Nursing Career Choices

When you graduate from nursing school and pass the state licensure exam, you can start applying for work. While some will work in a hospital, others may find employment in labs, schools, private companies and non-profit organizations. This is when your nursing career choices are available to you.

The nice thing about being a nurse is that wherever you work, everyday is different than the day before. Why? Because of the human factor as new patients are brought in and old ones are discharged. This means that in the field of nursing, you will never get tired because change is always constant.

Let’s take a look at the two nurses. One who is a resident nurse or RN and the other a licensed practicing nurse or LPN. Yes, they are both nurses but what makes the two different is the fact that the RN is a specialist while the LPN is a generalist.

The LPN reports to an RN. This is the person that makes the rounds and takes the patient’s blood pressure and temperature. They administer shots and monitor the catheters. The resident nurse can do the same thing but they are more concerned about other things which is why they have the opportunity to work for instance in ambulatory care, diabetes management, cardiac and vascular nurse, dermatology, HIV/AIDS, oncology, pediatrics and a lot more.

If you don’t want your career to be stagnant as an LPN, you can go to school and work at the same time until you are able to earn your degree and finally earn the title of a resident nurse.

Another career choice that can you places is by being a nurse practitioner. Being in this position allows you to perform many of the functions that doctors do that includes prescribing medication. They handle the most common illnesses as well as provide counseling and prevention. For this you need to get a master’s in nursing. A study shows that NP’s make an average of about $61,000 per annum.

Since we are talking about advanced degrees, another career choice is that of the nurse anesthesiologist. When a patient is undergoing surgery, this person is there to make sure the right dosage is given so the operation is painless. This is considered to one of the highest paying nursing jobs today.

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the US. While there are steps being taken to reduce these figures, there are still patients that have to be treated and that is where cardiac care nursing comes in. Cardiac care nurses work with doctors as they perform angioplasty, bypass surgery or install pacemakers. They work in the hospital and at times conduct house calls.

Some patients require long term care. For that, you need a case manager nurse that will keep track of the patient’s condition at the same time in a cost effective matter. These individuals usually help the young and the elderly who are suffering from illnesses such as AIDS, cancer or heart disease.

There are other nursing careers aside from those mentioned. What happens after you graduate will determine how successful you will become in the future. Nurses who want to go on further are advised to take up advance courses in nursing and then specialize in a particular field.