Nursing Employment
Registered nurse employment is expected to grow “much faster than the average” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They predict over 580,000 new nursing jobs to be created between 2008-2018. Approximately 45% of registered nurses are over age 50, which leads us to believe that several thousand nurses will leave their careers for retirement in the near future. Nearly half of all registered nurses will find employment in a physicians office. In 2009 approximately 16.7% of registered nurse employment was in a nursing home, outpatient care center or home health care setting. Within the next few years it is expected that this number will increase significantly and one third of RNs will be employed in a home health care setting and one fourth will work in a nursing care facility. This increase is due to the millions of baby boomers who will soon be entering retirement age and will require home health care and reside in assisted living facilities.
Nurse Education Requirements
There are a few different paths to become a certified registered nurse. These include the following: earning a Bachelors degree in nursing, Associates degree in nursing (ADN) or a diploma. RN to BSN programs, accelerated BSN programs and accelerated Master’s degree in nursing (MSN) programs are also available to registered nurses who later decide to pursue a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree to advance their careers. In addition to the educational requirements, registered nurses must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to become a licensed registered nurse. The NCLEX exam can be taken through your State Board of Nursing once the pre-requisite educational requirements have been fulfilled.
Nurse Salary Report
The current average salary for a registered nurse is $74,000 per year according to indeed dot com. The top 10% of registered nurses earned a salary of $93,700/year. With an advanced degree in nursing the average salary for a nurse practitioner is around $90,000/year. At the lower end of the spectrum, the average licensed practical nurse salary was $40,900/year in 2009. The top 10% of licensed practical nurses earned a salary of $55,090/year.
A contemporary education should not be difficult to obtain considering how convenient the education industry has become. A good example of this can be found in online education. Take the Indiana State University Online – LPN/ RN to BSN program for example, which can be found at http://www.indstate.edu/degreelink/lpntobs/. There, a nurse can easily obtain a degree or certification without ever leaving the comfort of his or her own home. And while online schooling is a wonderful alternative to attending a physical school, even physical schools offer many programs, grants, and scholarships, that make attending school much easier.
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Nurse $71,000 |