The field of nursing is one that is sure to experience much growth in the foreseeable future. These professions, which include Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Nurse Anesthetists, etc., have not been immune from the turbulence of the job market.
Nursing care in America has grown by leaps and bounds, with increased patient privacy laws and a more accountable healthcare system being enacted over the past decade. This has led to an influx of qualified applicants for these positions as more people scramble to get into an industry that offers stability during a time when many other industries are faltering.
Nurses will also be needed to do their part in caring for America’s aging population as Baby Boomers age into retirement.
What are the Roles of a Nurse?
There are many roles within the nursing profession and switching between those roles is what is called “job rotation.” This allows nurses to be prepared to handle any situation they may face. When you are a nurse, you will likely be changing roles frequently, like a sports team.
Some of these career options include:
Registered Nurse – A registered nurse (RN) can work in any kind of operating room and will help doctors with a variety of procedures and duties. In order to become an RN, you must have at least an associate’s degree in nursing from an accredited school.
Licensed Practical Nurse – LPNs are those nurses who specialize in caring for people who live in their homes or are in other remote areas. They can work in hospitals, assisted living facilities, and other places.
Nurse Anesthetist – Nurse anesthesia is the main specialty of nurse anesthetists. Nurse anesthetists have to have a college diploma or associate’s degree in nursing, as well as at least two years of practical experience to become an anesthesiologist. After graduation from the school of nurse anesthesia, you will need to do at least a year of supervised clinical practice under a state-qualified supervisor.
Nurse Educator – The nurse educator can work anywhere in the hospital or any other facility that needs the services of nurses for present or future growth. Nurses who have been educated in nursing and healthcare can apply to become nurse educators.
Helpful Skills Needed in a Career as a Nurse Practitioner (NP)
Strong communication and interpersonal skills are two skills that come up whenever you read interviews with nurse practitioners because they help you to interact with people both on a personal level and professionally. In addition, having strong verbal communication skills is useful since you will most likely be the one speaking with patients when they visit the doctor or hospital.
Nursing fundamentals, knowledge of medical diagnosis and procedures, and the ability to administer medications will all be needed in this position. You will also need to pay attention to details when interacting with patients, so you need critical thinking skills as well.
Education
Nurse Practitioners have to meet certain educational requirements in order to qualify for their license. This includes earning a doctor’s degree, which usually takes four years (by comparison, doctors take eight years). You will then need to complete a certain number of hours of clinical training and practical experience.
Continuing education is also necessary to keep the license active and to maintain practice privileges at hospitals or medical centers. These continuing education courses may be completed online or in person.
How Do I Pick A Nursing Program That Is Best For Me?
There are many factors that go into deciding on the right program for you.
These include:
- Whether you’d prefer to be an LPN or RN.
- What kind of specialty you’d like to have in nursing – the more specialized your education is, the faster you can get into a job, but fewer programs will offer it.
- How much money you can spend on tuition – Accredited schools that offer quality education can be very expensive, especially if they’re private, while others cost very little.
- Where you want your education to take you – If you’d like to work in a rural area, you might want to choose a program that is less flexible on time.
- Information about the school’s accreditation– This can help make sure that the program is offering what it says it does and see if any concerns have been raised about the quality of the nursing education.
- What is the school’s reputation – Like with any other career, knowing what people think of a school before getting into it can be helpful.
- What kind of nurses have graduated from that school– Find out if they have as many job opportunities as they were saying on their website and look into their specific job field after graduation.
How to Prepare For The NCLEX Examination
The licensing examination is the NCLEX-RN or the National Council of State Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses. In order to pass this exam, you will need to review your fundamentals and get lots of practice questions.
For assistance with this process, work with a qualified tutor who has experience teaching and helping with this examination.
Signs That You Are Ready To Become A Nurse
Are you considering becoming a nurse? You might be if:
- You have a passion for helping people
- You are a strong problem solver and logical thinker
- You have a lot of empathy for people and their suffering
Nurses need to be able to cope with a lot of stress and keep it from affecting their work. This means that they need to be in touch with their feelings, but also know how to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand.
What Does the Future Hold for Nurses?
Nurses who want to advance in their careers can go on to become Nurse practitioners (NP) or Registered Nurse anesthetists (CRNA). NPs and CRNAs are usually paid more than other nurses because they need extra degrees and certifications in order to practice.
In addition, by becoming a holistic nurse practitioner, you can earn more than other nurses. Holistic medicine believes that the physical and psychological health of a patient are tied together, so holistic nurses do more than treat the symptoms or illness; they treat the whole person.
It would be a good idea to look into becoming a nurse practitioner or becoming a nurse anesthetist in order to advance in your career, as these jobs are expected to grow over the next decade.
As with most occupations, education is important in order to get within the field, so you need to ensure that you have completed all of your educational requirements before pursuing your nursing career.
The Prerequisites of Good Nursing Roles
Becoming a Nurse has its own set of prerequisites. There are specific requirements that have to be met in order to become a nurse. The jobs available for nurses include the following:
Nurse Practitioner (NP): Nurse Practitioners are healthcare providers who prescribe and manage drug therapies, medical devices, and other health-related procedures to improve the health of patients. They also develop long-term care plans.
Nurse practitioners can work in any setting that needs their help, such as hospitals or physicians’ offices. They typically work under the supervision of a doctor or a nurse practitioner specialist, so they may see patients on their own or with one other nurse practitioner member of staff.
Nurse-Midwives: Nurse-midwives are medical professionals who help deliver newborns, provide prenatal care, and manage tough pregnancies. They are also knowledgeable in postpartum care and gynecological issues.
Nurse-midwives work as part of a healthcare team alongside doctors, physicians’ assistants, and certified nurse-midwives. They can work in hospitals, clinics, or even in private practice.
Nurse Anesthetists: Nurse anesthetists are medical professionals who help provide anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery. They administer medications to patients, monitor their breathing and other vital signs, and manage any complications during the operation.
Nurse anesthetistscan also help with trainee nurses’ education and clinical training, as well as teach classes at accredited schools of nursing.
Nurse Practitioners, Nurse-midwives, and Nurse anesthetists can work in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, clinics, or even in private practice from their own offices. They are licensed doctors who have completed certain training courses and then passed a licensing exam in order to be able to practice effectively within their area of specialty.
Building Pathways For The Future of Specialism
Specializing as a nurse is becoming more popular. So, if you decide that you want to specialize in a certain area or specialty as it is called in the industry, there are some requirements and requirements for nurses to become a specialist.
First off, you have to have completed nursing school and get your RN.
Once you are one of these nurses with an RN, you can apply for a specific specialty board exam. Once you pass the board exam (usually at the end of your first year), if the specialty board in place accepts nurse specialists, then they will add this specialty to your nursing registry.
After that, you can legally practice within your specialty. This gives the nurse an advantage over the other nurses out there because they have the license and recognition to practice in their field.
So now that you know what specializing as a nurse is, what specialty is offered, and how to get your nurse specialist license (which gives you many legal rights), you are ready to go down this path.
What Does the Future Career Path of Nursing Look Like?
Nurses need to stay on the cutting edge of technology in order to remain relevant in their industry. Technology is moving so quickly these days, and if you don’t know how to properly use different types of healthcare technology, you might find yourself falling behind very quickly.
The newest technologies that nurses need to know how to use include:
Electronic medical records (EMR)
EMRs are software programs that store patients’ records on a computer system.It can help organize a lot of information and make it easier for doctors and nurses to access the right information when they need it.
Telemetry
Without this technology, it would be very difficult for doctors and nurses to monitor patients’ vital signs throughout their treatment.
Doctors, nurses, and anyone in the healthcare field who needs to get access to patients’ vital signs can use a telemetry system. It will tell you what your vitals are on a regular basis.
Projected Patient Data
This technology is like a big spreadsheet that shows all of the information that is stored in the EMR.
It can help doctors organize large amounts of data and give them an overview of what needs to be done and where more information needs to be found in the EMR.
e-Prescribing
e-Prescribing is the use of a computer system to send prescriptions to a pharmacy electronically.
This makes it easier for the pharmacist to fulfill their orders because they can easily print out the prescription and process it at their leisure (such as at nighttime or early in the morning). It also keeps track of which prescriptions patients have received, when they received them, and whether or not they need refills on them.
Nurses are also expected to be able to promote health and prevent diseases by being aware of themselves in order to recognize risk factors that lead to certain conditions.
Conclusion – Why You Should Consider Pursuing This Fascinating Career
Nurses are just as much a part of the medical industry as doctors and other medical professionals. They help provide quality care for patients by monitoring patient vitals, administering medicine, and taking care of the general needs of their patients.
Their job is not easy, and it takes dedication and hard work to be a nurse.
Becoming a nurse requires a lot of education about nursing theory, clinical analysis, application of techniques, and other fundamentals that apply to any healthcare career, but once you are in the field, there is a lot more to this career than meets the eye! In today’s world, technology is changing rapidly, and nurses must be able to adapt to it.
In short, nurses are the backbone of healthcare. They are the people who make it possible for doctors to do what they do best: heal patients.
