by
Karen Crone, RN
Today’s Registered Nurse (RN) has more career
choices than ever before. There are clinical roles,
academic positions, administrative spots and executive
careers. A nurse has so many options in front
of them, it can be mind boggling. This article
will review some roles in each of the aforementioned
categories.
Clinical Nursing
– Considered the “front line”
of patient care, most RNs choose to do direct
patient care when they first become licensed to
practice. With numerous clinical specialties to
select from, many nurses remain in clinical care
for the duration of their career. These are mentioned
in another article, but a quick summary would
be critical care, surgery, ambulatory settings,
obstetric, newborn care, and medical-surgical
nursing to name just a few. While some of these
specialties require additional training, all will
test every nursing skill learned during your training.
Clinical nursing can be practiced in variety of
settings such as:
Hospitals - While
the most traditional of nursing sites, all hospitals
are not the same. Some are designated trauma hospitals
which are graded from levels 1 -3 dependent on
the intensity of practitioners present. For instance,
in any metropolitan area, there is one hospital
that will receive trauma victims first, –
as they are the best qualified to respond. Also,
some hospitals are considered “teaching”
hospitals because they have medical students,
residents and other healthcare students. These
are usually busier facilities. Still other hospitals
serve a specific population such as pediatrics
or women’s services, cancer specific hospitals,
etc.
Ambulatory Care –
These centers can be located on or off hospital
campus sites. The level of care is less severe
and these centers serve to keep less ill patients
from the emergency rooms. An ambulatory care center
is similar to a “mini” hospital in
that they have radiology, emergency level treatment
and “same day” surgery capabilities.
What they do not have is overnight accommodations
for patients.
Nursing Homes –
While everyone if familiar with nursing homes,
“aging in place” is a more recent
development. A campus will have several levels
of accommodations geared towards the level of
care the elderly require. The least level of care
is called assisted living which offers partial
assistance such as meal planning and housekeeping
help. Other levels are Alzheimer’s or dementia
units, rehab units and then of course, the actual
nursing home itself.
Homecare Nursing
– This is becoming an extremely large industry
as the population is aging out and the hospitals
have downsized. Every level of care can be administered
in the home including nursing, occupational and
physical therapy, wound programs and cardiac rehab.
Academic Nursing
– This is a field which is in dire need
of “fresh recruits”. With the current
severe nursing shortage, educational staff is
in increasingly and often alarmingly short supply.
Nursing instructors are needed at every level
from diploma programs through universities.
Sales
– Lucrative positions are available for
nurses in medical supply sales, pharmacy sales
and instrument sales. These jobs come with some
great salaries, benefits, bonuses and perks.
Administrative and Executive
Nursing
– Nurses can “move up the ranks”
just as in any other career. There are supervisory
levels, unit managers, Directors and Executive
roles. Many nurses further their education in
business and healthcare related programs. It is
not uncommon for nurses to hold a BSN, MSN and
an MBA. Nurses are now being promoted to levels
of Executive Vice President in hospitals as well
as President, CEO, COO, and CFO.
Today’s nurse has more options and choices
than ever before. I know nurses who are entrepreneurs
and have started their own staffing agencies,
homecare companies, nursing medical legal consulting
practices, durable medical equipment companies
and medical billing agencies.
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