Career Paths For Nurses

Career Paths For Nurses

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Like the medical profession that sees specialty fields to cover with more focused competence every aspect of a persons medical needs, so is the nursing career. Nurses are engaged in all aspect of a patients care that go beyond providing comfort and hygiene to administering on-going treatments. While most are generalists, some nursing jobs inevitably take them to specialized endeavors like pediatrics, cancer treatment, dental work, cardiologic practice, anesthesiology, cosmetic surgery and nearly all medical specialties, depending on the doctors they work with.

Vocational and Registered Nursing Careers

In any of these specialization, nurses can fall either as a licensed practice nurse (LPN) also known as licensed vocation nurses (LVN) which only require a one year post secondary course study, or as registered nurse (RN) which require a 4-year baccalaureate degree in college, a nursing diploma from accredited nursing schools or an associates degree in nursing (ADN). Both nursing jobs require licensing by passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN) or for Registered Nurse license (NCLEX-RN). A 4-year BSN course is the more preferred route as it offers a nursing career with better opportunities for personal and career growth.

Going Up the Nursing Career Ladder

The average annual income for a nurse falls between $45,000 to $65,000 depending on the hospital they work in while the top 10% can command as much as $75,000. One sure way to advance in your nursing career is to pursue post graduate masteral studies to become Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN).

These studies typically cover specialized healthcare courses such as oncology, pediatrics and anesthesiology, to mention some. Advance practice nurses are the highest paid nurses in the country that include Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Clinical Registered Nurse Anesthetists.
Hospitals are perennially in need of nurses as most do not stay long in one job, moving on to other hospitals in another county or state that pay better, take on supervisory positions or go into advance specialization studies to assume higher paying nursing positions in the same hospital where they work or elsewhere.

This leaves most entry level nursing jobs in constant vacancy. The shortage has become acute over the last decade with few locals taking interest in the profession so that hospitals and health care institutions have embarked on programs that absorb overseas contractuals who pass the NCLEX requirement. Most hospitals now employ a large percentage of Indian, Mexican, Filipino, and Czech nurses in their staff. GP



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