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					What Is It Like To Be A Nurse?

What Do Nurses Do?

Nurses are recognized for their ability to carry out a lot of tasks at
the same time. They are able to administer drugs, assist patients, take
blood samples and a lot of other clinical processes while being an
effective medium between the doctor and the patient. Nurses should also
be able to work long hours, most commonly at nights. Although a nursing
career could mean a lot of stress, this profession has actually attracted
a lot of people since the salary and benefits promised by this profession
are generous.

Nurses are also expected to assist in a lot of clinical procedures,
almost all of them. They should be able to assist in long surgeries, when
a patient is giving birth and much more. The job of nurses is not only
limited to hospital work, they could also work for psychological cases
and practically, any medical field.

Day To Day Tasks Of A Nurse

A day in the job of nurses is filled with a lot of challenges since with
their capability of being able to do a lot of things comes a lot of tasks
which would be assigned to them. Nurses could be assisting in an
operation this minute, checking on patients the next moment and doing
therapies to patients in another minute. Whatever has to be done in the
hospital is expected to be done by a nurse.

Tasks of nurses vary depending on what they actually are assigned to do.
The ones mentioned above are the typical tasks of nurses who work in
general hospitals, those of which would consist most of them. Critical
care nurses for example would be found most of the time in intensive care
units of hospitals of which they would monitor and care for the patients
while infusion nurses would deal with a lot of blood, administering
injections and IV medication while psychiatric nurses would work with
psychiatrists in dealing with patients who are psychologically

Since this job requires a lot of hard work and long hours on the job,
nurses would really have to be patient, able to keep their cool despite
pressure and be energetic.

Job Qualifications

The basic requirement in order to be qualified for a nursing job would be
a license which could be obtained through a licensure exam. In order to
be able to take the test, one must finish any course related in nursing
whether it would be a bachelor’s degree in nursing, associate’s degree in
nursing or just a nursing diploma. Experience is also a plus and could
entitle applicants to work for larger institutes or hospitals.

A study recently conducted said that nurses that have finished a
bachelor’s degree have the best job prospects. Some nursing jobs would
also require a master’s degree, which would be the advanced nursing
practices which would include clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives,
nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists.

What To Expect

There are over 2.4 million nurses working in the country as of 2007, most
of them which are working for hospitals. The demand for advanced nursing
practices is expected to increase until 2016 while the demand for nurses
is expected to stagnate although the aging population poses a possibility
that nurses could also be in demand soon.

Nurses earn on average around $62,480 with the average hourly wage being
around $30. Some of the highest earning nurses would earn around $72,000,
a lot of them which are working for the federal government.