Although I am about to list the top six nursing careers I have found through my research, I must first express that your career is more than just choosing the best paying or most interesting-sounding path. Your career is about choosing something that you love to do with people you love to do it with.If you are a pacifist, nursing with the military is not likely your best option.Similarly, if you do not like working with critically ill patients, do not choose trauma nursing because it pays well or sounds adventurous!However, if you love children, working as a certified school nurse may be right up your alley!
Here are 6 hot nursing career paths:
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). This type of nursing requires advanced education and training.A CRNA works with a surgical team and performs anesthesia functions. This is an up and coming field with projections for huge growth in the coming decades. A CRNA has increased professional liability.
- Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ARNP). Practitioners in this field are often referred to simply as Nurse Practitioners (NPs).Like a CRNA, earning an ARNP certification/licensure requires advanced education and training.An ARNP works under established protocols in family medicine, midwifery, pediatrics, and public health. There is a great deal of autonomy in this field. If you are considering entering the field, visit the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
- Certified Nurse Specialist.Hot Nursing Career Paths Certified Nurse Specialists are certified in his/her field of practice.Trauma, Oncology, and Occupational Health are a few such examples.This type of certification requires advanced studies and passing a standardized national test.Once you pass, you are certified in that field, and must maintain training and practice levels outlined in your particular certification.Being certified in your field is a mark of both personal and professional accomplishment.Certification also opens up promotional and salary increase opportunities not available to non-certified nurses.
- Legal Nurse Consultants. With escalating legal costs, many lawyers specializing in medical cases are hiring their own legal nurse consultants instead of using costly private contractors.This too is a growing field with explosive growth projections in coming years.
- Nurse Educator. There is a huge deficit of nurse educators.This is one contributing factor in the current nursing shortage.It is projected that the shortage of nurse educators will continue to worsen as educators retire and there is not enough backfill from the younger nurse generations.Nurse educators usually need a Master Degree in Nursing and sometimes must have a Doctorate to be hired.This is challenging and rewarding field that mixes clinical and teaching expertise into one path.
- Military Nursing. This nursing career pathspath is not for everyone.You could be a military nurse either by joining the Army, Navy, or Air Force, or by being hired as a civilian nurse in a military hospital or clinic.The payback to this type of job is obvious.You get to give back to those who are protecting your freedom as an American or those who have served with honor in the past.The hours can be long and you could be deployed for months or years away from your family.This path is for the adventurers out there that enjoy travel, and adapt easily! – See more at: http://www.nursetogether.com/hot-nursing-career-paths#sthash.ZKxExYs8.dpuf
