Monday, January 13, 2014

Upgrading a Nursing Career : Professional Nursing Pathways

Nursing is one of the most appealing and demanding jobs worldwide. The profession ranges from bed side nursing to nursing research. Nurses are at the front-line of the health care profession and are often the first line that meets the patient needs. Over the last few decades, nursing profession has evolved into a new phase and has advanced to higher standards. In today’s world, bed side nursing is considered to be a mere part of the many areas where nurses practice.
Direct nursing care includes collecting history, performing assessment, providing care, and delivering health education based on the patient’s health condition. In addition, nurses need to work jointly with other health care professionals to meet the health care needs of the patient. To work effectively in this challenging field, nurses need to upgrade their knowledge, skills, techniques and approach towards the patients as well as the profession. Apart from that, nurses need to improve their communication skills as they are always in contact with the patient. So, it is clear that nurses never stop learning and nursing is a continuous learning process.
Nurses today love challenges and are ready to explore the new areas in their profession. There are plenty of advanced specialty areas in nursing and nurses have sprouting opportunities to excel in the same. The initial nursing education is either a three year diploma or four year degree program (BSN) which includes both theory and practical blocks. This enables the nursing student to acquire adequate knowledge to work in the practical setting. Most of the countries require nursing students to appear for a licensure examination to qualify as a nurse. For instance NCLEX -RN/PN in the United States, CRNE/CPNRE in Canada. After acquiring the license, nurses are allowed to work as a nurse in any kind of health care settings. Nurses who are highly ambitious and those who want to conquer new areas in the profession have got ample options from which they can choose the specialty area of their choice.
Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) is an advanced specialization degree that a registered nurse can pursue. An MSN graduate learns the application of various nursing and other theories for the delivery of evidence based nursing care, research, leadership and management and other courses based on their specialty area. MSN with different specifications like MSN in Nursing Education or Administration can work as a nursing faculty in nursing schools and as director of nursing in various health care settings. Nurses who aspire to practice advanced nursing can opt for Nurse Practitioner program or Doctor of Nurse Practice (DNP) program that allow them to address the critical needs of the patient. Their scope extends to taking patient’s history, diagnosing, writing prescriptions, treating and managing diseases.  Other specialty areas include Critical Care Nursing, Palliative Care Nursing, Community Mental Health Nursing, Gerontological/ Geriatric Nursing, Hospice Nurse, Nurse Informatics, Forensic Nursing and so on.
Critical care nurses are registered nurses who specifically work in Emergency Departments and Intensive Care Units providing nursing care to patients with life threatening conditions. Palliative care nursing is considered as a proactive care that improves the quality of care in patients with terminal illness. Hospice as well as Palliative Care nurses develop skills needed to enhance comprehensive care and support to patients confronting the end of life issues. The percentage of geriatric population is increasing leading to establishment of numerous long-term care facilities across the world. As a result, there is a greater need of specialized and experienced geriatric nurses to provide extensive nursing care for elderly and this is a high demand practice area.
All these nursing specialties have respective associations like Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Associations, Canadian Gerontological Nurses Association, American Association of Critical Care Nurses and so on. The nurse s can join the association based on their membership criteria. International Nurses also have opportunities to pursue their higher education on any of these specializations provided they fulfill the eligibility criteria. They can opt for their Nursing higher studies in Canada, USA and so on. If the nurses are interested in leadership or management areas, they can opt for Nursing Leadership and Management courses that help to improve their skills for the same. Nurses who wish to practice in advanced nursing areas have a vast pool of specialties from which they can pick their area of interest.
To summarize, in today’s world, nursing is not just a profession that focuses on treatment of patients. It has advanced its path from bedside nursing to Nursing administration & leadership, nursing research and to higher areas. Nurses play a vital role in transforming the face of health care system to a new level. Nursing is a different discipline. It is one of the main wings of the health profession. So all nurses, make use of your opportunities by upgrading and updating your nursing standards.

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