If you're considering a career in the healthcare industry that will allow you to work closely with patients while carefully utilizing your interpersonal and communication skills then you should definitely consider a nursing career. In fact, according to the Occupational Handbook, “Nurses are the fastest growing health care professional around. They hold three out of every five jobs in hospitals and there are typically 2.4 million employers searching for quality nurses every single year. In addition, the employment of registered nurses a suspect to grow faster than the average for our occupations through 2014.” In addition, the Occupational Handbook boasts that the average salary of registered nurses was $52,330 in May 2004 whereas the highest percentage of nurses received over $74,760. In addition, they reported that many of the higher paid nurses were employed by General medical and surgical hospitals whereas those that received less typically worked in at home or nursing care facilities.

Nursing Benefits & Required Skills

According to many nursing professionals, there are many great benefits about working in the nursing profession. For instance, they are able to work and extremely flexible work schedules and are also provided with numerous educational incentives, bonuses and other accommodations. In addition, nurses are able to work in either clinic, hospital, or even a private home setting.

To pursue this career, you must also possess these skills:

• Warm and caring disposition
• Proven leadership, problem solving and communication skills
• Extreme patience
• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Ability to remain calm in stressful and difficult situations

Challenges You Might Experience

As a nurse, you will work with the human body and may experience life and death situations. You must not be squeamish about blood and human bodily fluids and must be comfortable communicating with patients. You must also be able to administer grief and health counseling.  On the same token, you may experience a medical healing, witness the miraculous or another human being or see another life-changing medical event.

Educational Background

To become a registered nurse, you will have to have a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing which can be obtained from successfully completing a four-year program at accredited an accredited university and pass state licensing requirements. If you desire an Associate Degree in Nursing, you will need to complete a two-year program. If you would prefer a hospital diploma, you would have to complete a two to three year program in a hospital setting. If you decide to pursue advanced nursing career (become a certified nurse midwife or an anesthesiologist nurse), you will need to obtain a Master’s Degree from an accredited college or university. In addition, nurses are expected to complete yearly continuing education courses.

Daily Nursing Duties

Depending on the type of nursing career you choose, you will perform these duties:

• Educating patients about illnesses and treatment options.
• Offering medical advice and emotional support to patients and family members.
• Recording patient histories.
• Taking vitals, performing immunizations, and evaluating/noting symptoms.
• Performing diagnostic tests.
• Analyzing test results.
• Teaching family members how to properly care for ill family members.
• Administering health care screenings.
• And much more.

Types of nurses

• Addiction nurses care for patients with alcohol and drug related addictions.
• Burn care nurses care for patients who have been severely burned.
• Cardiac nurses treat patients with coronary heart disease or existing heart problems.
• Critical care nurses in intensive care units typically handle cardiovascular patients.
• Emergency room nurses treat patients with life-threatening illnesses including but not limited to car accidents, guns shot, dramatic falls, etc.
• Gastroenterology nurses treat patients with digestive illnesses.
• Holistic nurses take a therapeutic natural approach to healing their patients and may use massage and biofeedback to help patients.
• Home health care nurses provide care for home bound patients who are recovering from serious illnesses.
• Hospice care nurses treat terminally ill patients.
• Oncology nurses care for cancer patients and survivors of the illness.
• Medical surgical nurses provide basic medical care to a variety of patients.
• Occupational health nurses assist patients with job-related illnesses.
• Neonatal nurses care for newborn and premature infants.
• Obstetrical nurses assist moms with their baby’s delivery and provide postpartum care to the mom.
• Ophthalmology nurses help patients with eye disorders.
• Orthopedic nurses assist patients with broken bones or ligaments and other muscular problems
• Gynecological nurses provide gynecological care to women.
• School nurses are nurses provide students and staff with medical care.
• Urology nurses help patients with kidney and urinary tract disorders.

The information found on this website is not designed to replace the patient/physician relationship.