Jan. 9, 2020 | The World Health Organization has declared 2020 to be the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, exactly 200 years after the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The year has been set aside to honor the men and women in the nursing profession who provide a broad range of essential services to individuals of all ages. In America alone, there are nearly 2,951,960 million registered nurses and 6,250 nurse midwives, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This doesn’t include nurse practitioners and anesthetists who also play important roles in the U.S. health care system. Nurses can be found in every health-related field, from research and education to critical care and the military, from the operating room to the emergency room and the classroom. Nurses see patients in clinics, homes and everywhere in between and have numerous specialties, each requiring specific education and certification requirements.

Jan. 9, 2020 | Like most medical professions, being a nurse is difficult. A recent survey conducted by AMN Healthcare found that 22 percent of the country’s nurses hold more than one nursing job and that 37 percent of those nurses feel that doing so negatively affects their quality of life. Of those surveyed, 27 percent said they had witnessed workplace violence while 41 percent said they had been victims of bullying or other forms of improper behavior in their workplaces. These conditions have led to a growing shortage of nurses despite the fact that it is one of the fastest growing professions in the U.S. thanks to increased spending by consumers on health care. The shortage can also be attributed to the increasing number of baby boomer nurses retiring from the profession. According to the AMN Healthcare survey, the number of baby boomer nurses peaked at 1.26 million in 2008, and since 2012, approximately 60,000 nurses have been retiring each year.

Jan. 9, 2020 | When most people think of a nurse, the image of an RN usually comes to mind. RN stands for registered nurse, often the first medical professional most patients come in contact with when it comes to medications, treatment plans or other provisions related to the individual’s health or recovery. Registered nurses work in hospitals, physicians’ offices, home health-care services and nursing care facilities. Others work in outpatient clinics and schools or serve in the military. RNs can specialize in everything from psychiatric care to infection control but all of them have certain things in common. All registered nurses must be licensed and have either a bachelor of science degree in nursing, an associate’s degree in nursing or a diploma from an approved nursing program. Many tasks fall under the RN’s basic scope of practice, including recording symptoms and helping patients manage their medical conditions and post-treatment care.

Jan. 9, 2020 | Licensed practical nurses, or LPNs, are state-licensed caregivers who have been trained to care for the sick. An LPN works under the supervision of doctors and RNs, performing duties such as taking vital signs, collecting samples, administering medication, ensuring patient comfort and reporting the status of their patients to the nurses. An LPN working in the maternity ward of a hospital may have additional duties that include feeding infants and coaching women through childbirth. Unlike for most other nursing jobs, a college degree is not needed but the requirements to become an LPN include completing education through an accredited program. A large number of LPNs can be found in nursing homes and residential care facilities where they provide direct nursing care on a team that is headed by an RN. LPNs still have supervisory and direct patient care responsibilities but are more limited than an RN.

Jan. 9, 2020 | A nurse practitioner is a nurse with a graduate degree in advanced practice nursing. This type of provider may also be referred to as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse. A nurse practitioner may work in a variety of specialties, from cardiology to pediatrics. Nurse practitioners may order laboratory tests, write prescriptions or perform procedures like a bone marrow biopsy or a lumbar puncture. Their range of health care services and privileges depends on laws in the state that they work. Some nurse practitioners may work in clinics or hospitals without doctor supervision. Others work together with doctors as a joint health care team. Like many other professions, nurse practitioners are regulated at two different levels. They are licensed through a process that takes place at the state level under state laws. They are also certified through national organizations, with consistent professional practice standards across all states.