Nursing: Career

A career in nursing can be rewarding and exciting. Many people think that a nursing degree is not as respected as a medical school degree. It is important to realize that nurses are needed in growing numbers throughout the US. Nurses take care of patients and do a fairly large amount of the physical work involved. Nurses give shots, administer medication, and monitor and change IVs.

Nurses are educated in nursing school prior to getting a job. The early years of nursing school focus on beginner subjects such as how to wash hands properly and how to give a shop. As nurses progress through their education, they are placed into clinical settings to obtain real hands on experience. Once school is finished, nurses apply for jobs in their desired area. Because nurses are around a lot of medications, a drug test is usually required prior to acceptance of a job. Nurses can specialize in areas such as renal therapy, emergency room nursing, or surgical nursing. The specialties available are endless.

There are a lot of options available in the nursing field. Hospitals provide thousands of jobs to nurses. There is also the option of a doctor's office or nursing home. Nurses are needed for private home care. Nurses are also on staff at schools. The benefit of getting a nursing job at a school is three months off during the summer months.

There are many great things about the nursing field. Nurses are not stuck behind a desk for 8 hours a day staring at a computer. Nurses get to interact with many different people on a daily basis. Some nursing jobs involve working longer shift for three days a week and having a long weekend in between. The pay is not bad for a nurse and many places are always hiring new nurses. Most nurses wear scrubs to work which can be very comfortable and stylish.

There are also a few downsides to a career in nursing. Nurses are always around sick people, therefore they have a greater risk of becoming sick themselves. Sick people also tend to be cranky and nurses have to deal with angry patients with a smile. Some doctors may treat nurses with little respect. Nursing is considered by some people to be a woman's field. People may treat male nurses differently. Nurses have to deal with the reality that some of their patients will die no matter how much they nurture them. Nurses also may get attached to a patient in a hospital setting, only to never see them again after they are released. Nurses have to clean up after patients who have diarrhea or urinary accidents. They have to change bloody bandages. Some of the things they see are graphic and upsetting. Nursing is not for the weak at heart.

A career in nursing is rewarding, but it is not without its challenges. A nurse may not find her niche right away. With a little experience and experimentation, a nurse can find the most suitable job placement available to her.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Nursing

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Get Started Your Career In Nursing

Qualified nurses are in highly demand in the health care market. Throughout the years, the field of nursing has brought millions and millions of people above the average paying jobs. There has never a more exciting time to join the nursing profession. As a nurse it is possible to work in, among others, hospitals, clinics, nursing and residential homes, occupational health services, voluntary organizations that run hospices or residential care and the pharmaceutical industry. Nurses also work in the prison service, university education, on leisure cruise ships or for the armed forces.

Nurse Qualification

It is possible to take either a diploma or degree course to qualify as a nurse. You can choose to go to traditional class-based courses or getting your diploma or degree online through online nursing program. You will learn the basic principal in nursing in first year; you will then specialize in an emphasis field such as adult, children's, mental health or learning disability nursing. Diploma courses will normally take 3 years to complete and a degree nursing courses may need 3 to 4 years.

Receive Licensure As Registered Nurse

Once you graduate from nursing college or university, you are required to undergo an examination before receiving licensure as a registered nurse in the United States. The examination is called NCLEX-RN or the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses, this examination has been developed to test your competence in the profession of nursing before practicing.

Nurse Career Fields

Once you are qualified as registered nurse, you can start your career in various nursing fields based on your specialization, among the common nursing fields are:

Adult Nursing

Adult nursing involves caring for adults, both sick and well, not only in the hospital environment but also in the community setting such as attached to a health centre or in nursing homes. An inherent part of the role of an adult nurse is the promotion of health through education, the prevention of disease and the care, sustenance and rehabilitation of adults undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic regimes. You may take extra courses to specialize in areas such as cancer care, women's health, accident and emergency, critical care, practice nursing, health visiting or school nursing.

Children's Nursing

If you specialized in children nursing, you will work to take care of children and young people, from newborn to adolescence. Because children react to illness in a very different way to adults, your trained skill in children nursing will help you to understand their particular needs.

Learning Disability Nursing

As a nurse specialized in learning disability nursing, you will help those with learning disabilities to live independent and fulfilling lives. You will need to work with a group of people with learning disability, living together and provider 24 hours support to this group.

Mental Health Nursing

Trends in modern living have increased pressures for many members of society that may cause may of mental health issues. You as a mental health nurse will need to work with psychiatrists, social workers and others to co-ordinate the care of people suffering from mental illness.

In Summary

As a registered nurse specialized in your field of interest, you have a wide variety of career opportunities to start with. The health market is always in demand for nurses, that mean your have a bright career future once your get your qualification as a nurse.

Jullie Harvard is the author of http://www.studykiosk.com. This site featured over 1,000 online degrees and you can get more information on Online Nursing Degree at this site.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Nursing Career - A Smart Choice

If you have been considering entering into the healthcare industry as a professional nurse, here are some points to consider....

Nursing careers encompass a wide range of activities related to the field of delivering healthcare. As pure healthcare professionals employed in hospitals and similar other healthcare units, people in nursing careers cater to treatment, safety and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured people, health maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a wide range of health care settings.

Additionally, nursing careers also span many non-clinical functions, such as medical and nursing research, forensic research, nursing education, medical insurance, serving medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies and so on.

In the United States, it is estimated that nursing careers of about 50 percent of nurses start at hospitals of all hues. Indeed, hospitals remain the largest employers of registered nurses. But there are other avenues for promising nursing careers, some of which are enumerated below:

o Working in specialized healthcare units and long-term care facilities (hospice nursing, standalone nursing homes, patient rehabilitation, etc.).

o Assisting medical specialists like surgeons, ophthalmologists, obstetricians and others.

o Nursing-on-call on private duty for home patients (home health agencies).

o Serving in outdoor community health clinics.

o Educating aspiring nurses as teachers.

o Engaging in medical, nursing and forensic research, either self or as assistants.

o Independent nursing careers like legal nurse consultants, medical writers, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and so on.

o Serving international organizations, like United Nations, Red Cross, etc.

o Serving insurance companies and managed care centers.

o Serving in statutory bodies responsible for hospital regulations.

o Serving companies engaged in healthcare and medical business.

Job consultants have long noted an increasing uptrend for nursing careers. By all accounts, the employment opportunity for registered nurses is expected to grow at a much faster pace through 2014 compared to all other occupations. Since the occupation is very large and in view of rising median age of registered nurse population, the requirement of registered nurses is likely to create the second largest of new jobs among all occupations.

Even though nursing careers are on an upswing, there are not enough facilities, competent to meet the growing demand. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reports that the shortage of faculty in nursing schools has reached an alarming proportion. This is happening because on one hand the present faculty workforce is fast approaching retirement, and on the other, the pool of younger replacement faculty is decreasing.

This has thrown a unique opportunity for experienced registered nurses to pursue nursing careers of teaching and counseling new students. Among other considerations in favor of teaching profession, higher emolument is surely a big motivating factor. Since teaching requires higher education in nursing (masters degree or higher), experienced nurses who already have bachelor degrees, may consider enrolling for higher education in order to enhance their nursing careers. At the same time, as the nursing institutes re-organize their teaching facilities, school-level graduates may find nursing careers lucrative to pursue and excel.

Many institutes of repute offering nursing courses, for example University of Northern Colorado, Duke University School of Nursing in Durham and SDSU College of Nursing to name a few, are offering accelerated BSN programs (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) as a direct response to shortage in nursing. These programs allow students, who already have a degree in another discipline, to earn a BSN degree in only 16 to 20 months instead of traditional 4-year program.

Often people in mid professional career feel that nursing careers are more suitable for them. Accelerated BSN programs aim to hasten their journey back to their heart's desire. In order to sweeten the things for them, many hospitals in fact sponsor students for these programs to assist their nursing careers. They pay tuition fees in lieu of their working for them after graduation. Hospital authorities are effusive in their praise for second-career nursing students. They say that students, who opt for nursing careers after having spent early life in other fields, often make terrific nurses. They come as matured persons, broadly educated and knowing how to conduct themselves in the workplace.

Nursing careers have several tales. The ability to serve mankind is certainly one of them. Bravo to that.

Linda Raye is an accomplished author specializing in healthcare. Nursing is just one of her passions. You can contact her at LRaye@cinci.rr.com or visit the website at www.nursingchoice.com [http://www.nursingchoice.com]

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Nurses Wanted -- Incredible Career Opportunities in Nursing Today

While the need for qualified nurses has always been a factor in the healthcare industry, the demand is greater now than in the past decade. Who will make the Nursing Choice?

Nursing is today a very bright career option given its wide application and multifaceted nature. Though nursing has always been to support health needs of the people, but being an inseparable part of doctor-patient relationship, it has undergone many alterations effected by the changing needs of the people and the society at large. Today nursing has assumed a colossal role, encompassing all aspects of healthcare provided to the society. The testimony to its value lies in the fact that nursing makes the largest component of healthcare profession with about 2.6 million registered nurses (RNs) in US. So then what does a nurse do? By tradition, a nurse's unique function in health care is to assist the patient in regaining his or her normal health and activities within a reasonably short period of time. In other words, nursing caters to that function where a patient is helped to perform routine activities, which she or he would be in a position to do without aid under normal health conditions. Nursing differs from practicing medicine in that it aids in easing problems arising out of ailment rather than diagnosing and treatment of illness as is the case with medicine.

While this has been the traditional view, nursing today belongs to a wide gamut of healthcare activities. Thus, apart from catering to patients' well-being in hospitals, community health clinics, nursing homes, long-term care centers and home-care agencies, nursing is also a sought-after profession as teachers in nursing schools, as research scholars engaged or helping in research activities, as hospital regulators, as professionals in insurance and healthcare companies, and above all as administrators in nursing related entities.

Even as nursing career has diversified into many disciplines, the principal requirement of nurses remains in hospitals and different healthcare centers. However, many nurses prefer to function independently as nurse practitioners, certified midwives, specialist nurses for clinics, certified nurses for anesthetists and so on. Many of these specialized jobs call for nursing education up to master's level after having served as registered nurses that require bachelor's degree.

Let us now look at what a student needs to know in order to become a practitioner in nursing.

Studying Nursing

You need to be a student of Science in high school with chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, algebra, English, and preferably computer application. In order to enroll into a nursing school, you may need to take NLN Pre-Admission Examination in addition to other tests, such as SATs. It is always a good idea to seek admission in state-approved accredited nursing schools. For good career prospects, studying 4-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program is preferable. Other common courses are 2-year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program and 2 to 3-year Hospital Diploma in Nursing. A BSN degree will pave the way to study masters course in nursing, if later you so desire.

NCLEX Licensure Examinations

Assuming that you have already earned your bachelor degree in nursing, it is now time for you to pass one of the two licensure examinations conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The examinations are meant to test your competence to effectively and safely serve as a newly licensed, entry-level registered nurse. The two examinations are the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) and the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN).

For more detail information about the tests and how you must prepare to perform well, consider visiting the website of NCSBN.

Nursing Opportunities

Career opportunities are aplenty in nursing as briefly elaborated above. There is indeed a varying choice of attractive careers available today for nursing graduates owing to several factors, the chief among which being huge shortfall of qualified nurses projected over the coming decade.

Earnings Potential

Upon becoming a registered nurse (RN) with 4-year BSN degree, entry-level nurses can expect yearly income of $31,000 to $41,000. That translates to $15 to $20 per hour of work. Salary increases with experience. If you opt to become a traveling nurse later in your career, you may make between $23 to $35 per hour plus free housing, free insurance, travel reimbursement and lots of fringe benefits.

As you can see, nursing is a good career option loaded with immense opportunities.

Linda Raye is an accomplished author having a special interest in healthcare and nursing. You can contact her at LRaye@cinci.rr.com For more information on nursing visit the website at: [http://www.nursingchoice.com]

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Travel Nursing Jobs As a Career Option

If you are thinking of becoming a travel nurse then it is a viable career option as you will have more salary than the permanent and para diem nurses. If we look back then it is in the year1920 when traveling nursing jobs came into existence after the shortage for nurses was felt. It is the most popular career in USA as the demand for travel nurses is mounting owing to less number of nurses in specific regions. There are around 25,500 travel nurses in USA and about 340 US travel nurse companies. Travel nursing jobs are the short term nursing jobs (4 to 52 weeks) in which the nurses have to travel to different parts of the country. The contract that is outside the country is of longer period like one to two years.

Travel nursing job gives you the wonderful experience of meeting new people and enjoying different seasons and states of the country. Depending upon the project you can choose the period of stay in the travel nursing job. Like some nurses prefer to stay for one month other for one year.

How to become a traveling nurse?

To become a travel nurse one will have to complete the education from the affiliated nursing school to get the Registered Nurse degree. You can go for any of the following types of education

Four years BSN degree
Two years ADN program
Three years diploma
Along with this one must have the clinical experience of one year as a licensed nurse in the area of his or her specialization to get into traveling nursing jobs. It is recommended that you must get two to three years of experience for the International travel nursing jobs. The requirement of experience vary with the specialization. Like LPN/LVN requires three years of experience where as for Psychiatric nurse job, Med-Surg and Rehab you need the experience of two years to get travel nursing jobs. Also clearing NCLEX-RN exam is must in USA. Along with this you will have to get the license of that particular state. You travel nursing company will help you in getting that.

Apart from the education and experience you must have a charming personality, easy to adapt nature and good communication skills.

Traveling nurse jobs is obtained through the travel agency or travel nursing companies that are tied up with the hospitals. Travel nursing companies not only help you in finding the travel nursing jobs but will also help you with the relocation, housing and registration with local authorities. But you will have to be very careful while choosing the travel nurse company as the services provided vary a lot from company to company. So always ask for the entire services that travel nurse agency or company is going to provide while giving the travel nursing job to you. Do ask for clinical support, type of health insurance and 401(k), type of housing, salary and associated benefits, work assignments and loyalty programs.

You can tell your requirement of travel nurse job to your travel nurse company so that can find the best suitable match. You can start your travel nurse jobs after accepting and processing of your job offer. This can take one week to one month's time.

Benefits of Traveling Nurse Jobs

First of all travel nurse salary is more than the registered nurse working in the same hospital. Apart from this travel nurse will get the housing facility while on work by the travel agencies with basic furnishings of washer dryers, dishwashers etc. Housing stipend is given to the nurses who choose to live independently of travel agency. The amount of stipend is more than the actual wages or it can be substantial.

Along with this the travel allowances are also paid by the travel agencies that but the coverage of the travel cost vary. So you must inquire about this things before getting travel nursing job. Tax advantages are also given if the nurse maintain tax home while working in the traveling nurse job.

Salary

Travel nursing pay vary a lot and generally changes with the location, hospital need, housing cost of the area and negotiation ability of the traveler. Like you will find more travel nurse salary if you are given travel nursing jobs in north or west America than the southern American States. The RN travel nurse salary can be $40 per hour whereas surgical technologists, respiratory therapist and LPN will get pay close to $28 per hour. Some of the hospitals and travel agencies also give bonus that can reach to $6,000 and given at the end of the assignment.

You can also begin your traveling nurse job with your friend or family. So no need to worry about anything to begin the adventurous career as a travel nurse.

R Oberoi is associated with Man Power from India and recommends http://www.manpowerindia.net for further reading & information on hiring industries, current job openings and recruitment trends.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Things That Nurses Could Expect From Their Chosen Career

Nursing right now is very in demand. Aside from that, nursing is also being considered to be one of the most rewarding careers that is present. This is the right job for people who always want to make a difference out of the lives of other people. Here are some of the things that you could expect to have if you decided to have a nursing career.

First, you must expect that you'll get certified. To become a nurse, you must first be a graduate of a nursing program that is approved. Then, you have to pass the national licensing examination, the NCLEX-RN. After passing the NCLEX your will then become a registered nurse or an RN. With a license, you could expect that you will already be allowed by many states to practice nursing within their state. However, some states are compelling nurses who got their license from another state to undergo the process of recertification.

There are different programs being offered right now for you to become a nurse. The number of years it will take you to finish a program is also dependent on which one you chose. A Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in nursing usually takes four years to be completed. A faster way to become a nurse to take an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). It only takes three years to complete. ADN is usually being offered by junior and community colleges. There are also hospitals which offer diploma courses. Normally, these diploma courses also take three years for it to be finished. Taking either of the three paths could qualify you into becoming an RN. For those who took diploma courses of an ADN, it could still be pursued into a BSN by taking up more units.

Another thing that could be expected if you have a nursing career is that you will be in demand. Now is a very good timing for someone to become a nurse since it is a growing field. Thus, if you are a nurse, it will then be easy for you to secure a job for yourself. This is guaranteed wherever you live. The demand for nurses has grown since most of the nurses right now are old and are already nearing their retirement age. There will most likely be other job opportunities looming for you in the future after getting some experience.

Since nurses are in demand, you could also expect to be offered with good salary rates. You could even expect that your salary will be high. The salary for nurses has grown from its former rates. Most nurses get an hourly pay of around $20 to $40 upon starting. This gets higher as one gets regularized, promoted, and stays longer for a given hospital. Aside from this, there also several benefits and bonuses awaiting.

Another thing that could be expected is that shift schedules are flexible. Since there is a shortage of nurses, most hospitals are doing their best in order to attract nurses to work for them. Some hospitals are offering their nurses flexible shifts. This makes the job much easier for the employees.

Expect your job to be demanding. The shifts will still be very busy. Sometimes, hospitals may even necessitate you to do some extra shifts since there is a shortage in the number of nurses. Challenges will still be present and must be expected by every nurse.

You could also expect that you have other choices than being the simple hospital staff nurse. There are different specializations that you could choose to specialize as well. There is midwifery, cardiac nursing, child, travel nursing, 200 other specializations more. You could even choose to join the academe and teach. You could also be a counsellor. Indeed, there are lots of options available for you.

One of the growing trends nowadays in the field of nursing is becoming an in-house nurse. There are more in-house nurses than before since many people are now living longer lives. At the same time, more people who need care are being left alone at their homes, with no one available to provide the constant attention they need. These people often prefer to stay at home and be attended by just someone. It is this reason why there are more demands for in-house nurses. For someone who has decided to become an in-house nurse, there are certain things that have to be taken into mind.

First of all, you have to be friendly. While most nurses are being classified as very helpful, they still have certain limits. For someone who is working for the same patient for a certain period of time, they often see their patience being put into its limit. For a nurse that could not keep up with maintaining a pleasant demeanor everyday, being an in-house nurse might not be the best career option for them. Being an in-house nurse is more suited for people who enjoy building relationships that are long term. In-house nurses really get the chance to know their patients and what are their needs.

Aside from being friendly, you must also be self-sufficient. You must be the nurse who is capable to make relevant decisions that are very important in caring for your patient. You must get used to deciding without having to consult someone.

You must not get flustered when you have to deal with situations by yourself. Thus, someone who wants to be an in-house nurse must be independent. Those who are reliant on a nursing supervisor are not advised to go for being an in-house nurse.

An in-house nurse must also have a reliable transportation whenever he goes to his patient's house. There are certain moments that may entail you to be present immediately on the house of your patient. Thus, if it is not easy for you to go to the house of your patient, it might not be a good idea to be the in-house nurse of that patient. The patient will be the one that may suffer if you have a hard time going to his place. It is recommended that you just stay with the patient if your home is far. But if you do not prefer that, make sure that it is easy for you to go to the home of your patient.

Indeed, nursing could be very challenging. Choosing to become an in-house nurse has its own set of challenges as well. However, being a nurse is also very rewarding. If there is a time for you to become a nurse, it is best to do it now. It is very high in demand. For sure, you will earn what you need to earn and get satisfied at the same time.

For More Information See: How to How to start a nursing agency visit startanursinghome.com

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Career Nursing - Is it the Right Choice For You?

Looking for information on a career in nursing? No better place to start than right here!

Less than a decade ago, people who were enrolling in nursing school were being told that they were crazy. They were told that the job was brutal, and that there simply were no jobs out there for nurses straight out of the Registered Nurse training programs.

Well, flash forward to the end of the first decade of the new century. Prognosticators who study the healthcare industry have been predicting for a while that the situation with regards to the availability of jobs for nurses was going to change- and boy, has it! Health care providers such as hospitals and nursing homes are waking up to the realization that as people leave nursing positions, it's becoming very hard to fill those positions with new, qualified nurses. This has led to extreme competition for qualified nurses, and not only on a local (national) but worldwide scale.

The benefit of the shortage, to nurses, will be an improved future work environment, as employers try to better conditions in order to attract quality candidates. However, in the short-term, it's putting a lot of strain on everyone and may actually exacerbate the frustrations nurses may have, which may cause them to not only leave their jobs but also discourage others from becoming nurses.

In order to ensure that the current crisis in nursing does not continue much further into the future, the two areas of retention and recruitment need to be addressed. This article will take a look at some of the topics that come up among nurses when it comes to addressing these issues.

Making sure that nurses are happy within their current career in nursing so that they stay in the profession is vital to stabilize the crisis. With anywhere from 25-40% of nurses are expected to retire over the next ten years, ensuring that younger members of the work force stay at their jobs is more important than ever.

The general public is coming to the realization that nurses play just as important a role in the healthcare system as doctors and other medical professionals do, and the industry is starting to realize it, as well. Many nurses complain that they are not accorded the level of respect they deserve, as nursing is seen as less of a "profession" and more of a "job". Physicians are often guilty of this, making nurses feel as if they are simply there to mechanically carry out the doctor's orders, and nothing more. As the system loses more and more nurses, it will become more and more important to grant those remaining the appropriate level of respect.

A benefit of the current nursing shortage (if you can consider it a benefit) is that non-nurses are finally starting to realize how rigorous the training and testing processes for becoming an RN are. It takes just as long to become a nurse as it does to earn a B. A., B.S., or any other undergraduate degree!

Another oft-cited concern of professional nurses is that the conditions in their places of work are very poor. In this case, work conditions do not apply to the many different situations a nurse will have to put up with from patients during a course of a day; rather, they concern areas of the job that are directly informed by management policy, such as hours of work, nurse to patient ratio, the use of support staff, and the condition of equipment.

A standard nurse's schedule includes a combination of both day and night shifts. Clearly, it's impossible to run a medical facility without nurses, so it isn't as if the night shift can just be eliminated. However, some suggestions for parity include paying extra for nurses that work the night shift, or adding a third "swing shift" to the rotation so that the night shift is not as long as the day shift is.

Continued increases in the budget of the United States government in the area of health care are tagged to help resolve, among other things, the concerns of nurses both with support staff and with equipment. The job of a nurse involves quite a lot of lifting, so it is incredibly important if any nurses are going to make it through to retirement while still holding on to jobs in nursing that the equipment available in the hospital eases their burden in this area. Many nurses find that they are also doing duties that are traditionally thought of as the responsibilities of receptionists and orderlies, and in order for nurses to attend to their nursing duties, sooner or later facilities will have to streamline funds so that these support levels are taken care of by staff other than nurses.

In the short term, the nurse to patient ratio will continue to be the biggest problem concerning both nurses and patients. The nursing shortage means that most facilities cannot fill vacant positions needed in order to bring the ratio down to a level that nurses are comfortable with. However, by properly addressing the issue, there is hope that this situation can be resolved.

Recruitment of nurses is the second vital area in the future of nursing. This area will see a marked attempt to train more nurses as well as efforts by all facilities to offer enticing deals to attract nurses to positions within them. Those that do not or cannot offer sufficiently attractive enticements will find that they do not have the nursing staff necessary to run their facilities.

One of the biggest concerns is that the output of nurses from universities and colleges does not match the number of nurses that are leaving. In addition, many graduating nurses are not going to work in traditional areas such as hospitals, instead choosing the lower levels of stress and the higher levels of pay available at other facilities, such as jails and nursing homes.

In order to improve the patient to nurse ratio that is such a common complaint among nurses, it is vital to increase the number of students coming out of nursing schools across the country. Universities and colleges need to have the funding available to create these spaces. In addition, facilities and governments will have to offer programs such as student loan forgiveness programs in order to attract potential students to the profession.

The last decade has seen a massive growth in secondary industries targeted towards nurses. These industries include nursing agencies and travel nursing programs which hire their own nurses and then contract them out to facilities in need. These nurses are generally higher paid than their counterparts in the facilities they are contracted out to. In addition, they get to change their place of work frequently, often with all travel expenses paid. Facilities are going to need to take a look at this practice and determine if they are willing to offer the kind of wages and benefits that these nurses are receiving if they ever hope to have a stable work force.

As far as the nursing profession goes, the long term future is bright. The current shortage allows a graduating nurse to virtually write his or her own ticket. In addition, the shortage is expected to grow worse, which has pushed the concerns of nurses into the public spotlight. In order to alleviate the shortage, governments and facilities will have no choice but to meet the concerns of nurses in order to keep them at their jobs.

Alternatively, the future of the nursing profession may lie within nursing agencies. Unless facilities and governments realize that the concerns of nurses need to be met at the ground level, new and established nurses alike will continue to gravitate towards the pay and flexibility that these agencies offer.

I hope you've found this discussion useful, and it's obvious that a career in nursing is something that needs to be thought about pretty seriously. Good luck!

Thank you for reading my article, I hope it's helpful in your search for information about a career in nursing.

GOJobs.com, founded in 1996, is the leading Outsourced Job Posting and Job Distribution service. The GO Jobs Job Search lists over 100,000 new job listings, ranging from Sales Jobs and Part-time Jobs to Accounting Jobs, Nursing Jobs and Healthcare Jobs.

Online Nursing Degrees - A Gateway to Join Nursing As Career

Nursing is very respectable profession. Huge numbers of job opportunities with excellent benefit packages are available for nurses. Besides these advantages people who join nursing as a profession also find personal satisfaction because it is really a great feeling to help miserable patients. Nurses help patients in many different ways. Nurses take care of pregnant women and newborns and also help injured and sick people. They facilitate patients and families to decide best combination of health and social services such as hospitals, home care, rehabilitation, physical therapy and others. Nurses are able to design effective plan that ensures suitable nursing care.

What is Nursing?

Nursing is the combination of science and technology with caring skills. Nurses apply all the science and technology they learned during their studies. With recent advancements in technology and medical sciences nursing has become very rewarding career. Nursing education enables you to learn many skills such as diagnosis of disease, assessment of patient physical condition, emotional state, lifestyle, hopes and fear. You will also able to plan the specific goals for patient's improvement. You will learn about how to execute treatments and prescribed drugs for the betterment of patients. You will also able to decide changes in treatment plan on the basis of regular evaluation of results of previous plan.

Working Options at Hospitals

In hospitals nurses work every where. In fact they work in all departments of hospitals. Nurses are considered as the major single component of any hospital staff. Nurses are crucial contributor of hospital patient care as well as home patient care. Following is the list of areas of hospital where nurses are actively working and providing their services.

o Bed side patient care units

o Operation theaters, trauma centers and emergency rooms

o Medical record room and other medical offices

o Intensive care units ICU

o Surgical and recovery units

o X-rays and other diagnostic units

o Pediatrics

o Newborn nurseries and neonatal intensive care unit

o Psychiatric and drug treatment centers

o Patient care in ambulances and helicopters

o Laboratories

o Obstetrics department and many more

Working Options for Nurses

Nurses have lot of options regarding choice of work they want to do, where they want to do and when they want to do. Following is the list of such option.

o Long term care centre includes rehabilitation, nursing homes and hospitals.

o Medical Offices such as eye doctors, dentists, obstetricians, surgeons, and others

o Community Health Clinics

o Home care visiting nurses, private duty nurses

o Self Supporting Outpatient and surgery Centers

o Nursing schools as professors

o Corporate health centers occupational safety, consultants and educators

o Other companies such as pharmaceutical, medical technology, biotech and others

o Insurance and managed care companies

o Research centers for example research nursing

o Schools including K-12, university clinics

o Military

o Peace Corps and international service organizations

o Hospital regulators nurses conduct surveys and inspections

Job Hours

Nurses are allowed to work any time during the whole day with restriction of specific time frame. Nurses can work in days, evenings and nights. Nursing shift can be as short as 8 hours and also continue till 12 hours. Nurses can also work for long duration that is 36 hours in 3 days and 40 hours in 4 days. Such nurses get 3 to 4 days off. Some nurses only work on weekends on part time basis. This shows that profession of nursing offers extremely flexible working hours.

Economic growth in industry/Salary Information

Statistical data shows that there is a shortage of well trained and educated nurses. This shortage is due to the fact that current nursing workforce is expected to retire over the next 10-15 years and more trained nurses are required to replace them by year 2020. Licensed Practical Nurse can earn $35,000 to $40,000 per year. Registered Practical Nurse can earn $40,000 and $60,000 per year.

How to Become a Nurse?

High school diploma holders are eligible to join nursing school. If you want to become nurse you can join any nursing school and earn required degree in nursing. Different degrees are available from entry level to advance level. Different certification and licensure exams are also available. Different top accredited universities and colleges offer all these degrees. Now a day's different top accredited online universities and online colleges offer different nursing degrees online. These degrees include Associate Degree in Nursing Online, Bachelor Degree in Nursing Online and Master Degree in Nursing Online. Online universities offer Nursing Degrees Online with flexibility to learn. You can attend your class any time from any where whenever is convenient for you. These top accredited online universities also provide financial assistance in the form of scholarships, grants and student loans. Nursing degrees online are also value able if you obtain them from top accredited online universities.

Licensure

After completion of your degree whether you have earned it from traditional university or from any top accredited online university, you need to get license to work as (RN) Registered Nurse or (LPN) Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse (LVN). It is necessary to get registered in the state where you are working professionally. You will have to take the NCLEX-RN® or NCLEX-PN® license examination to become licensed nurse.

Qualities of Good Nurse

Besides having these degrees a good nurse must have following qualities.

o Nurses must have leadership and organizational skill

o They have to be polite and flexible.

o They must have courage to face crisis and stay calm in bad conditions.

o With good sense of humor nurses must have sympathetic nature.

o A good nurse should have problem solving skills to tackle any problem.

If you further need some information about online degrees in nursing you can visit this site http://www.onlinenursingdegree.ws/index.html - it will provide you independent knowledge about all online degrees available in the field of nursing.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The Nursing Career

Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families and communities to meet again, achieve and maintain optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by individuals and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

In pre-modern times, nuns and the military often nursing services. The religious and military roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today. For example, in Britain, senior nurses are known as "Sisters". In recent times in the U.S. Canada and many nurses are flowing back to work in a "religious" on the ground across the "Parish Nursing." These nurses work within a church community to carry out health education, counseling, referrals to provide community support agencies, and connect volunteers from the Christian community with those in need of assistance.

Nurses recognize that the nursing profession is an essential part of society which has grown. The authority to practice nursing in basa is a social contract that defines the rights and professional responsibilities, as well as mechanisms for public accountability. The practice of nursing comprises an altruistic behavior, is guided by research and nursing is governed by a code of ethics.

Nursing continues to develop a broad range of knowledge and skills associated. There are a number of educational paths to become a professional nurse, but all involve extensive study of nursing theory and practice and training in clinical skills.

In almost all countries, nursing practice is defined and regulated by law and entry into the profession is regulated by national, state or territorial boards of nursing.

The American Nurses' Association (1980) has identified nursing as "the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems." Just as medical diagnoses help in the planning, implementation and evaluation of health care, nursing diagnoses help in the planning, implementation and evaluation of nursing care.

Like other disciplines maturation, nursing has developed various theories that fit the differences and philosophical beliefs or paradigms of the world. Nursing theories nurses to help direct its activities to achieve specific goals with people. Nursing is a knowledge-based discipline committed to the betterment of mankind. Nursing has not only become a profession, but also an art.

Nursing is the most diverse of all health professions. It is a universal role that appears in some form in all cultures.

Nursing can be divided into different specialties or ratings. In the U.S., there are a large number of nursing specialties. Professional organizations or certification boards issue of voluntary certification in many of these areas.

These specialties include attention throughout human life based on the patient's needs. Many nurses who choose a specialty become certified in that area, which means they possess expert knowledge of specialty. There are over 200 nursing specialties and sub-specialties. Certified nurses often earn a salary differential over their non-certified colleagues, and studies of the Institute of Medicine have shown that specialty certified nurses have higher rates of patient satisfaction and lower rates of work-related errors in patient care.

Nurses in practice a wide range of environments from hospitals to people who visit in their homes and take care of them in schools for research in pharmaceutical companies. Nurses working in shaping health (also called industrial health), free standing clinics and medical offices, nurse management clinics, long-term care, and camps. Nurses working on cruise ships and in military service. They act as advisers and consultants to health care and insurance industries. Some nurses are working with lawyers and other lawyers as legal nurse consultants, reviewing patient records to ensure that adequate attention and gave testimony in court. In many cities, nurses can even enter their names on a "record" and work a variety of temporary jobs.

In the modern world, there are a large number of nursing specialties:

Ambulatory Care Nursing

Advanced nursing practice

Behavioral health nursing

Camp nurses

Cardiac nursing

Cardiac catheter laboratory nursing

The case management

Clinical nurse specialist

Clinical research nurse

Nursing in community health

Correctional nursing

Nursing critical care

Developmental disabilities nursing

District nursing

Emergency nursing

Environmental Health Nursing

Flight nursing

Forensic nursing

Gastroenterology Nursing

Genetics nursing

Geriatric Nursing

Health visit

Hematology oncology nursing

HIV / AIDS nursing

Home health nursing

Hospice nurses

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy Nursing

Intavenous therapy nursing

Infectious diseases nursing

Legal nursing

Legal nurse researcher

Maternal-Child Nursing

Medical-Surgical Nursing

Military and uniformed nursing services, including Public Health Service

Neonatal Nursing

Neuro-surgical nursing

Nurse anesthetist

Nurse-midwife

Nurse professional

Nursing educator

Nursing Informatics

Nursing Management

Obstetrics, Gynecology nursing

From health nursing

Nursing oncological

Operating Theatre nursing

Orthopaedic nursing

Ostomy nursing

The pain management and palliative care nursing

Pediatric Nursing

Perianesthesia Nursing

Perioperative Nursing

Plastic and reconstructive surgical nursing

Private Nursing

Psychiatric nursing or mental health

Public health

Pulmonary nursing

Improving the quality

Radiology nursing

Rehabilitation nursing

Nursing kidney dialysis

Renal nursing

Research

School of Nursing

Sub-acute nursing

Substance abuse nursing

Tele-medicine nursing

Telemetry Nursing

Telephone triage nurses

Transplant nursing

Travel Nursing

Urology nursing

Utilization Management

The wound care

Professional organizations or certification boards issue of voluntary certification in many of these specialties.

Assistant Nursing skills are all learned tasks used to help residents or patients with activities of daily living (ADLs) and providing bedside care, including basic nursing procedures under the supervision of a registered nurse ( RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN).

At present, hospitals and extended care facillities an assistant nurse is an important part of a medical team that includes staff outside many of the nurses. In the quest to earn a profit of care many hospitals in the United States have reduced their nurse to patient ratios, which requires a nurse to care for as many as twelve or fourteen patients at once. To that good attention being given to patients that a nurse assistant is needed to provide routine care so that nurses can focus on tasks that only he / she can do, such as care plans, evaluations of nursing, administration of medications, and help surgery preparation room. The auxiliary nurse should not only be highly skilled in the current procedures being carried out, but must also be able to make quick observations of the patient's condition and information to report to the nurse. Since the nurse can not spend large amounts of time in a room with the patient, the nurse assistant is known as the nurse "eyes and ears".

A nurse assistant must have a solid understanding of emergency procedures and be able to stay calm in stressful situations. They should be able to introduce a Code Blue and be well drilled in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Jenny Hagbong writes for Finding the Best Online Associate Degree Nursing Program [http://www.nurseme.org]. Provides detailed information on Nursing Degree, Nursing News, Famous Nursing, Online Nursing and more. please visit [http://www.nurseme.org]