Nursing Careers

What is nursing?
The field of nursing focuses on providing quality medical care to patients of all ages, assisting doctors in their day to day functions, and performing a variety of administrative duties in order to ensure the smooth operation of hospitals and clinics. Nurses also administer physiotherapy to patients and work in nursing homes, looking after elderly persons. They take part in administering emergency medical care and often provide community services such as educating the public on basic healthcare and hygiene principles, and visiting patients who cannot be moved to hospitals or simply cannot afford them. Nursing careers are one of the fastest growing in the country, with employment opportunities estimated to increase by around 14% over the next decade. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates over two million new nursing careers will be created by 2020.

Top Schools Offering Nursing Degrees

Kaplan University Online

Liberty University Online

Walden University Online

Capella University

Keiser University Graduate School

Available Programs:

Why should I consider a career in nursing?
Nursing is an extremely rewarding profession in terms of career opportunities and job satisfaction. As a nurse you not only get a chance to give back to the community, but can also make a difference in the world. As the healthcare industry in the United States and around the globe continues its growth due to increasing number of elderly people, the opportunities for nurses also continue to expand. Nursing is one of the very few professions that can take you anywhere around the world and pursue a field of work that serves humanity in every possible way.

What sorts of nursing careers are available?
The field of nursing is extremely large, with a variety of various career options and specializations available. The top occupations in this field include nurse practitioners and healthcare administrators. Nurse practitioners usually have a Master’s degree, and perform a number of duties normally attributed to doctors; such as diagnosing and treating patients and prescribing medications. Nurses who work as administrators normally have a bachelor’s degree and take a few courses in management and leadership skills. They are responsible for performing a wide number of duties in hospitals, such as ensuring a high quality of care for all patients, ordering and inventorying medicines and other medical equipment and filing & maintaining patient records.

Nurses can work in a variety of positions in hospitals, such as the trauma centers which deal with emergency medical cases, operation theatres, where surgeries are carried out, physical rehabilitation departments where physiotherapy is performed, imaging departments where x-rays are carried out and laboratories where various diagnostic tests are completed. After hospitals, the largest employers of nurses are private clinics. In most cases, these clinics are owned by a physician, and there is a limited number of staff. Nurses working in private clinics usually have to multitask and perform a number of duties at once.

Other nursing careers include schools; where they are responsible for administering first aid to children and referring them to emergency rooms for serious ailments. Nurses are also employed by various insurance companies where they work as medical case managers, filing insurance policies for different people and evaluating treatment costs. Over the past few years, as the fields of medical transcription and medical coding have emerged, a number of nurses have started their own businesses and successfully built them into medium-sized companies.