Nurses enjoy one of the most rewarding but demanding professions known to man. They are often required to work substantial hours for decent pay, yet they are integral in the care and well-being of so many people. Nurses can specialize in specific populations, diseases, or work-environments. For example, school nurses tend to sick children while ER nurses are crucial in saving people’s lives.
Nursing also allows an unusual amount of flexibility when it comes to type of work and getting pay raises and promotions over time. There’s also no worry of job shortages as in the United States alone experts predict there to be a nationwide shortage of 1 million nurses already by the upcoming year 2020. So if you’re interested in an exciting career that allows you to help people and enjoy security, then this article is for you as it shows you how to become a nurse.
Firstly, anyone considering the nursing career should familiarize themselves with the various degrees and “levels” achievable within the field. This article will only cover a couple of common nurse designations, however, there are many, many different types of nurses.
Once you enter the nursing field, you will also want to decide how much control and responsibility you want over a wide array of issues that workers in the medical field run into. Taking an honest look at yourself and what interests you versus what doesn’t will help you to make the right decision when it comes to determining your educational and vocational paths. This will save you a lot of wasted time and effort.
In many ways the path to becoming a nurse is somewhat similar, although obviously less strenuous and expensive, than the blueprint to becoming a doctor. How close this path is also depends on the type of nurse that you decide to be. All nurses will require some education – usually at a minimum either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in nursing is the first step, but for many types of nurses that isn’t the last step.
For some this will be enough to get into entry level nursing, while others will choose to continue with their education to open up more opportunities within the nursing world.
The next step is to be licensed. There are two main types of nurses – registered (RN) and practical (PN). Practical nurses only need a high school diploma to sit for the exam, but their salaries are roughly $15,000 lower than that of a registered nurse. Practical nurses perform more mundane duties such as taking vital signs, performing first aid, administering injections, and so forth. RNs make a little over $50,000 and can delegate many of the less glamorous jobs to nursing assistants. They are a much more independent, assessing patient’s needs, performing wound care, passing medications, and so forth.
It’s not that hard to meet the basic requirements to get your foot in the door as a PN, and additional education and training is always available to help you advance your career when you’re ready. If you’re really serious about getting the most out of your career, then you might even look at getting a master’s degree to become a nurse practitioner (NPs), who enjoy an even greater level of diagnosing freedom and are just a step down from the actual doctors, and a clear step above the other classes of nurses. If you love helping people and advancing in an exciting career, nursing might be for you!
Want to find out more about how to become a registered nurse, then visit Marc Arlen site on how to choose the best nursing school for your needs.