Registered Nurse

Contact: Marlene Doan
Office Manager/PROJECT coordinator

Registered nurses (RNs) provide care, treatment, counseling, and health education to ill or injured people, and information to healthy people on preventing illness and injury. They monitor their patients' conditions, give them medications and other treatments prescribed by physicians, and communicate with the other members of the health care team. Nurses also direct and supervise nursing support personnel. In large hospitals, nurses may work in a specialty area, such as surgery or intensive care. They may also work with special groups of patients including children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities.

Areas of Specialization:

Registered nurses can specialize in many fields, including the following:


Work Environment

Registered nurses work in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, medical offices, public health departments, private industry, home health agencies, and the military. They also are employed by health maintenance organizations, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and law firms.

Training:

Registered nurses may receive their training at hospital-based diploma programs, community college level programs, which award an Associate Degree of Nursing (AND) or an Associate of Applied Science degree (AAS); or a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). The AND and AAS programs usually take two years. Some univeristy nursing programs accept transfer credit from community colleges. RNs who did not originally receive BSN degrees can later attend special programs to earn these degrees.

Certification/Licensing:

Registered nurses in Pennsylvania must complete accredited professional nursing programs and pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX).

Average Salary:

$29,700 - $45,100

Suggested High School Course of Study:

College preparatory curriculum.

Educational Programs:

Hospital Diploma Programs:


Associate's Degree Programs:

Bachelor's Degree Programs:



RN to BSN Programs:



Master's Degree Programs:

Professional Associations:

American Nurse Association
60 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 100 West
Washington, DC 20024
(800) 274-4ANA
www.nursingworld.org

Pennsylvania State Nurses Association
PO Box 68525
Harrisburg, PA 17106
(717) 657-1222
(717) 657-3796 fax

State Board of Nursing
PO Box 2649
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2649
(717) 783-7142
(717) 783-0822 fax
www.dos.state.pa.us/bpoa/nurbd/mainpage.htm

Job opportunities for RNs are expected to be very good. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow faster than the average (21% to 35%) for all occupations through 2010, and because the occupation is very large, many new jobs will result. Thousands of job openings will result from the need to replace experienced nurses who leave the occupation, especially as the median age of the registered nurse population continues to rise.

Some states report current and projected shortages of RNs, primarily due to an ongoing aging RN workforce and recent declines in nursing school enrollments. Imbalances between the supply of and demand for qualified workers should spur efforts to attract and retain qualified RNs. For example, employers may restructure workloads, improve compensation and working conditions, and subsidize training or continuing education.

Faster than average growth (36% or more) will be driven by technological advances in patient care, which permit a greater number of medical problems to be treated, and an increasing emphasis on preventive care. In addition, the number of older people, who are much more likely than younger people to need nursing care, is projected to grow rapidly.

Employment in hospitals, the largest sector, is expected to grow more slowly (3% to 9%) than in other healthcare sectors. While the intensity of nursing care is likely to increase, requiring more nurses per patient, the number of inpatients (those who remain in the hospital for more than 24 hours) is not likely to increase much. Patients are being discharged earlier and more procedures are being done on an outpatient basis, both in and outside hospitals. However, rapid growth is expected in hopsital outpatient facilitieis, such as those providing same-day surgery, rehabilitation, and chemotherapy.

Employment in home healthcare is expected to grow rapidly. This is in response to the growing number of elderly, many of whom require long-term care. In addition, the financial pressure on hospitals to discharge patients as soon as possible should produce more nursing home admissions. Growth in units that provide specialized long-term rehabilitation for stroke and head injury patients or that treat Alzheimer's victims also will increase employment.

An increasing proportion of sophisticared procedures, which once were performed only in hospitals, are being performed in physicians' offices and clinics, including ambulatory surgicenters and emergency medical centers. Accordingly, employment is expected to grow faster than average in these places as healthcare in general expands.

In evolving integrated heatlh care networks, nurses may rotate among employment settings. Because jobs in traditional hospital nursing positions are no longer the only option, RNs will need to be flexible. Opportunities should be excellent, particularly for nurses with advanced eduation and training.