Nursing Fields

With medical costs continuing their upward trends, nurses are being relied upon today to provide more hands on treatment than they ever have in the past. Pressure from insurance companies is pushing many doctors into highly specialized niches, and nurses are beginning to do a lot of the work doctors used to. There continues to be a shortage of nurses in many countries around the world, including the United States, and as a result existing nurses are making higher salaries than ever. With the high demand, excellent pay and job security, and wide variety of nursing fields to pursue, nursing is becoming a more attractive career than ever before.

There are many different nursing fields that are becoming especially popular today. One such fields is the Nurse Anesthesiologist. As its title suggests, this nursing field has to do with the administration of anesthesia to patients as they undergo surgery, or other medical procedures that require anesthetic. A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologists (CRNA) works with the other health care professionals involved in the procedure, such as doctors, surgeons, or dentists, and monitors the patients anesthesia needs. The duties of a CRNA are critically important, and they remain by the patient during the entire procedure.

Another of the faster growing nursing fields is that of the Nurse Practitioner. A Nurse Practitioner (NP) has had much of the same training in diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses that physicians receive. Therefore, they are capable of doing a lot of the same work that doctors traditionally did in the past, and can even write prescriptions for medication.

An relatively new, yet exciting and fast growing, nursing field is Forensic Nursing. A Forensic Nurse is medical professional involved in crime scene investigations to help determine what crimes occurred, and by whom.

All of the previously mentioned nursing fields require education and training in addition to the schooling needed to become a registered nurse (RN). Because these fields usually offer higher salaries and more autonomy than the fields available with just an RN, they are very attractive careers for a nurse.

Some of the more traditional nursing fields are also growing in popularity, such as school nursing, and pediatric nursing. Additionally, there are countless different nursing fields and positions available within hospitals even with just an RN. The field of nursing as a whole is rapidly expanding, and there will be a demand for nurses for many years to come. Our traditional ideas of the female nurse working with the male doctor are already a thing of the past. With the high costs, and competition of medical school, and the falling wages for doctors, nursing is becoming a very attractive alternative to anyone interested in a medical profession.