Professional Nursing
A Lifetime Career Choice

There are more than two million registered nurses in the U.S.—the largest healthcare occupation. Yet, there is a severe shortage of registered nurses (RNs). This means that RNs are in great demand. The American Hospital Association (AHA) states that 126,000 jobs are currently unfilled. The shortage is definitely a challenge for our health care system, but it is also a wonderful opportunity for young people who are looking for an exciting, challenging, and rewarding career.

Qualities Nurse Need:

Nurses are indispensable to the American healthcare system. They are the only healthcare professional dealing with hospitalized patients 24 hours a day. Nurses provide expert, skilled care when patients are acutely ill. Nurses also work outside the hospital setting in many different roles, including health promotion activities, healthy lifestyle practices, and disease prevention.

An RN must be intelligent, although not necessarily a straight "A" student. It's important to have a sense of inquisitiveness, an ability to look at an issue from many viewpoints, an ability to analyze data, determine risk factors, and project consequences, and a willingness to problem solve. People skills are essential, along with a sincere desire to help others. Leadership is another necessity. This includes organization and management skills, a good work ethic, and inner calm in the face of emergency situations. You must also be politically astute in order to contribute to the development of health care policy. In our technological society, computer skills, manual dexterity, and the ability to operate equipment are important abilities. New equipment arrives at hospitals on a regular basis and nurses must learn how to operate it. The use of computers to provide data about the patients, to obtain supplies, and to document care given, are a way of life for nurses.

Education: One of the unique things about nursing is that there is no one career path. An RN license allows you to practice nursing for life. Eligibility to take the RN-NCLEX licensing exam is dependent upon successful completion of one of three types of educational programs. Diploma programs are hospital-based. Completion of the program does not result in an academic degree. These programs are usually 2-3 years in length. Most of them have now either closed or been phased into an ADN or BSN program. The Associate Degree (ADN) is usually obtained in a community college, following two years of study. Graduates of these programs are primarily prepared to practice in hospital settings and provide direct care to patients. The Baccalaureate of Science Degree (BSN) is obtained as a result of a 4-year program in a college or university. The graduate who has a BSN is prepared to practice in any nursing setting. The BSN is also necessary preparation for those who want to go on to obtain postdoctoral degrees.

Being a nurse means planning on a lifetime of learning. Additional education, both formal and informal (e.g. continuing education programs, in-service programs, and certification programs), keeps a nurse current in knowledge and skills and also provides ongoing career options.

Choosing a school is a big undertaking, and many factors should be carefully weighed. Is the program accredited? If not, look elsewhere. Other information you should seek includes: Who does the academic advising? What has been the pass rate on the RN-NCLEX exam for the past 5-10 years? Do they use a wide array of sites for students' clinical lab experiences? Do members of the faculty do clinical practice in addition to teaching? Ask about the curriculum itself. Nursing is both an art and a science, so the courses should reflect these two perspectives. Typical prerequisite courses will include English, math, history/government, psychology, sociology, speech, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, and physical education. Nursing programs vary depending on the degree to be granted, but they prepare the graduate to be a generalist. Specialization comes with certifications and/or degrees at or beyond the BSN degree.

Career Opportunities: You cannot begin to imagine what is waiting for you! The RN-NCLEX exam is a national licensing exam. That means that once you pass it, you can practice anywhere in the U.S.—and all over the world, depending on what you want to do as a nurse. The pay is good, and salary, sign-on bonuses, and benefit packages are going up! For the new graduate, the general range, depending on shift, day of week, special experiences, and other considerations, is $36,000-45,000. Advanced practice nurses with experience and higher degrees can earn $55,000-65,000. For administrators, nurse-anesthetists, and others with doctoral degrees, $80,000-110,000 is not unheard of.

You can practice in a variety of settings: hospitals, corporations, health departments, prisons, nursing homes, private homes, public schools, research labs, health insurance companies, rehabilitation centers, and aircraft or ships in the military, to name just a few. There is flexibility in working full-time or part-time. You may choose the hours that best suit your lifestyle, e.g. fill-in for four hours several times a week, 12-hour shifts (which means working only three days per week), or the typical 8-hour shifts.

There are many different roles you can function in as an RN, and new ones are being developed all the time, such as Informatics Nurse and Forensic Nurse. You may decide you want to work only with a certain age group—babies, children, the elderly. You may decide you want to work with patients with specific health problems, such as cancer, stroke, trauma, the dying. Any of these roles may be practiced in both civilian and military settings. You may also be interested in practicing in a church as a Parish or Congregational nurse. This nurse is responsible for the health and education of the members and the staff of a church. As you can see—your opportunities as a professional nurse are virtually unlimited. Nursing has been a highly valued and respected profession for many years. It needs you to make nursing even better.

Come join us now!

Provided by Linda Pehl, PhD, RNC. She is the Associate Dean & Professor at Scott & White School of Nursing at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.