Rewarding Nursing Careers
Nursing can be a wonderful, fulfilling career for those individuals that have a compassionate nature. The nature of nursing has changed drastically within the last fifty years and the last few years have seen the greatest need ever for nurses within hospital, long term care facilities and other clinical settings. Any nurse who has undergone the appropriate recognized training usually has no difficulty in gaining immediate employment with all the current vacancies for nurses.
There are over 3,000 different nursing programs in the United States, ranging from basic one year programs to Bachelor degrees, Master degrees and beyond. Depending on the area of nursing you are in, and the type of employment you ultimately seek will depend on how much time you will spend pursuing an education. Any nursing program that a student wishes to undertake must be accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or (NLNAC). Any program that is not accredited will not lead to legitimate employment for a nursing career.
At the lower end of the nursing spectrum is the LPN or Licensed Practical Nurse designation. This one year certificate or diploma program, gives both medical and technical skills, for anyone interested in working under a nurse's supervision. Licensed practical nurses perform routine tasks like monitoring blood pressure, dressing wounds, making patients comfortable and assisting with rehabilitative techniques. Many practical nurses are now employed in continuing care facilities due to our aging population, and many private nursing agencies aggressively compete to recruit LPN's.
For anyone interested in becoming a Registered Nurse a wide variety of different medical opportunities exist. There are fifty six sub specialities of nursing including critical care, orthopaedics, clinical care, psychiatric nursing just to name a few. Registered Nurses will find vacancies listed on hospital websites, and private medical recruiters actually specialize in getting nurses national and international work. To become a Registered Nurse, at least two years of College or University education leading to an associate's degree must be undertaken. Recent years have seen a trend towards associate degree holders in nursing, pursuing their education on to a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree or BS. After either degree a nurse must undergo state licensing to be certified as a Registered Nurse before seeking any employment vacancy. All nursing programs contain a clinical aspect or on the job training, typically done in a hospital or other clinical setting. Like a doctor, a newly certified Registered Nurse will rotate between different wards to learn to care for patients. Here a nurse will put her technological skills to work, by using different types of medical equipment such as x-ray machines, and ultra sound monitors along with putting people skills in to practice by dealing with people from all socio-economic backgrounds on a day to day basis. When an RN finds a specific area of nursing like gastroenterology or cardiac care they may seek to find employment within that niche. Luckily, many hospitals continue to recruit new nurses, and they may find employment at the very place they did their work experience. Other job vacancies for nurses can be found at community clinics, private health care management facilities, and through medical recruiters. Many medical recruiters have become increasingly specialized in recent years, and often seek to recruit only a handful of nursing specializations. Further employment may be found with home health care facilities and through state nurse associations.
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