Nurses in demand: career options y expanded roles await new graduates in nursing

Hispanic Times Magazine, May-June, 1997

Just as new technology has changed the way medicine is practiced, so new advances in the health field have expanded the control which nurses have over the healing environment.

Nurses are in great demand today, and the number of opportunities in this challenging profession continues to increase. The job outlook for registered nurses is excellent, with starting salaries higher than $35,000 a year in major metropolitan areas. Many health groups and hospitals offer special bonus incentives to nurses who are bilingual.

In today's medical arena, it is the registered nurses who concentrate on the skills of understanding, monitoring and caring for the whole person around the clock. Many facilities have triage practices, which give expanded diagnostic and consulting duties to the staff nurses.

About 70 percent of RN's are employed in hospitals. Career advancement abound in these institutions, although advanced education is usually required. Hospital staff nurses are at the bedside giving direct patient care. Other options for nurses employed in hospitals include working in the surgical unit, operating room, emergency room, surgical intensive care unit, psychiatric unit, maternity ward, newborn intensive care unit of burn unit.

Once a man or woman graduates from an accredited nursing school, he or she will have almost unlimited career opportunities. A nurse can work in rural or urban areas, be a traveling nurse, or even work on a cruise ship. Positions are available in clinical nursing, administration, education, research, community programs and even in consulting roles. They may choose to work in settings other than hospitals, such as public and private health centers, hospices, outpatient clinics, homes, community health centers, long-term care centers, clinics for special populations, such as the poor, elderly, and uninsured; government agencies; educational institutions; research organizations; public school clinics and corporations.

A burgeoning field for registered male and female nurses is occupational health. They may be housed in corporate or industrial work settings to improve or maintain the health of employees.

Sub-specialties include coronary care, intensive care, case of the cancer (oncology) patient, care of the stroke patient of care of the transplant patient. Other areas which would include advanced education are maternal/gynecological/neonatal health, psychiatric and mental health, gerontology and cardiology.

Completing the requirements to become a nurse practitioner opens up the option of working as an independent nurse. Practitioners may own their own businesses and provide health care within their communities.

The nursing profession pays well, offers a respected lifetime career, and jobs are plentiful. Go for it!