Facts about a Career in Nursing

Facts about a Career in NursingNursing is a noble profession. Without thesepeople, no one will be able to look after thepatient when the doctor is not available. Itshould be pointed that there is a shortage ofnurses in the US. The government for its part hashired foreign nationals to fill the gap but thisis not enough to solve the problem. This is whyknowing some facts about a career in nursing couldprobably encourage students in high school ormaybe even in college to make that shift.

1.Entry level nurses earn a lot more than whatother professionals earn after graduating fromcollege. One report shows that they get an averageof $45,000 a year compared to accountants who onlyget about $41,000.2.Unlike other courses that will require thestudent to get a degree in 4 years, nurses cangraduate and find work after 2 years. Theseprograms area namely an Associate Degree inNursing or AND as well as the Hospital Diploma.Students of these two programs can go back toschool later on to further their studies bygetting a Bachelor of Science in Nursing or BSN.3.Nurses may also find work in places other thanthe hospital. These include schools,correctional facilities, private companies,research labs and homes since only three out offive registered nurses work in a hospital.

4.For the country, majority of nursing jobs areoccupied by women despite an increase of 5.4% ofmales that have joined the workforce. But in theU.S. military, one third of those serving are men.5.In the US, the ratio between registered nursesand doctors is 4:1. Aside from providing the usualhealth care services to patients, they also teachpatients about prevention and work in otherfields such as cardiac, family health, gynecology,neonatal, neurology, oncology, pediatrics andother advance clinical specialties.6.Nurses work between 8 to 10 hours per shiftbecause the risk of an error happening are greaterif they work longer than 12 hours.7.The reason why the government has to fill theshortage of nurses is to lower the incidence ofadverse outcomes with patients. For instance, onestudy has shown that if the number of registerednurses in a hospital is not increased, there will

be a rise in the number of patients who will sufferfrom lung failure, pressure ulcers and urinarytract infections.Those with higher resident nurse staffing willhave lower rates of adverse patient outcomesenabling them to be discharged later on withoutfurther incident.8.Apart from a shortage in trained nurses, thereis also a shortage in nursing faculty. After yearsof working in a hospital setting, suchindividuals can apply in schools to teach whatthey know to the bunch of hopefuls who want to makea difference in the lives of the patients.The facts mentioned about nursing just goes toshow that nurses play a vital life saving role inthe overall healthcare system of the country.Doctors which we have a lot of can only do so muchand they need the help of trained professionalsto follow through what they have done to treat a

patient.If you have the desire to help people, thenperhaps you should see if a nursing career isright for you.