College Degree Info

University Degrees Could Be The Key To Your Future!

So you’ve decided to pursue a career in nursing. The profession has changed mightily since the days of white stockings, thermometers and a good bedside attitude. As times have progressed, so has the number of nursing specialties. It’s become a virtual alphabet soup with abbreviations such as LPN’s, RN’s and many others. Deciding what kind of nurse you’ll be even effects your decision when attending an online university.

At present, there are at least 80 different nursing specialties. All of them define their specialty as a profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning. Another definition of nursing defines it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

Critical to all this is certification. While Registered Nurses (RN’s) don’t need a specific kind of certification, you will need some certification to work in any magnet hospital or decent research facility. Certification means a nurse is an expert in a certain field, ranging from surgical to home health care. It’s another important decision one must consider when entering the field.

The broadest category is the Registered Nurse (RN). They are loosely defined as advocates for the care of the sick and maintenance of their health. From there, an RN’s responsibilities/powers are defined by each U.S. state’s Nurse’s Practicing Act (NPA). It takes a minimum of three years to get an RN diploma. The national average for salary is about $60,000.

Another key category is the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). They are often found working under the supervision of physicians in clinics and hospitals, or in private home health care. Education and training is vocational-based, hospital-based, or college-based, and can vary from 9 month to 3 years in time for certain specialties and require an associate degree in practical nursing. The average salary here is about $34,000.

Below the LPN is the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). The Nursing Assistant still holds a high level of ability, but is unable to often perform some tasks due to issues of liability and legality. They provide the bulk of the grunt work in a hospital setting, depending again on the NPA. The CNA’s salary is the widest ranging, usually starting at just short of $20,000 and into the 30’s.

From there the nursing field diversifies into a number of different specialties, and can range anywhere from social work and cruise nurses to setting up their own offices as nurse practitioners. Salaries and certification can go into the $100,000 range. Naturally, there is some sort of certification that comes with the specialty, but that’s a decision one can make after getting licensed by a state.

Another important factor is a nurse can jump from one category to another, depending on their personal desires and their nursing degree. Many health institutes encourage their nurses to be equipped with accredited degree, rewarding them by paying their tuition or salary increases upon graduation. No matter what, nursing has become a broad field for anyone willing to put in the effort. There is more information about distance learning degree on the internet.