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With almost 2.6M registered nurses (RN) in the United States, nursing is now the largest health care profession in the country. If you think that hospitals are the only place a nurse could be found, you are certainly misled. Public health agencies, communities, ambulatory care centers and other places where health care services are rendered also commonly have nurses employed.

1. The Nursing Practice

Nursing covers a wide area of practice. It includes

- Childcare

- Elderly care

- Services for pregnant women

- Services for newborn infants

- Specialty area – injury nursing

- Specialty area – cancer nursing

- Specialty area – forensic nursing

2. Choose Your Nursing Program

The first step to be a nurse is to graduate from a nursing program. This would enable you to take a state licensure examination. In the US, more than 1500 nursing programs are offered. Three of these programs prepare you in assuming different tasks once you graduate.

A. A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

This is a four-year curriculum offered in colleges and universities. A graduate of this course has the advantage of learning health care settings that includes leadership and management. A degree in BSN is preferred and often required in many fields of nursing.

B. Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN)

This is a 2 to 3 year program offered in community college as well as in junior collages. This program prepares the student in handling direct patient care.

C. Hospital Diploma

This is a 2 to 3 year program that is based in hospitals.

3. Nursing Positions

Now that you’ve covered the basics, let’s take a closer look on some of the nursing positions you can occupy. These positions are based on your experience and education.

A. Entry-level nursing position

This is the Staff Nurse Position. The nurse takes on making judgments based on scientific knowledge. You have to rely on procedures and standardized care plans.

B. Certified Mid-wife

This is a specialty nurse position where the nurse aids childbearing women. It starts during the preconception stage and goes through the prenatal, labor and delivery. Postpartum period care is also included in her duties. The nurse also provides family planning counseling as well as gynecological care for women.

C. Case Manager

Over time, a nurse can become a nurse case manager. In this position, the nurse will be involved in the process of organizing as well as coordinating the resources and services of an entire group of nurses, such as an entire hospital.

D. Nurse Educator

This is also a position a nurse could get involved with. Educating people about proper health care needs and procedures would be the basic tasks for this position. A Nurse Practitioner on the other hand conducts physical exams on patients, conducts diagnoses and provides treatments. A nurse practitioner could also write prescriptions and could also manage patients with chronic conditions such as diabetics and those with hypertension.

E. Nurse Anesthetist

A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist assists during operations. They give anesthesia to the patients before and after the operation.

There are also various specialty nursing programs that would help you specialize in a specific area. Radiology Nursing, Rehabilitation Nursing, AIDS Care Nursing, and Forensic Nursing are few of these specialty areas. Radiology Nurses are concerned with patients that undergo diagnosis in radiology imaging environments. It also includes Ultrasonography, magnetic resonance and radiation oncology. Rehabilitation Nurses or Psychiatric Nurses takes on providing physical and emotional support both to the patient and their families. They deal with patients having mental incapacities. An AIDS Care Nurse manages the physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs of a patient suffering with AIDS. A Forensic Nurse works in a different environment with other nurses. They work with the law enforcement officials to help in the investigation of crimes like sexual assault and accidental death. They also help in the treatment of the victims of these crimes.

Today nursing practices are performed in a wide range of settings, from hospitals to paying personal visits to peoples’ homes. Educational institutions, like universities and schools, summer camps , pharmaceutical companies, non-profit organizations, or international organizations like the World Bank, hire nurses to work in occupational health settings, clinics and physicians’ offices, elderly care facilities or cruise ships. This diverse medical profession can appear in diverse settings keeping its main goal identical in any situation; provide caring services to those in need.

In pre-modern times, nuns and military officers often provided nursing services. In fact, the religious and military roots of modern nursing remain in evidence until today. For example, in Great Britain, senior female nurses are called “sisters” probably due to the people association with nuns. In recent times, nurses work within churches and community organizations in order to perform health education, counseling, provide referrals to community support agencies, and connect volunteers from the church community with those in need of assistance.

Nursing flourished in response to the World Wars and New Zealand was the first country to regulate nurses nationally, with adoption of the Nurses Registration Act on the 12th of September 1901. Ellen Dougherty was the first Registered Nurse. In recent years, the American Nurses’ Association (1980) has defined nursing as “the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems.” Just as medical diagnoses help in the planning, implementing, and evaluation of medical care, nurses’ diagnoses help in the planning, implementing, and evaluation of nursing care.

Like other maturing disciplines, nursing has developed different theories that are aligned with diverging philosophical beliefs and paradigms or worldviews. Nursing theories help nurses to direct their activities in order to accomplish specific goals with people. Nursing is a knowledge based discipline committed to the betterment of humankind. Nursing has not only developed into a profession, but an art as well.

As the world grew larger and larger a large number of specialties within nursing have developed. In fact, nursing has been divided into different specialties or classifications. With more than 200 nursing specialties and sub-specialties, a variety of professional organizations or certifying boards issue voluntary certification in many of these areas and nurses are interested in acquiring one of these accreditations, encompassing care throughout the human lifespan and based upon patient needs.

Overall, the nursing career structure varies considerably throughout the world. Typically there are several distinct levels of nursing practitioner, distinguished by increasing education, responsibility and skills. The major distinction is between task-based nursing and professional nursing. At the top of the educational ladder is the doctoral-prepared nurse. Nurses may gain the PhD or another doctoral degree such as Doctor of Nursing Science (DNSc) or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), specializing in research, clinical nursing, etc. These nurses practice nursing, teach nursing and carry out nursing research. As the science of nursing has advanced, so has the demand for doctoral-prepared nurses.