Registered Nurse
The healthcare system has, by default, created the post of nursing due to the requirement of care services. The nursing profession involves a series of training aimed at equipping an individual with the skills required to perform healthcare services for the benefit of the patients. The nurses are the healthcare officials with the opportunity of being closer to the patients for the longest time. Every healthcare facility at least has a nurse because the functions of a nurse are needed in almost every facility. Additionally, the nurses have been trained to be in a position such that they are the first professionals that a patient meets upon visiting any health facility. Above the professional roles of the nurses, the nurses act as the bridge between patients and other professionals in the health facility. The operation of any nurse is based on expertise, professionalism, education, and even counseling to bring out the similarity of a second family and end up providing the best care that a patient needs while undergoing any form of treatment.
Registered and licensed nurses work within professional limits that control the way the nurses behave. The professional standards ensure that nurses cannot perform below some set standards while the same standards set the limit above which nurses cannot go beyond during their course of practice (Neuss et al. 2016). The scope of practice for nurses and midwifery is strategically set with the standards that define the professional conduct of every registered and licensed nurse. Although the scope of practice varies among different states, the lower and upper limits for the operation of nurses tend to be similar. Additionally, nurses operate within a defined code of ethics that defines the acceptable ethical practices of any nurse as well as actions that may constitute to lack of professional ethics. The choice to pursue nursing as a career is taken as a personal choice, and thus, every nurse is expected to adhere to ethics during their operation. The operation of the nurse should be based on the obligation to respect the virtues of everyone within the society at all times. The code of ethics requires that a nurse should maintain professionalism at all times and that ethics should be part of the nursing profession.
The educational requirements for nursing profession vary depending on whether an individual decides to become a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. A registered nurse requires more educational qualifications than a licensed practical nurse (Weber & Farrell, 2016). The minimum educational requirement for a registered nurse is an associate’s degree in nursing. Individuals who manage to complete an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) are subjected to a licensing examination that is used as the assessment before an individual is licensed as a Registered Nurse (RN). State licensure serves as an additional requirement before an additional is recognized as a registered nurse. Additionally, a master’s degree in nursing serves as an added advantage in the requirements for an individual to qualify as a registered nurse.
An Associate Degree in Nursing can be obtained in either a public college or a private school at varying costs. The cost of acquiring an Associate’s Degree in Nursing depends on whether the college is private or public, and the duration that is taken to complete the program (Reinhard, Wright & Cook, 2017). Typically, an Associate’s Degree in Nursing will cost between $6000 and $40000 in a public college while the cost goes up to between $40000 and $100000 in a private school. The cost is, however, subject to be affected by other factors such as the location of the school offering the program as well as the time that is taken to complete the program. However, an Associate’s Degree in nursing generally takes two years before completion before the individual is ready for the licensing examination.
Additionally, the nursing profession boasts the availability of certifications that are available for certain groups of nurses. The certifications are offered by a variety of certification bodies associated with the different specializations (Buerhaus, Skinner, Auerbach & Staiger, 2017). For example, some nursing certifications may include pediatrics, diabetes management nurses, and even psychiatric care nurses. Therefore, the professional qualifications also vary depending on the line that an individual chooses to pursue a career. Also, the certifications may be advanced to higher levels depending on the state in which a nurse is selected to work since different states have different requirements for the nursing profession.
Registered nursing is one of the careers that are expected to witness a growth in job availability in the new future. The demand for nurses is certain to be going up with the emergence of several new diseases as well as the growing desire of people to seek medical services, unlike the ancient times when people were reluctant of seeking medical services (Auerbach & Staiger, 2017). The recent past has seen states invest immensely towards employing more registered nurses, and the employment is expected to grow by a significant percentage before the year 2026. The significant growth in the employment of registered nurses was witnessed since the start of the year 2016, and the trend has been going up year by year.
The growth in the demand for registered nurses is associated with several factors, among them being the need for preventive care. However, the growth in demand is accompanied by a similar growth in the number of trained nurses, and therefore, the profession is expected to grow proportionally (Muench, Busch, Sindelar, & Buerhaus, 2016). The registered nurse employment capacity has significantly grown with the number of advertised jobs as at the year 2016, reaching 2 million vacant positions. Additionally, the medium salary for a registered nurse was seen to go up to approximately $34 per hour that translates to around $70000 per year. The increase in demand may be a challenge to the education system since most nurses will choose to utilize the available opportunities at the expense of pursuing further academic qualifications. Additionally, the quality of nursing services may go low if the demand for more nurses overcomes the desire to provide qualified nurses. A balance, therefore, needs to be set between the demand for more nurses as well as the demand for qualified nurses.
In sum, a registered nurse is a professional who has gone through a series of training to qualify for the provision of patient care in a health facility. The operation of a nurse is governed by a scope of practice as well as a code of ethics. An Associate’s Degree in Nursing is required before an individual qualifies as a registered nurse. Additionally, the employment opportunities for registered nurses have been consistently improving and are expected to improve shortly.
References
Auerbach, D. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2017). How fast will the registered nurse workforce grow through 2030? Projections in nine regions of the country. Nursing outlook, 65(1), 116- 122.
Buerhaus, P. I., Skinner, L. E., Auerbach, D. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2017). State of the registered nurse workforce as a new era of health reform emerges. Nursing Economics, 35(5), 229- 237.
Muench, U., Busch, S. H., Sindelar, J., & Buerhaus, P. I. (2016). Exploring explanations for the female-male earnings difference among registered nurses in the United States. Nursing Economics, 34(5), 214.
Neuss, M. N., Gilmore, T. R., Belderson, K. M., Billett, A. L., Conti-Kalchik, T., Harvey, B. E., … & Olsen, M. (2016). 2016 updated American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society chemotherapy administration safety standards, including standards for pediatric oncology. Journal of oncology practice, 12(12), 1262-1271.
Reinhard, S., Wright, B., & Cook, M. E. (2017). New Jersey’s Nursing Faculty Shortage.
Weber, K., & Farrell, T. (2016). Developing therapeutic communication skills: Integration of standardized client simulation in an associate degree nursing program.