Career Research Report

Career Research Report

In the United States, there are more than 2.5 million individuals who, when addressed as a nurse, will respond (Frederickson, 4). Nursing occupations make up the largest group of workers in the health care field. Such occupations include Advance Practice Nurses, Certified Nurse-Midwives, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Community Health Nurses, Critical Care Nurses, Emergency Nurses, Geriatric Nurses, Home Health Care and Hospice Nurses, Legal Nurse Consultants, Licensed-Practical Nurses, Neonatal Nurses, Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Assistants, Nurse Managers, Nurse Practitioners, Nursing Instructors, Occupational Health Nurses, Oncological Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses, Registered Nurses, School Nurses, and Transplant Coordinators (Ferguson,1). After reading this paper, I hope to make you the subject-matter expert in my occupation, the Registered Nurse. An overview of nursing, work environment, typical course study of becoming a registered nurse, duties performed, earnings, and the future outlook will be discussed in detail.

Registered Nurses help individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease. They care for the sick and injured in hospitals and other health care facilities, physician offices, private homes, public health agencies, schools, camps, and industry. Some registered nurses are employed in private practice (www.fdtc.edu). The work environment includes clean and well-lighted facilities where temperature is controlled. Usually, nurses work eight-hour shifts. Those in hospitals generally work any of three shifts: 7am to 3pm: 3pm to 11pm: or 11pm to 7am (Ferguson, 140). There are three avenues of becoming a registered nurse. A student may choose a hospital nursing program, a school offering the associate degree program or the bachelor degree program (Frederickson, 39). Currently, I am pursuing an associate degree in nursing. The associate degree program in nursing was developed in 1952 by Dr. Mildred Montag, a nurse and educator. This program was not originally intended to assume leadership or administrative roles. According to Montag, the functions of the associate degree nurse are to assist with planning nursing care, provide general nursing care with supervision, and assist with the evaluation of nursing care. Most programs are conducted within community or junior colleges. The student who attains an associate degree in nursing will be eligible for the registered nursing licensure examination. Upon passing the exam, students are authorized to use the initials R.N. when signing their names.

The typical course of study in an associate degree requires attendance at a nursing clinical lab in a local hospital twice a week or more for eight hours in order to test ...