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Many exciting and rewarding opportunities exist in nursing.
From where they work, to the types of patients they care for, nurses have
lots of choices. Flight Nurses
and Certified
Registered Nurse Anesthetists
are two examples. Check out what they do. Then take a look at other
opportunities in nursing, listed here from A-Z.
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Cardiac (heart) Care Nurse:
See Telemetry/Cardiac Care Nurse
Case Manager: Is
responsible for patient education/monitoring the patient's well
being, identifying resources, and coordinating care for a specific/targeted
patient populations. The role of the Case Manager may vary, and
in some settings, may be considered an Advanced Practice Role in
which some of the care decisions are governed by approved protocols.
Certified
Nurse Midwife (delivers babies): This role requires advanced
study and certification. The Nurse Midwife provides care for low
risk women/family before pregnancy, during pregnancy, through the
childbirth experience, and after delivery.
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Certified
Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA):
This role requires advanced study and certification. It is
a highly specialized job.
A CRNA is responsible for interviewing,
assessing and evaluating a patient for anesthesia before surgery.
The CRNA prepares and administers the anesthesia so that the
patient will have a pain free operation. The CRNA constantly
monitors the patient's vital signs during surgeryand continues
to monitor the partient following surgery for a period of
time.
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Children
Clinic/Office
Nurse:Provides patient care in settings such as, physician
offices, surgicenters, and medical office buildings. Responsibilities
include preparing patients for examinations, wound care, injections,
and clerical duties
Clinical
Nurse Educator: Responsible for staff development, program
evaluation, in-services, New Graduate Nurse Orientation, staff competencies,
Quality Improvement Assessment/Plan Development, and assessment/evaluation
of regulatory compliance.
Clinical
Nurse Specialist: This role requires advanced study and the
development of expertise in a specific body of knowledge and area
of nursing practice. This role includes consultation, researcher,
educator, liaison, and patient/staff advocate. The CNS nursing theory
to address problems.
Critical
Care Nurse: (Adult/Pediatric/Neonate) provides care for critically
ill patients in a highly technical and ongoing monitoring environment,
and supports the family during the crisis. Evaluates the need for
resources and recommends referrals as indicated. This role requires
specialized training and the ability to assess and recognize subtle
changes in a patient's condition.
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Dialysis Nurse: Requires
additional training and certification. Provides care for patients
with acute/chronic kidney (renal) failure. This complex care may
require blood product transfusions, monitoring vital signs, laboratory
values, and the removal of excess fluid and efforts to normalize
and or reduce elevated electrolytes using treatments such as hemodialysis
machines, or peritoneal dialysis.
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Educators
Education
Emergency
Department/Trauma Center Nurse: (Certification available)
Responsible for the care of patients ranging in all ages, presenting
with a benign or an acute critical illness, such as a heart attack.
This type of care and environment requires quick thinking, and excellent
interviewing and physical assessment skills. RN's in this environment
use a triage process to establish priority setting.
Executives
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Flight
Nurse: Delivers
patient care on board a helicopter or airplane. Flight nurses
provide continuous patient care while in-flight to transport
patients from one medical facility to another and from emergency
or trauma scenes.
Flight Nurses manage patient care
during airlifts and brief medical providers at the receiving
medical facility on the patient's status.
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Forensic Nurse: Requires
additional training. This role integrates clinical nursing, law
enforcement investigation/interviewing, and counseling skills.
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Health
Care Educator: Responsible for out-patient health care education,
assist and directs patient/family to appropriate resources, literature,
audio/video related to disease management, healthy living, health
promotion, disease prevention, support groups, and self-care management.
Home Health Nurse: Provides periodic care to patients within
their home environment as ordered by the physician. This role requires
the ability to work independently.
Hospital Staff Nurse Unit Specialties:
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Industrial Health Nurse
Information Technology/
Web Based/Informatics: Technology is a major aspect of hospital
operations and patient care. Nurses are increasingly using more
sophisticated equipment and a fundamental knowledge base in computer
use is an expected requirement. By being involved in software development,
program analyst, and system management the Nurse Informatist will
be in a position to bridge the gap between clinical information
and computer programmers.
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Managers
Maternity
Nurse: Provides care and education for women/family during
pregnancy and prepares and supports the family for the childbirth
experience.
Medical
Surgical Nurse: Specializes in the care of patients admitted
with non-surgical and surgical conditions. Examples of a non- surgical
and surgical condition are as follows: non-surgical-stroke, surgical
condition-appendectomy.
Military
Nurse: Provides care to military personnel and their families
within the United States, U. S. Territories, and International Military
Bases.
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Nurse
Administrator/Executive: Assumes a role in developing the
strategic plan, forecasting, and budgetary process for an organization.
Responsible for aligning the nursing department goals with those
described in the mission and vision of the organization. The Nurse
Executive has a global view.
Nurse
Manager/Department Leader/Unit Leader: is responsible for
the day to day operations of a specific nursing unit, such as staffing,
developing and monitoring the unit budget, patient outcomes, and
staff development.
Nurse
Practitioner: This role requires advanced study and certification.
The Nurse Practitioner has advanced skills and knowledge in performing
physical and psychological patient assessment. Expert clinical interviewing
skills facilitates data collection, and accurate problem labeling,
orders diagnostic exams, prescribes medication, and has a practice
or caseload.
Nurse
Researcher: Contributes to the Science of Nursing, sometimes
collaborating with other disciplines such as medicine, social science,
or pharmacy, collects clinical data though the use of scientific
methods, analyzes the results and draws a conclusion/recommendation.
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Office Nurse
Occupational/Industrial
Health Nurse: Provides direct care to employees. Manages
worker's compensation records, monitors compliance to Occupational
Safety and Health Act (OSHA) standards/requirements. Assess work
place environments to determine any potential health or safety concerns.
Operating
Room/Circulating Nurse: (Certification is available) Provides
care for a patient immediately before and during a surgical procedure.
Works closely with the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist to
monitor the patient's vital signs, warmth and safe positioning.
Prepares the operating room with supplies, equipment, and instruments,
and serves as the communication liaison to family, other departments,
and members of the operating team.
Oncology
Nurse: Specializes in the care for patients/family diagnosed
with cancer. Promotes a caring and supportive environment, administers
chemotherapy, and manages the side effects. Conducts on-going assessment
of needs and educational deficits.
Orthopedic Nurse:
Manages the care of patients before and after surgery involving
the muscular skeletal system such as total hip replacement, arthroscopy,
total knee replacement, or spine surgery. Monitors traction, splint/cast
care, and other orthopedic equipment.
Oncology
Nurse: Specializes in the care for patients/family diagnosed
with cancer. Promotes a caring and supportive environment, administers
chemotherapy, and manages the side effects. Conducts on-going assessment
of needs and educational deficits.
Orthopedic
Nurse: Manages the care of patients before and after surgery
involving the muscular skeletal system such as total hip replacement,
arthroscopy, total knee replacement, or spine surgery. Monitors
traction, splint/cast care, and other orthopedic equipment.
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Peace Corps:
Check out what the Peace
Corps has to offer.
Pediatric
Nurses: Provides care for infants,
toddlers, children, teens, and encourages the involvement of parents/family.
The nurse develops a plan of care to meet the specific growth and
development and cultural needs of the patient and family. The pediatric
nurse may work in a variety of settings and or may have specialized
training. For example, a setting may be a well baby or teen clinic
and a specialty may be pediatric critical care.
Post
Anesthesia Care Unit/Recovery Room Nurse:
Provides care for the patient immediately following an anesthesia
induced surgical procedure. This period of monitoring and observation
is critical. This very exciting environment is fast paced and requires
quick responses. The patient remains in this area until they are
able to verbally respond and move their extremities.
Pregnant Women
Public Health Nurse/Community Nurse:
Care decisions are focused on the community at large. The goal
is to improve the overall health of the community. Disease prevention,
health promotion, wellness/health education are chief concerns.
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Recovery Room Nurse
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School
Nurse: Develops and supports age specific programs for a
student body. Serves as a resource and liaison to parents, teachers,
and students, Provides limited care on site/campuses for students.
Maintains immunization/health records and provides a forum and supportive
environment to discuss concerns and provides information on healthcare
or potentially sensitive issues.
Surgery
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Telemetry/Cardiac
Care Nurse: Provides care for patients requiring special
heart monitoring equipment, and the administration of heart medications.
Travel Nurse: Negotiates
and accepts temporary patient care assignments with a travel nurse
agency/registry within the United States or internationally.
Also see:
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Wound Care Specialist/Enterostomal
Therapy Nurse: This role requires special training and certification.
This nurse specializes in the prevention of pressure ulcers and
the management of patients with wounds, ostomies (openings that
allow for alternate methods of body waste elimination).
World Health Organization:
Writers/Authors/Reporters:
Roles may vary, magazine editor, author of health care education
and technical training books, journal writing, or Multimedia Reporter.
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