A nursing career is a demanding but rewarding, helping profession. With the first wave of baby boomers already retiring, there will be jobs ready for you when you graduate. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be 711,900 new jobs added between 2010 and 2020. The right educational program in nursing could help you secure one of these jobs.
Develop Three Kinds of Skills
To prepare for a career in nursing, use your education and training opportunities to build the right skill set. According to Annette Vallano, author of "Your Career in Nursing: Manage Your Future in the Changing World of Healthcare," these include clinical skills, career management skills and helping people care for themselves. You can determine if your personality is right for developing these skills.
Nursing students perform clinical rotations under supervision and develop a wide range of skills, including learning the diverse departments of a hospital, such as emergency room, labor and delivery, nursery, pediatrics, surgery, orthopedics and oncology. They might work in nursing homes or early childhood facilities. Skills include assessing patients, obtaining their medical history and recording their information in a chart and providing directions for patients on treatments and medications. Nurses also develop many technical skills, such as using computers and medical devices, and perform procedures, including inserting intravenous lines, administering vaccinations and shots and measuring patients' vital signs.
Prepare Your Work Ethic
Get ready for your nursing career by setting the goal to be as responsible and detail-oriented as you can be. You'll work in a health care environment in which knowing the laws and rules of the profession and your employer will make the difference in patient care. You must be meticulous about details to keep patients safe, such as in preparing their medication doses per their doctor's orders.
Nurses also have to develop a real balance for their emotions in caring for patients. They need to demonstrate emotions such as caring, compassion and empathy while also maintaining their calm when patients and their families go through difficult times, including the stress and grief associated with illness, pain and death. For example, hospice nurses must be equipped to help families develop a plan for a loved one in need of end-of-life care, including discussing options to make the end as comfortable as possible.
Nurses can find work in hospitals, nursing homes, doctors' offices and clinics. There are also jobs in government agencies, schools, the armed forces and clinical education. Some nurses combine nursing with another discipline, such as public health administration or personal injury law, becoming a specialist.
2016 Salary Information for Registered Nurses
Registered nurses earned a median annual salary of $68,450 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the low end, registered nurses earned a 25th percentile salary of $56,190, meaning 75 percent earned more than this amount. The 75th percentile salary is $83,770, meaning 25 percent earn more. In 2016, 2,955,200 people were employed in the U.S. as registered nurses.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses
- Your Career in Nursing: Manage Your Future in the Changing World of Healthcare; Annette Vallano
- Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Career Resource Center: Clinical Nurse Intern/Extern Programs
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses
- Career Trend: Registered Nurses
- Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images