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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 surgery and continues to monitor the partient
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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: The clinical nurse specialist is a BRN certified
RN who is an advanced practice nurse providing expert clinical
practice, research, education, consultation and clinical leadership
with an identified patient population. The scope of clinical nurse
specialist practice includes patients, nursing personnel and organization
systems. Clinical nurse specialists work in direct patient care
and indirect patient care activities that affect a broad range
of patients.
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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Geriatric Nursing: The practice of healthcare in older
adults.
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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.
Hospice Nurse: (Certification
by Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association is available) Integrates
expert assessment skills, critical thinking, and advance knowledge
of comprehensive pain & symptom management to develop a plan
care for patients with life limiting and terminal illnesses. The
Palliative Care Nurse is a member of an interdisciplinary team
whose focus of care considers the patient as a complete system
and the patient’s interrelationship to the environment, spiritual,
family, and extended family and whose care may be delivered in
a variety of setting.
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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Navy
Nursing
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.
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.
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. 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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Palliative Care Nurse: (Certification
by Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association is available) Integrates
expert assessment skills, critical thinking, and advance knowledge
of comprehensive pain & symptom management to develop a plan
care for patients with life limiting and terminal illnesses. The
Palliative Care Nurse is a member of an interdisciplinary team
whose focus of care considers the patient as a complete system
and the patient’s interrelationship to the environment, spiritual,
family, and extended family and whose care may be delivered in
a variety of setting. 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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