Registered Nursing Is a Challenging and Stimulating Career - Essay Example

The basic duty of Registered nurses is to treat and educate patients and the public on the promotion, and prevention of disease. RNs care for individuals, families, and communities and offer counsel and emotional support to patients’ family members.
Registered nurses also team up with doctors in the performance of treatments, tests, and examinations, the administration of medications, and the provision of direct patient care in convalescence and rehabilitation. (Mayo School of Health Sciences) 2 RNs also provide direct patient care, they observe, assess, and record symptoms, reactions, and progress, which provides the basis for care planning and intervention.
Registered nurses work in various settings from patient care and case management to establishing nursing practice standards, developing quality assurance procedures, directing complex nursing care systems, conducting clinical research, teaching in nursing programs, and legal nursing as well as practicing in many other stimulating settings. (Explore health careers) 

RNs can also specialize in one or more patient care specialties separated by work setting type of treatment; disease, ailment, or condition; organ or body system type; or population. They may specialize by becoming ambulatory care nurses, critical care nurses, emergency, or trauma, nurses, home health care nurses, hospice and palliative care nurses, medical-surgical nurses, perianesthesia nurses, perioperative nurses, radiologic nurses, psychiatric nurses, etc. The list is endless.

Education/training
Aspiring nurses must graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a national licensing examination, the NCLEX-RN, to get a nursing license. After this, there are different means of becoming an RN.

The first method is a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing (BSN); these programs are offered by colleges and universities and require four years of study. The second option is an associate degree in nursing (ADN) these are offered by community and junior colleges and take about two to three years to complete. The third is you can work your way up from being a healthcare assistant and progress to apply for a place on a degree or diploma course. Some schools also give accelerated associate or baccalaureate degrees to students already holding health-related degrees, such as licensed practical nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, or registered nurses with associate degrees seeking bachelor's degrees. (Florida Health Careers) 4

Employment
Registered nursing has a wide employment scope, registered nurses held about 2.4 million jobs in 2004. (Occupational Outlook Handbook)5 The majority of RNs work in hospitals as staff nurses assigned to the operating room, emergency room, maternity unit, intensive care unit, pediatric unit, psychiatric unit, or general care floor. Others work in offices of physicians, nursing care facilities, home health care services, employment services, government agencies, outpatient care centers, social assistance agencies, and educational services, public and private. Many employers also offer flexible work schedules, child care, educational benefits, and bonuses.

Earnings
The median annual earnings of registered nurses were $52,330 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $43,370 and $63,360. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $37,300, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $74,760. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of registered nurses in May 2004 were as follows:
Employment services $63,170
General medical and surgical hospitals 53,450
Home health care services 48,990
Offices of physicians 48,250
Nursing care facilities 48,220
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor) 6

Job Outlook
With over 100,000 unoccupied positions and a daily escalating need for nurses, the job outlook is excellent in the nursing field. It is predicted that by the year 2020, there will be an estimated shortage of 800,000 nurses. (Discover Nursing) 7
Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2014, and many new jobs will result. Registered nurses are projected to create the second-largest number of new jobs among all occupations. Thousands of job openings also will result from the need to replace experienced nurses who leave, especially as the median age of the registered nurse population continues to rise. (Occupational Outlook Handbook) 8

The number of older people who are much more likely than younger people to need nursing care is projected to grow rapidly; further increasing the need for nurses. Enrollments in nursing programs have also augmented in the past couple of years as nursing is seen as a stable and reputable position. However many competent candidates are turned away because of a scarcity of nursing faculty to teach. The need for nursing faculty will further increase as a large number of instructors are nearing retirement. Read More