subject: Going into the Nursing Profession [print this page] Going into the Nursing Profession Going into the Nursing Profession
The nursing profession is one of the most difficult careers in the healthcare industry. The American Nurses Association defines it as a career that promotes, protects and optimizes a person's health and abilities, preventing illness and injury as well as alleviate suffering "through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities and populations."
That's a rather tall order and it's no wonder that despite having the largest workforce in the country's healthcare industry at 2.5 million strong, according to the Bureau of labor Statistics (BLS), nurses are always in demand and hospitals around the country suffer a perennial shortfall.
The Nursing Role
Where there are doctors, whether in hospitals, clinics, hospices and government agencies, there's bound to be nurses. Nurses and doctors work together to become integral in a patient's health care. The doctor makes the diagnosis and treatment decisions and the nurse take over to administer the treatment on a continuing basis to see through the patient's recuperation.
And because there is more interaction between patent and nurse, there's more demand for nurses to be adept in communication and even patient psychology. More often that not, the nurse needs to exhibit extraordinary patience and understanding as well as extreme tolerance to verbal abuse from patients under their care.
Options in A Nursing Career
In the US, there are three nursing career paths. At the minimum, you can have a 1-year vocational training, a 2-year associate degree in nursing(AND), a 4year BS degree in nursing or BSN, and a diploma course from accredited nursing programs in hospitals. The most popular is getting a BSN as it affords greater flexibility in choosing nursing jobs as well as career mobility.
But before being allowed to practice your nursing career, you need to pass the National Council Licensure Examination for either a Registered Nurse license (NCLEX-RN) or Practical Nurse license (NCLEX-PN). The same licensing exams are administered to overseas registered nurses planning to work in the country.
The Last Word
Intellectual aptitude is great but a career in nursing often need less of that but requires an ocean of patience, understanding, tolerance for abuse from the patient and a real heart of gold. It's enough that the nursing shortage can cause more stressful hours in overtime work. But it can get more demanding especially when you're dealing with invalids and seriously ill patients. It's not surprising that middle class America does not find the work appealing and leaves migrants and overseas workers to take on the menial task associated with nursing. That's often the case when countries become prosperous.
