If you are thinking about a career in nursing, here are some of the questions you might want answered. What is involved in studying online nursing? What jobs are there for nurses? What are the education requirements, and how much can you expect to earn after completion? These and other questions are tackled below.
As anybody who has been in hospital knows, nurses are the first point of contact as regards treatment and diagnostic tests, and as such, they are incredibly important in the health care profession. They are the human face of so much health care - providing direct patient care.
What is studied in a Nursing Program? Nursing education usually includes courses in anatomy, physiology, biological sciences, microbiology, chemistry, nutrition, psychology, sociology, nursing, pharmacology, statistics, environmental and occupational health, and the liberal arts. But you can't learn everything about being a nurse online. Programs also include supervised clinical experience in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
What Nursing jobs are there? Nursing professionals are always in demand all over the world. Nurses are found in several major settings, including: Hospitals - where they provide bedside nursing care and administer medical care plans; Clinics/Centers/Healthcare Offices - caring for outpatients in doctors' offices, clinics, and emergency medical centers, where they assist with examinations, administer injections and medications, etc; Nursing Homes - caring for residents; Schools; Home Care/Hospice - providing nursing services to patients at home; Prevention/Education Programs; Public Health; And there are many other opportunities for nurses.
Opportunities for nurses are increasing world-wide. In the USA, thousands of job openings will result from the need to replace experienced nurses who are leaving as they reach retirement. With the world population living longer and so needing more care, jobs in health care are increasing, and will likely stay that way for many years to come. The US Department of Labor reports that employment of registered nurses is expected to grow over 20% up to 2016.
What are the education requirements? Nurses most commonly enter the occupation by completing an Associate or Bachelor's degree program. Individuals must then complete a National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) in the USA or the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination (CRNE) in Canada in order to obtain a nursing license. Licensed graduates of these programs then qualify for entry-level nursing positions.
Many existing licensed registered nurses (RNs) with an Associate degree or diploma take online nursing programs at Bachelor's level. There are several advantages to getting your Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree if you have the time and money to do it. The BSN will give you a solid foundation in the theory behind nursing and in how nursing practice fits into the overall environment of health care. Many of the best nursing jobs - specialties like Nurse Practitioner, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), Nurse Administrator, and so on - require a BSN degree or even a Masters degree as well. And you can usually earn a higher salary with a BSN.
After taking an online nursing degree, what can you expect to earn? Your salary will obviously depend on your actual nursing job. The median expected salary for a typical Staff Nurse - RN it is over $61,000 (from Salary.com).
Author Resource:
For more details about online health care and online nursing programs . visit the Online and Distance Learning.com web site , where you can find other online and distance learning programs. Sophia Peters regularly regularly writes for for Online and Distance Learning.com.
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