Research Paper on Nursing Career
For as long as I could remember I knew I wanted to have a career in healthcare. The idea of helping people for a living has always interested me. My older sister, Grace, is a registered nurse and I enjoy talking to her about nursing school. Her stories about her experiences during clinicals were extremely intriguing to me. Grace graduated from her nursing program at Arizona State University in December of 2021 with a BSN. Whenever I visited her, I always looked through her textbooks. The subject matter interested me and I would read them just for fun. I did not really know much about a career in nursing or what I would be doing on a daily basis. I have not explored the education required or what the expected job outlook would be for the next ten years.
A nurses’ main job duties are patient care and education. A nurse may work caring for many different groups and types of people such as individuals, families, or entire communities. If one were to sum the eclectic list of requirements that nurses are expected to complete into five main duties and responsibilities it would be, assessing patients’ physical, mental, and emotional health. Talking and gathering personal and family medical history from the patient’s family. Performing basic physical exams, taking blood pressure, temperature, and checking other vital signs. Designing and carrying out treatment, referring patients to doctors or other medical specialties.
The schooling to become a registered nurse would be to earn an associate’s degree in nursing or an ADN, followed by the successful completion of the NCLEX-RN Examination. Although it is required to only hold an associate’s degree, many states have begun requiring that RNs hold at least a bachelor’s degree of science in nursing or a BSN. At this moment the state of Wisconsin does not require one to hold a BSN, it is just optional. (Writers). One would also need to complete the licensure requirements as dedicated by the state in which they would wish to practice. (“What Degree Do You Need to Become a Registered Nurse (RN)?”). In order to graduate, the completion of clinals is required. Clinical rotations is where the nursing student interact with patients while being supervised. The purpose of clinicals is to supply hands-on caring for patients (Aspen University). During clinical rotations the nursing student is able to experience different specialty areas of nursing such as, Labor and Delivery, ICU, Emergency Department, and Surgery. Sixty hours of clinical experience is required for graduation in all of the UWM College of Nursing Programs RN-BSN Nursing Programs (Simonson). Most nursing programs require at least a 2.5 GPA or higher. Although some schools might require a 3.0 GPA (Utica College ABSN).
You can achieve these skills by shadowing nurses or during clinical experiences. Some classes that I have taken that would relate to nursing would be Large Animal Science and Biology. Chemistry and Biology are important when perusing a career in nursing. Although Large Animal Science relates to large animals, there are areas that are applicable to humans as well, such as the history of vaccinations and zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transmitted between humans and animals, and an example of this disease would be the West Nile Virus. If a person is in close, frequent contact with animals who could be infected with a zoonotic disease it would be important to know and understand common diseases. Terminology such as intravenous and intramusuclar may be applied to humans and animals.
I would like my career progression to entail becoming a nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioners are nurses who have additional education, clinical training, and experience. This additional training allows them to perform tasks that usuallyonly a doctor would be able to perform. Nurse practitioners are able diagnose, treat, and manage common illnesses. The education requirements to become a nurse practitioner would be first to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Secondly, pass the NCLEX-RN Exam to become a Registered Nurse. After becomine a registered nurse, enrollment in a nurse practitioner program. Nurse practitioner programs will result in a master’s degree or a doctorate. Usually, those programs take one to three years to complete. Many of the programs have an option of working and studying on a part-time basis. Some schools want you to have one or two years of RN experience in preparation before beginning nurse practitioner school.
The entry-level income for an RN is $52,700 and the expected amount is $92,040. The entry-level for a nurse practitioner is $82,00 and the expected salary is $127,420. Nurses are needed practically everywhere. Registered nurses can work in hospitals, nursing homes, walk-in clinics, prisons, and schools. Nurse practitioners can work in community health centers and clinics, hospitals, doctors’ offices, drop-in clinics, assisted living facilities. With the opportunity for advancements for registered nurses in large healthcare corporations, nurses can advance to executive positions and oversee dozens of hospitals or clinics (CHRON). Another way for nurses to work up in the healthcare system is to go back to school and earn an advanced degree such as a master’s or a doctorate.
No matter where you go there will always be a hospital and the need for nurses. However, one can not practice wherever they would like to though. Some states have the same licensure and exam that you need to take, but in others, you would need to retake the NCLEX-RN Exam to practice in that particular state.
Preparing for your career in high school is very important. Taking science-related courses, math courses and leadership courses are some great examples that can help prepare for nursing programs.
