Nursing Employment

Nursing employment is booming! Everyone from your local hospital or clinic to the Indian Health Service to nationwide corporations is looking for nurses. You can choose employment by specialty, location, and sometimes even by the benefits package. Are you an LPN who wants to complete the requirements for an RN degree? You can find an employer who will help with that, or maybe even pay for the whole thing!

Employment as a nurse can be very rewarding. There's really no other job where you have such intense, direct contact with the people you're helping. You can bring new babies into the world or help people move gracefully through the last stages of life. You can specialize in a highly-concentrated area, or have more general expertise across a broad spectrum of needs.

There are full-time jobs, part-time jobs, and employment as a school nurse, which many people with young children enjoy. Work while your kids are in school, and have the summers off. It's a perfect situation for many parents.

If you're a recent graduate of a nursing school, it shouldn't take you too long to find that perfect position. Nursing is the largest segment of the healthcare field, with some 2.4 million positions available. While that sounds like a lot of jobs, remember that the Baby Boomers are moving into retirement age, with the resultant health care needs that implies. Once you get employed, you job won't be getting cut anytime soon.

And speaking of Baby Boomers, many of them are currently employed as nurses. Guess what that means for you, if you're not a Baby Boomer—advancement opportunities! That's right. As those nurses retire, somebody's going to have to take their places, and that someone could be you.

There are many nursing positions available. A Licensed Practical Nurse, or LPN, works directly with patients in a basic capacity. An LPN might monitor vital signs, take temperatures, and perform other direct-care duties as requested by a physician or RN.

Some nurses have a Hospital Diploma or Associates Degree in Nursing (AND). These nurses may have a wider variety of duties than an LPN, but are still under the direct supervision of an RN or doctor. With a four-year degree (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and passing an exam specific to a state, you will be a Registered Nurse. As an RN you have a very wide range of duties, and the salary range of $45,000 to $60,000 reflects that.

Want more? You can become a Nurse Practitioner or a Nurse Anesthetist. These nurses have more responsibility and so earn higher salaries. Nurse Practitioners may prescribe medicine in some states, and interpret lab tests and x-rays. Nurse Anesthetists administer anesthesia and has an advanced degree.

Nursing employment scans the globe. Traveling nurses work in a wide variety of settings within the United States, from rural areas to big cities, wherever need and their "travel bug" takes them. Some nurses even work overseas, working for or volunteering their time and skills with charity or relief organizations.

If working as a nurse interests you, you're not likely to find a more rewarding career or one that's more in demand. Personally and professionally, nursing employment offers benefits that are matched in few other jobs.