So You Think You Want To Be a Nurse!

If you think you might want to be a nurse, there are a lot of employment options you can consider.

Nursing is one of the oldest ongoing professions in the world and it is a respected and honored profession. First and foremost, nurses must be dedicated to their profession and their patients and if you are not the type of person who can give every ounce of energy to your patients, then nursing is probably not a career you should pursue! However, if you LOVE to help people, this field may be where you belong!

As a nurse in today's world of medicine, you have a lot of work environment. While your first picture of a nurse may be that of a medical professional standing next to a hospital bed, nurses today work in all kinds of environments and circumstances.

Hospice Nurses - These nurses work with a patient and their family to help them through the dying process and to act as liaison for doctors and other medical staff. This dedicated care ensures that the patient can stay home and remain comfortable during their final days of life.

Institutional Nursing - These nurses work in schools and colleges. They treat colds, fever or flu, sprains or sports injury and help educate older children on the dangers of AIDS, eating disorders, etc. and they get to know the students very well. It is a great place for you to work if you love children and don't like the more sterile environs or higher stress of some nursing jobs. Institutional nursing jobs also include positions in women's shelters, homeless shelters or other community outreach organizations.

Operating Room Nurses - These nurses have to be on their toes and they must be trained on modern operating room equipment, understand the kind of procedure the surgeon is performing and the tools the surgeon will need. The operating room nurse works as a member of a highly skilled team and must be ready to act quickly and efficiently.

Trauma Nurses - These nurses work in hospital trauma units, and care for patients who arrive by medical helicopter or ambulance. These patients may have been in an automobile accident, a train accident or an airplane crash, or they may be coming from a fire or other major accident or event. Trauma nurses can also work as a member of the helicopter team that is dispatched to pick up the patient.

Private Duty Nurses - These nurses work with one patient, caring for them in their hospital room, or at home to help them recuperate from surgery, or illness or to care for a patient with a chronic disease or illness.

Home Health Care Nursing - These nurses are very different from the home health care nurses who first started in this industry. They still work in suburban, urban and rural areas, and they still travel from patient to patient. Their job is to care for a patient, change a dressing or do whatever is required. They also communicate with doctors and carry out routine medical care so that the patient can stay at home alone or with their family instead of being in nursing facility or hospital. But today Home Health Care Nurses use advanced technology to remotely monitor heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and more. So, now the nurse can treat one patient, check on another by remote monitoring, and still stay on schedule to visit that third patient 20 miles away.

Hospital Nursing - Nurses who work in hospitals today also use a lot of new technology. They have to learn to use and monitor advanced equipment, and they have the day to day responsibility for patient care while a patient is recuperating from recent surgery or from illness. Nursing care and interaction with patients has a major effect the speed with which a patient recovers and on the patient's attitude. Never is that effect more evident than when you walk into your patient's room in the morning and you're your patient say "I am SO glad to see you!" Years after hospitalization, patients still remember the nurse who eased their discomfort during those difficult days in the hospital.

That's what nursing is all about!

If you think you want to be a nurse, search online, pick up the yellow pages, or go to your local library to research nursing schools. Get started on the path to nursing today.

Qualified nurses are always in demand to staff hospitals, schools, visiting nurse organizations, and hospices.