Need Help Choosing Your Nursing Career Path?

Even in the midst of a global downturn that has affected nearly every industry in

the United States and around the world the nursing profession remains much in demand. Perhaps more importantly for anyone thinking about a career as a registered nurse (RN), the nation's need for nurses is expected to increase by more than twenty percent over the next seven years, creating more than half a million new nursing jobs that will need to be filled, as well as several hundred thousand more openings due to retirements in the current field of nurses. Already the halls of power are abuzz with proposals to encourage the nation's young people to commit to a career in nursing care.

That commitment to nursing can open up a multitude of career paths, especially within the hospital environments in which many nurses work. As medicine has become ever more specialized in recent decades, the nursing industry has followed suit. The increased attention given to medical concerns such as cardiac care and oncology have resulted in an upsurge in the number of nurses who have focused their skill sets on highly specific areas of treatment and care.

Those specialized areas of care can include everything from orthopedic care to nursing care provided in the aftermath of surgery. Nurses trained to assist doctors during surgery are also critical to ensuring that the operation goes smoothly. There are specialized choices that allow nurses to focus on providing treatment for the elderly, patients with psychiatric conditions, and women. There are opportunities in neonatal care, pediatrics, and geriatrics, allowing nurses to choose the patient age group they would most like to serve. This wide diversity of nursing specializations helps to guarantee that nurses in all areas of care are highly competent in their field of expertise, and not just proficient in general nursing knowledge.

Though roughly six out of every ten nurses employed in the United States works within the hospital environment, opportunities for nursing specializations are not limited to those found within that environment. Long-term care facilities offer an opportunity to utilize nursing skills in the care and treatment of geriatrics. Nurses in those facilities often experience a greater degree of autonomy than their hospital-based counterparts. There are also opportunities for nurses who offer care within their patients' own homes - either following up after surgeries or assisting with long-term care like cancer treatment.

In addition, nursing career paths can extend to health clinics and private physician offices. Unlike nursing jobs in hospitals, these options provide more stable working hours - generally from eight or nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, with weekends off. Of course, those benefits make these office nursing jobs highly competitive, but when there are job openings available many nurses find them highly rewarding.

With the diversity of career paths available, there has never been a more exciting time for a career in nursing. Regardless of whether you want to work in general nursing care or focus on a specific area of treatment, there are many opportunities waiting for you in this critical industry - and all indications are that the demand for your services will continue to rise.

by: Karen Williams

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