Nursing Fields

What are the Various Nursing Fields to Choose From

There is now in our country, an alarming shortage of trained and licensed nurses to fill the positions that are critical to quality of care for the healthcare consumer. On every floor in a hospital, nurses are practicing in a wide variety of nursing fields, from an emergency room nurse assessing a heart attack victim, to the nurse that provides education and skill polishing to the whole nursing and medical staff. Nurses fill a variety of roles, aside from the traditional bedside care of the sick and wounded.

Nurses are advocates for their patients, and are greatly responsible for the level of care received by the patient, and their lasting memory of the experience. Nurses are concerned with the treatment of the patient, not necessarily the patient's treatment, which is the role of the physician. Nursing fields are not limited to the hospital anymore.

Nurses can serve in the military, work for public relations firms or health insurance companies, be a school nurse, an entrepreneur, a nurse educator, a home health nurse, a public health nurse, a free-lance writer . . . the possibilities are endless!

Associate Degree Registered Nurse

Nurses can start out with an entry-level training program and progress through PhD level if so desired. An associate's degree is a two-year registered nurse (RN) program that focuses greatly on teaching the essential information and skills necessary to practice nursing safely in a variety of fields of nursing.

Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing

The next level is a four-year degree program that awards a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN). This route may take longer but it is well worth the time vested. This type of program offers a wider range of learning experiences, in many different facets of healthcare, in practice and in theory, which is why many associate degree prepared nurses continue on to receive a BSN. Many healthcare institutions across the country require that the nurses they hire have a minimum of a BSN to work for them.

Master of Science Degree in Nursing

The next level is a master of science in nursing (MSN) degree. This is for the nurse who has been practicing for a while, and wants to practice more autonomously, for example, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and nurse administrators.  A PhD or doctorate level nurse can be prepared in almost any discipline.

An entry-level graduate nurse will receive a longer orientation, usually six weeks, in specific area of the hospital. The nurse will work under a graduate license until he or she has studied sufficiently and passes the board test for full RN licensure. At the end of the orientation period, the new nurse and supervisor meet to evaluate the nurse's comfort level in performing the specific skills, assessments, and interventions pertinent to the nurse's level of autonomy.

From here, new opportunities abound for additional training in many different fields of nursing and modalities of healthcare. The student pondering a career in healthcare should truly check out nursing, a holistic approach to provide care and support in an ever changing and progressive field. With so many nursing fields available, there's one that is right for you.

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