What do Nurses do?

Every day is different when you’re a nurse. The fact that no two days are alike is one of the main attractions of the occupation for many people who love their nursing career. They never have to worry about getting to a point where they hate their job because it’s become a dull, boring routine. Although many nurses may see some of the same people every day, and do the same tasks every day, because of the unpredictable human factor, things are always changing. Patients’ conditions change, their disposition changes, their prognosis changes, the patients themselves change, other doctors and nurses change, procedures and medications change…in nursing, change is the one thing you can count on to never change.

What’s a nurse’s job like? Well, that depends-on a lot of different factors. One big difference is between registered nurses and LPNs. Think of an LPN as sort of a generalist, and an RN as something of a specialist. This won’t always be true-some registered nurses will also function in general nursing capacities-but it usually is. LPNs do a lot of the basic, “hands on” work that most people associate with nursing. It isn’t all that they do, but it’s much of what they do. Their work involves tasks like taking temperatures, blood pressure, pulse; giving shots, giving enemas, monitoring catheters, monitoring a patient’s condition and responses, etc. An RN can also do many of the same things, but they’re far less likely to be giving shots, taking temperatures, administering medication, etc, than an LPN is. So if you’re one of those people who would love to be working in that kind of setting, and you’re in a hurry to get started, then you should consider becoming an LPN, since you can be trained for it in a year. Another option is to become an LPN, get into nursing, and then if you want to become an RN, go to school to get your degree while you continue working as a nurse. Then, once you’ve qualified as a registered nurse, you can choose a specialty to work in if you wish. About 60 percent of registered nurses work in hospital settings, and in a wide variety of areas.

What are some career specialization options for registered nurses? There are lots of them. Here are some of the nursing specialties an RN may choose from as listed by the US Labor Department-ambulatory care, critical care, emergency care, home health care, hospice care, infusion care, long term care, medical-surgical care, occupational health, perianesthesia, perioperative, psychiatric care, radiology nurse, rehab nurse, transplant nurse, addiction care, developmental disabilities nurse, diabetes management, genetics, HIV/AIDS, oncology, wound and ostomy nurse, cardiac and vascular nurse, dermatology, gastroenterology, gynecology, nephrology, neuroscience, ophthalmic, orthopedic, otorhinolaryngology, respiratory, urology, neonatal care, pediatrics, gerontology. And this list isn’t exhaustive-it comes from the Labor Department, but new nursing specializations are being created as times and conditions change. By the time you graduate from nursing school, there may be several more on this list. As you can see, there’s all sorts of options to choose from now, and if you’re interested in nursing, you’ll no doubt have at least a couple of these in mind as the areas you’d like to focus on. But, as you can see, one big thing to keep in mind is that an RN degree offers you far more options than you’ll have as an LPN. There’s nothing wrong with being an LPN, and if you’re interested in the basics of nursing, that might be a better way for you to go. But if you’re wanting to work at a more advanced level, you’ll want to qualify as an RN.