Nursing as a Career

Looking for an interesting career that can change as you change? Nursing is a great opportunity to explore! Begin with a one or two year college commitment and grow into a specialty or return to school for an advanced degree.

Begin With One or Two Years of College

Preparation for work in nursing is relatively brief and inexpensive. Places to work are plentiful and varied. Education can be broken up to allow a period of earning before continuing, and few jobs are more highly regarded by the general public. You will find that you are looked upon as valued member of the community and a person of integrity. Of course it's up to you to live up to such high expectations!

Financial Compensation

Pay scales vary significantly across the nation. Yet whether you are a novice or a nurse with years of experience, there are great opportunities to increase your earning capabilities. Payscale.com reports a starting pay of over 21$/hr for RN's with less than 1 year of experience, and nearly $30/hr for nurses with 20 years of experience. Of course your salary will depend on your specialty as well as your location and experience! The

payscale for LPN's runs from about $14/hr to $18/hr. With only one year of post high school education this is often an achievable goal for those who are unable to complete a 2-4 year RN program due to time or money constraints. With the current shortage of nurses in nearly every location, scholarships, grants and loans are easy to obtain for qualified applicants.

Travel

Traveling nurses are very well paid. Their contract usually includes full housing, and full time position for a six month period. The premium pay for such positions is often very attractive to young nurses (or older nurses who find themselves freed up to travel after their family is grown).

Variety

Varied positions exist. Desk jobs include things such as chart audits or care planning, and nursing home or hospital administrative duties. Staff nurses may work in hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices, industrial settings, schools or home care. You may work with babies, children, adults, or elderly. Specialties include Medical, Surgical, Cardiac, Pulmonary, Intensive Care, Emergency Care, Dialysis, Oncology, etc. Clinical advancement includes Masters Degree and PhD positions in administration, research, and education. Additionally Nurse Practitioners may take charge of clinics or family practice screening and treatment under the direction of a physician.

Is It For You?

It's not easy. These are high stress jobs, but very rewarding. There is some messy work. Not as much as you might think. To try it out you may want to invest 3 or 4 months in learning the job of a Certified nursing assistant. Some nursing homes will train you for free while you get "on the job training". This is the heavy lifting and messy work of nursing, but the experience is invaluable if you decide to go on to nursing school. Nursing Assistants are frightfully underpaid in most areas, considering the work that they do. The median annual salary for an nursing assistant is about $25,000. If you care about people you might want to give it a try before you jump into nursing full speed ahead.

The staff nurse's job entails a lot of documentation and some carefully considered assessment and decision making on a continuing basis. These are beyond the scope of the nursing assistant, but there is no substitute for working closely with patients and watching experienced staff nurses respond to various situations. These interactions and observations begin to build a knowledge base that you will be able to draw on in school and for years to come as a nurse.