There are many reasons why you may wish to become a nurse. It might be a long-held ambition of yours since childhood that you’ve not been able to get the correct qualifications for. Or, maybe you’ve had a positive encounter with nursing staff during treatment and want to pay them back by giving others in your position the same experience. Or, perhaps you’ve been faced with a difficult medical situation in which you didn’t know what to do and don’t want to have that feeling again.
No matter why you want to become a nurse, you will need to know what is required to achieve your dream and how you can do that around your already busy schedule. If you have your heart set on becoming part of this hard-working yet incredibly rewarding career path, here’s how you can do that.
What is a nurse?
We’ve all come into contact with nurses at some point in our lives, but we may not fully understand what someone in the role of a nurse does and what their responsibilities are. A nurse’s role will depend on where they work and what they specialize in, so our own experiences and thoughts of what a nurse does will be different. It’s important to outline exactly what they do and how important their roles are in the healthcare environment.
A nurse can assess, diagnose, plan a patient’s recovery, implement care, and evaluate the patient’s response to their treatment. By monitoring the behavior of the person in their care and using their own knowledge, a nurse is well placed to assess someone’s wellbeing. As the American Nurses Association (ANA) says, nurses are “the glue that holds a patient’s health care journey together.”
What qualifications do I need to become a nurse?
This depends on the type of nursing role you want to fulfil. The two main entry-level groups are:
- Licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse
- Registered nurse
To become a licensed practical nurse (LPN) or licensed vocational nurse (LVN), you will need to complete a one-year educational course. Such courses will include lectures and hands-on practical classes, the latter of which will take place at a hospital or clinic. These courses are offered by community colleges, technical schools, and vocational schools.
To become a registered nurse (RN), you will have to attain an associate degree in nursing (ASN), then pass the licensing examination. Once complete, you can then go on to complete other nursing courses and specialties if you wish.
You will need to get state licensure before you start practicing in the US; this is required whether you are an LPN, LVN, or RN. Part of this is to pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which is administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). Before sitting the exam, you will need to get an authorization to test (ATT) from your nursing regulatory body.
Are there further levels of nursing?
Once you become a registered nurse, you can think about getting more qualifications within this line of work. This will give you more responsibility and help you develop and advance your career further.
These include getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. A bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree may take you three to four years to complete, depending on whether you can take direct entry or not. A master of science in nursing (MSN) degree can take another two years. If you decide to study for either type of qualification, you may be able to select a program that lets you study part-time. However, this means it will take you longer to get your certificate.
A doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) can also be achieved. The aim of these degrees is to have nursing leaders within healthcare teams, and the course curriculum will develop the student’s leadership and clinical skills.
When you get a postgraduate degree in nursing, you can then become an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). You will need to specialize in one of four areas to achieve this role.
Can I study online?
Yes, you can! There are a number of schools that offer online programs that you can take if you want to work towards your associate, bachelor’s, or master’s nursing degree. Online courses usually mean that you will need to complete the hands-on part of your qualification locally, but you will get more information from the school whose program you wish to do.
The Spring Arbor University nursing programs, for instance, offer a range of master’s degrees that you can study if you already have a bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN). So, you can increase your knowledge of primary care for all age groups, for teaching, or to attain a dual degree with a master of science in nursing (MSN) and a master of business administration (MBA) and all while you continue working your regular hours.
Online nursing courses are usually aimed at working nurses. This means the student can still work while getting their qualifications without having to leave their current role.
What areas can nurses specialize in?
You might have only come across nurses in certain roles before now, such as if you were sick at school when you were a child or went to the emergency room if you had an accident. If you’ve had to visit a specialist hospital department or practice, you will probably have encountered nurses there as well.
These are some of the areas that you could think about specializing in if you decide to become a registered nurse. You may not be able to fulfil these roles immediately after qualification, but becoming an RN will be the first step along that career path. These specialisms include:
- Ambulatory care – fast, focused assessment of critical patients and passing on advice to caregivers
- Bariatrics – specializing in the treatment of obesity
- Cardiac care – working with patients that have cardiovascular conditions, e.g. heart attack
- Community health – working for the benefit of a community and public health
- Critical care – seeing critically and acutely ill patients as well as unstable patients, such as those coming into emergency rooms
- Developmental disability nursing – working with those who have mental and physical disabilities
- Emergency nursing – caring for patients who come into your hospital’s emergency room
- Gastroenterology – working in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect the digestive system
- Geriatric nursing – taking care of elderly patients, who may have a range of acute and chronic illnesses
- Gynecology/obstetric nursing – working with female patients and on reproductive health and caring for pregnant women in the lead up to the delivery of their baby
- HIV/AIDS nursing – helping patients with HIV and AIDS to keep healthy and managing treatments and pain
- Hospice/palliative care – helping those patients in the final stages of life
- Neonatal intensive care – caring for premature or critically ill newborns
- Neuroscience – assisting patients with brain or nervous system disorders
- Oncology – providing care for those with cancer
- Orthopedic – treating those with musculoskeletal disorders and conditions, ranging from arthritis to fractures to osteoporosis
- Pediatrics – treating children from infancy to late teens
- Psychiatric nursing – dealing with those who have mental health conditions
- Rheumatology – working with patients suffering from rheumatic diseases, e.g. lupus, fibromyalgia
- Surgical nursing – working in an operating theater and caring for patients before, during, and after surgery
- Toxicology – treating patients who have either swallowed poisons or been bitten/stung
- Transplant nursing – caring for patients who donate or receive organs
- Urologic nursing – treating those with urinary health conditions
To become an APRN, which you are eligible to be if you have an MSN or DNP qualification, you will need to specialize in one of these four areas:
- Certified nurse midwife (CNM) – specializing in childbirth and performing other women’s health medical services
- Certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) – administering anesthesia for medical procedures
- Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) – having high-level expertise in a specialist area
- Nurse practitioner (NP) – giving advanced care to patients
Do nurses have to work in a hospital environment?
Not at all. As with any other industry, healthcare offers a wide variety of roles suitable for the different personalities people have.
There are many places you can think about working in, and where you work often depends on the area you decide to specialize in, but there are numerous options. As well as your local hospital, you can work at an out-patients clinic or community health center. You could also think about working as a school nurse or at a summer camp if you want to care for children. There are also voluntary organizations where you could provide disaster relief or provide communities with guidance on items such as hygiene and family planning. Or, you could work in hospices to help care for and give dignity to those at the end of their lives.
You will have to work hard to become a nurse, but it is a fulfilling profession that means you will help many hundreds of people in your career, and some will remember you kindly for the way you treated them.
