
Nurse Job Description
Nurses are an integral part of the health care system. When you go to the doctors office, think about who takes all of your information and vital signs. Who gets all of your symptoms, temperature, heart rate, weight, and height? Nurses. Now think about how much more expensive our doctors visit would be if we have to wait on the doctor to do all of this. First of all, we would be waiting a very long time because they would be doing all of this by themselves. If we could even get in that day, we'd be waiting around a long time until the doctor finally got around to us. By then, they'd be so worn out from doing all the work themselves, they may not be able to properly diagnose us.
The reality is nurses are crucial to the proper care of patients. Nurses don't just work in doctors offices. They may work in hospitals, operating rooms, nursing homes, private practices, and school offices among other places. Nurses may also have specialties such as with pediatrics, the elderly, general practice, oncology (cancer patients), heart patients, labor and delivery, kidney disease patients and asthma patients. They may be responsible for overseeing a group of nurses, especially licensed practical nurses, nursing aides and orderlies.
To become a nurse, you need to at least have graduated from high school. Second, you need to earn an associates degree at a community college in a nursing program, earn a three-year diploma from a hospital or nursing school, or earn a bachelor of science in nursing in four or five years. A bachelors degree allows you to involve liberal arts courses with your scientific education and technical training. There are two branches of nursing you can choose from depending on your education. If you chose to pursue an associates degree, you will likely choose the technical nursing track. Nurses with their bachelors will become professional nurses and only these are eligible to become licensed.

With all of this education, you will be required to obtain practical experience through clinicals. Clinicals are when you actually work in a hospital. They allow you to get hands-on experience with the patients and treatment of them. You will take orders from real nurses and follow them around during their everyday work. You will get to see what it is really like to be a nurse. You will also be able to put some of your knowledge to practice with the supervision of the nurses as well as assist them when they ask you to. You may get your hands dirty doing this, but this is when you get to see the true job of a nurse instead of what the textbook tells you.
After completing your educational training and graduating, you are then required to take an exam which will then license you to practice as a nurse in the state. Every state in the United States requires that nurses become licensed. Some nurses will continue their education to become advanced practice nurses. In order to do this, they must obtain their masters in science in nursing. Some of these nurses will go even further and obtain their doctorates in nursing. The higher the education you have, the better possibility you have for higher job placement. There are even options of teaching in nursing.
Once you have graduated, you have a pretty good chance of finding a job. Usually your school you have graduated from will assist you with job placement. It also helps you if you did clinicals, you can go back to this place and inquire about getting a job full time there. Depending on your performance there as a student, they may hire you back as an actual employee. The outlook for nurses is really good. The health care industry is an excellent field to be in right now and will constantly need more people to fill positions. The average nurse in the United States makes about $52,300 a year.

Nurses work very closely with the general public. You must be emotionally stable and capable of dealing with very sick people and upset families. You should be able to work in very stressful situations and make the correct decisions quickly. Most nurses work about a 40-hour work week. If they work in a hospital, these hours will include weekends, nights and holidays. There are some nurses who work part time, however.