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Although a nursing career is the nation’s largest health care field, with 2.7 million registered nurses nationwide, misinformation from news stories and other media at times has ignited public misperceptions about the profession.

If you are planning or considering a career as a registered nurse, you should know these facts:

1. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for registered nurses will grow faster than any other occupation through 2012.

2. Nursing students encompass more than half of all health professions students.

3. Nurses cover the largest single component of hospital staff. They are the primary providers of hospital patient care and deliver most of the nation’s long-term care.

4. Most health care services involve some form of care by nurses. Among the 60 percent of all employed RNs work in hospitals, many are employed in a wide range of other settings, including private practices, public health agencies, primary care clinics, home health care, outpatient surgicenters, health maintenance organizations, nursing school-operated nursing centers, insurance and managed care companies, nursing homes, schools, mental health agencies, hospices, the military, and industry.

Other nurses work in careers as college and university educators preparing future nurses or as scientists developing advances in many areas of health care and health promotion.

5. Although often working jointly, nursing does not assist medicine or other fields. Nursing careers are independent of medicine and other disciplines.

Nursing roles range from direct patient care to case management, establishing nursing practice standards, developing quality assurance procedures, and directing complex nursing care systems.

6. With more than four times as many RNs in the United States as physicians, nursing delivers an extended array of health care services.

This is including primary and preventive care by advanced, independent nurse practitioners in such clinical areas as pediatrics, family health, women’s health, and gerontological care.

Nursing careers scope also includes care by clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse-midwives and nurse anesthetists, as well as care in cardiac, oncology, neonatal, neurological, and obstetric/gynecological nursing and other advanced clinical specialties.

As compared to technical-level practice, the primary pathway to a professional nursing career is the four-year Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (BSN).

Registered nurses are prepared either through a four-year baccalaureate program; a two- to three-year associate degree in nursing program; or a three-year hospital diploma program.
Graduates of all three programs take the same state licensing exam, the NCLEX-RN.

The number of diploma programs has declined steadily, to less than 10 percent of all basic RN education programs, as nursing education has shifted from hospital-operated instruction into the college and university system.

It can be noted that the demand for nursing career seem to be evolving with the changing times. Today the demand is different because of these factors:

1. Employers are now seeking nurses prepared at the bachelor’s and graduate-degree levels who can deliver the higher complexity of care required across a variety of acute-care, primary-care, and community health settings, and to provide other needed services such as case management, health promotion, and disease prevention.

2. Demand is particularly acute for nurses in key specialties, such as critical care; neonatal nursing; emergency, operating room, and labor and delivery units; and for advanced practice RNs such as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists.

From the information above, it is no wonder why there are a lot of persons are pursuing a nursing career. Need I say more?

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