Registered Nurses: Career Benefits

While there are different levels at which you can enter the nursing profession, becoming a registered nurse offers the most job opportunities. While becoming a nurse's aide or a licensed practical nurse requires less education than becoming a registered nurse, registered nurses enjoy higher median salaries.

Perhaps just as important as income in terms of job satisfaction, registered nurses can perform more in-depth and specialized patient care functions. An additional advantage is that registered nurses have more upward mobility that nurse's aides or licensed practical nurses.

In other words, if you are interested in getting into nursing, becoming a registered nurse may be the best way to do it. From a bigger-picture perspective, nursing is a great place to be if you are looking for a job that will stay in demand for many years to come. Due to an aging population, demand for health care services is expected to rise sharply in the years ahead, meaning that job growth in nursing is projected to be well above average.

Work Environments for Registered Nurses

What is it like being a registered nurse? There is no one answer to that question, and that is another good thing about the profession. Registered nurses can choose from a variety of different roles and work environments to find the conditions that suit their individual preferences.

Someone who likes a friendly, personal touch may choose to be a nurse in a small, private doctor's office or medical clinic. On the other hand, someone who likes the challenge of a bustling environment might prefer to be an emergency room nurse. There are several other alternatives between these extremes. Nurses can be found in testing labs, operating rooms, and radiology centers. Along with private doctors' offices, the leading environment for nursing jobs is providing home health care services, which is great for people who want to move around a little rather than being confined to one place. All in all, this is a profession that offers a high degree of personal choice.

In fact, while many people are drawn to nursing out of a desire to help the sick and injured, the fact is that not all registered nurses deal directly with people. There are important administrative and record-keeping roles which do behind-the-scenes work to keep the health care system running smoothly.

Career Training and Degrees

Registered nurses generally have either a bachelor's or an associate's degree in nursing, with a bachelor's degree carrying more weight in the long run for nurses interested in career advancement.

In addition to degree qualifications, each state has different licensure requirements, which generally center on passing a national nursing test.

Even after becoming a registered nurse, a person might periodically choose to continue career training in this field. There are a several, very detailed specialties which further studies might qualify a nurse to practice, and the ever-changing nature of the medical profession in general is such that it is important to update skills every now and then. Online programs can be perfect for this type of continuing education while actively practicing your profession.

• Nursing
• Health & Medical