Nursing has many opportunities and positions to offer. Besides being a staff nurse working in a hospital or nursing home, nurses find work in assisted living facilities, visiting nurses, hospice care nursing, school nurse, camp nurse, rehabilitation facilities, insurance companies evaluating medical claims, industrial plant nurse, military nurse, traveling nurse, instructor, med flight nurse, telephone nurse, specialty nurse – the list is virtually endless.

In order to become a nurse, an education is required. If you want to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), you will have to pass a state approved LPN program and pass a national licensing exam. If you wish to become a Registered Nurse, you are required to pass an approved Bachelor of Science degree program, a national licensing exam and some states require a separate state exam.

Before entering a nursing program, give some thought to your long range nursing plans, and where you want your career to go. Taking an LPN program might be a terrific way to find out if nursing is right for you. An LPN program is roughly a year, and the cost is considerably less than an RN program. If you do decide an RN career is for you, you have a year of classes and some experience under your nurse’s cap, if nurses still wear caps. Also, give some thought to what area of nursing you may want to pursue. Your chosen area of nursing may influence the classes you should take.

While in nursing school, you will have the opportunity for hands on, clinical experience by working in a hospital, nursing home or other healthcare facility. That part of your education will help you decide just where you want to go in nursing. You may find you genuinely like working with children, or senior citizens might be more your style. Maybe you will find working in a healthcare setting is not your thing at all, and decide writing and editing medical articles for the American Medical Association is where your nursing skill may best be utilized.

Be sure to join and always be a member in decent standing, in your local professional nurses association. It is the best way to stay abreast with the wonderful world of nursing and what it has to offer by way of opportunity. You will perhaps find nurse positions you never knew existed before but might like to be a part of. It is also the perfect way to network with not only other nursing and medical professionals but medical facilities, as well. Sometimes the best nursing positions are not advertised in the paper, trade magazines or monster.com but word of mouth through networking.

Every once in a blue moon, the newspapers and trade magazines will report there are not enough nurses to go around. At first, it sounds like there are not enough students interested in pursuing a career in nursing. Sometimes there are not enough nursing instructors to accommodate the number of students interested in studying nursing. Besides geriatric nursing, an area of nursing that needs to be filled is instructor. Typically, a master’s degree in nursing science is required along with a minimum amount of practical experience to qualify to teach. What better way to pass on your knowledge and skills and train the nurses of tomorrow than by teaching.

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Category: Career
Keywords: CNA Certification, CNA Training