Nursing Education - Where To Start If You Want To Pursue A Career In Nursing

For those who are interested in pursuing a career in nursing and getting landau scrubs free shipping, the first step is to apply in a nursing school that is accredited and state-approved. In the United States, there are more than 1,500 nursing programs and different types of training programs to choose from.

Nursing degree options

Primarily, you have three choices of what to take up depending on the specific nursing role you want to prepare for. You can take Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), or a Hospital Diploma. The Bachelor of Science Program is a four-year degree and is offered in most universities and colleges all over the county. An associate degree takes two years to finish and is offered in many junior or community colleges. Some universities and hospital schools of nursing also offer AND degrees. A Hospital Diploma is a two- to three-year program that is based in actual hospital settings. A lot of diploma schools offering this program are affiliated with junior colleges where students are required to take science and English courses. Of the three degrees, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing is the most comprehensive and provides the most opportunities for advancement in the nursing profession. It is also the most flexible degree and is required for those who wish to take up a master's degree in nursing later on.

Pursuing further studies

Thos who wish to pursue further studies such as a master's degree can advance their nursing career and practice in advanced specialty areas where the pay is a whole lot better. Fields that require a master degree in nursing include nurse anesthetist, nurse practitioner, nurse, midwife, clinical nurse specialist, and first assistant in the operating room. Those who wish to become a nurse researcher or a professor of nursing need to obtain a doctoral degree, in most cases.

General courses

Courses in nursing include classroom instruction as well as practical instruction in a hospital setting. Subjects taught in the classroom may include chemistry, biology, nursing theory and practice, social sciences, physics, and various humanities subjects. Students also get clinical hands-on experience supervised by the instructor inside hospitals and other health care environment.

Helpful characteristics

To succeed in nursing school, you need to have good study habits because it requires a lot of memorization of facts and the ability to apply these facts in various settings. Therefore, you also need to have excellent problem solving skills and critical thinking. To survive the rigorous demands of nursing school, you need to have a genuine interest to learn, confidence, determination, and a whole lot of patience. To excel in the profession, you need to have a natural ability to care for others and have a genuine interest to heal the sick or disabled.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for nursing depend on whether you attend a public or private college and whether you are an American citizen or not. By far, the least expensive way to acquire a nursing degree is to attend a community college. Majority of nurses graduate from community college so it is not really a matter of the name of the school or how expensive the school is. Tuition in a community college average about $12 per unit, but this depends on your location and state.



August 27, 2009
By Brent McNutt
Brent McNutt enjoys talking about landau scrubs free shipping and urbane scrubs free shipping as well as networking with healthcare professionals online.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/nursing-education-where-to-start-if-you-want-to-pursue-a-career-in-nursing-803726.html

Nurse Training and Education

There is a growing demand for workers in the health care industry. The demand is only expected to increase as baby boomers age, increasing their need for health care while at the same time retiring from these positions in record numbers. The outlook for those interested in a career in nursing is very good. Although the education required to become a nurse is intensive, the pay scale is lucrative and many hospitals provide tuition reimbursement.

The education requirements for nursing include both theoretical and practical experience. The theoretical work includes classroom education, and covers subjects such as chemistry, nutrition and anatomy. The practical work provides the student nurse with hands-on supervised training in the clinical setting. Once you have completed the nursing training from an approved nursing school you are required to take, and pass, the NCLEX-RN, a licensing exam. Upon passing the exam you are awarded your RN license.

There are a variety of roads to becoming a registered nurse. Many community colleges offer an associate program. Using this program, you can have a nursing license in two to three years. It is also an economical choice, as most community colleges are substantially less expensive than a traditional four year state or private school. If you choose the four year degree, you will graduate with a B.S.N. or Bachelor of Science in Nursing. You will still be a RN, and must still pass the licensing exam before earning the right to wear your scrubs. The benefit of obtaining a bachelor’s degree is that the four year degree is required for many supervisory positions within the nursing field, and you must have a B.S.N to receive your master's degree. Many colleges now offer a fast track program to allow those with their RN to complete their B.S.N. in a short amount of time, attending classes part time or over the internet.

Master's degree programs in nursing allow a nurse to receive a higher level of compensation as well as the capability to work with more autonomy. A master's program also allows the nurse to specialize in the type of nursing that he or she prefers. There are master's programs available in clinical specialties, such as a nurse anesthetist or a nurse practitioner. Many schools also allow a nurse to enter the teaching field with a master's degree. A master's program in nursing, regardless of the specialization, typically requires two years of coursework. A nurse may also choose to earn his or her doctorate degree in nursing, which would open up many administration level jobs as well as the ability to teach in any college.

Nursing programs are approved by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. To ensure that you are properly prepared for the licensing exam that you must pass before becoming an RN, choose a school that is fully accredited. This means, among other things, that their curriculum has been examined and determined to cover the material that is included in the NCLEX-RN exam.

Given the fact that there is a shortage of nurses, and the demand is growing, it may seem that getting accepted to nursing school should be easier; this is unfortunately not the case. In fact, one of the reasons that there is a shortage of nurses is because there is also a shortage of nurse educators. Because nursing requires such detailed and extensive education, it is important to have a low student to teacher ratio. With a shortage of nurse educators, schools are limited in the number of nursing students that they can accept. The shortage of nursing educators is partially due to the fact that nurses can earn much better wages working in the clinical setting than in the college setting.

With the shortage of nursing educators, acceptance to nursing schools has become very competitive. There are several things that you can do to increase your odds of being accepted to nursing school. The first, of course, is to have the highest GPA and standardized test scores as possible. If you are seriously considering nursing school, it may be too late to improve your GPA, but if your standardized tests are not where you want them, consider investing in a test prep course and retake the exam.

Another way that you can make yourself more attractive to a nursing program is to take some classes at your local community college. Showing that you have the ability to complete college level work can go a long way in persuading the admissions board that you are a good candidate for their nursing program. Finally, consider spending time as a volunteer in the health care field. Many people want to enter nursing because of the ready supply of jobs and lucrative pay. When they realize the hard work that is required, they drop out of the nursing program. By volunteering in the field, the acceptance committee will feel more confident that you will remain in the program.



May 22, 2009
About Author:
Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about topics pertaining to nurses and the nursing profession such as Nursing Scrubs
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