that is right for you.
With medical costs continuing their upward trends, nurses are being relied upon today to provide more hands on treatment than they ever have in the past. Pressure from insurance companies is pushing many doctors into highly specialized niches, and nurses are beginning to do a lot of the work doctors used to. There continues to be a shortage of nurses in many countries around the world, including the United States, and as a result existing nurses are making higher salaries than ever. With the high demand, excellent pay and job security, and wide variety of nursing fields to pursue, nursing is becoming a more attractive career than ever before.
There are many different nursing fields that are becoming especially popular today. One such fields is the Nurse Anesthesiologist. As its title suggests, this nursing field has to do with the administration of anesthesia to patients as they undergo surgery, or other medical procedures that require anesthetic. A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologists (CRNA) works with the other health care professionals involved in the procedure, such as doctors, surgeons, or dentists, and monitors the patients anesthesia needs. The duties of a CRNA are critically important, and they remain by the patient during the entire procedure.
Another of the faster growing nursing fields is that of the Nurse Practitioner. A Nurse Practitioner (NP) has had much of the same training in diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses that physicians receive. Therefore, they are capable of doing a lot of the same work that doctors traditionally did in the past, and can even write prescriptions for medication.
An relatively new, yet exciting and fast growing, nursing field is Forensic Nursing. A Forensic Nurse is medical professional involved in crime scene investigations to help determine what crimes occurred, and by whom.
All of the previously mentioned nursing fields require education and training in addition to the schooling needed to become a registered nurse (RN). Because these fields usually offer higher salaries and more autonomy than the fields available with just an RN, they are very attractive careers for a nurse.
Some of the more traditional nursing fields are also growing in popularity, such as school nursing, and pediatric nursing. Additionally, there are countless different nursing fields and positions available within hospitals even with just an RN. The field of nursing as a whole is rapidly expanding, and there will be a demand for nurses for many years to come. Our traditional ideas of the female nurse working with the male doctor are already a thing of the past. With the high costs, and competition of medical school, and the falling wages for doctors, nursing is becoming a very attractive alternative to anyone interested in a medical profession.
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