A Variety of Nursing Careers in the Medical Field by Josh Stone

A nursing career is probably the most humane profession of all. When a patient is sick or inured, and has to be hospitalized, nurses take care of them.

When a nursing career is chosen, right away it is taught that nurses have so many duties to perform in a day; often their shifts extend up to twelve or fourteen hours. They take patient histories, and record symptoms. A nurse changes the bed linen and reports to the doctor anything that occurs with the patient.

Nurses administer medication and some types of tests, operate medical equipment, bathe patients when needed, update charts, and sometimes just hold the patients hand and talk to them.

A nursing career takes a special kind of person. Someone who is above all compassionate. When someone is sick or injured, they are scared to be in a hospital. A smiling face and reassuring voice does wonders for a patient.

Nurses are there for the families of the sick or injured, instructing them what to do when the patient is to go home. Nurses are the emotional backbone of any hospital or medical facility.

When a nursing career is chosen, a specialty field must be chosen also. There are many different fields to choose from. Some nurses are trained in grief counseling, others promote the importance of health through holding clinics and instructing new mothers or the general public on the warning signs of illness and what they should do in case of emergency, a nurse can choose more than one specialty; a nurse can choose to work in the pediatric field, or cardiology. This choice is completely up to the nurse and what his or her preferences are.

Ambulatory care is another choice in a nursing career. This type of nursing care is treating patients on an outpatient basis such as same day surgery when a patient goes home the same day of their surgery. This is done mostly in clinic, but often it can be done in a doctor's office.

Some nurses provide telehealth, this form of nursing is fairly recent, and is expected to grow. A nurse, through the telephone, conferencing, video, and the Internet, provide health advice to patients, and will also help a sick or injured person find the right doctor.

Critical care nurses is perhaps the most challenging nursing career choice there is. A critical care nurse is stationed in a hospital's intensive care unit. They monitor every patient. They administer medication; chart all of the progress that is made, and keep the doctors well informed of all aspect of the patients care. They treat patients who have had heart attacks, respiratory failure, and any other life threatening illness or injury. This type of nursing career takes a very strong compassionate person, and often proves to be too much for some, and they end up choosing a different type of nursing career.

A holistic nursing career is different from any other. A holistic nurse treats patient's physical, mental, and spiritual health. They provide treatment such as aromatherapy, massage and acupuncture.

A home health care field can also be chosen for a nursing career, these nurses provide care to patients in their own home.

For those who are recovering from out patient surgery, childbirth and accident victims. Home health care nurses also provide hospice care for the terminally ill.

There is virtually a nursing career for every aspect of the medical field. A nurse that administers intravenous medication and fluids is called an infusion nurse. They also administer blood transfusions.

A nurse that works in the operating room has a specific title. It is called a perianesthesia, and the duties include all pre and postoperative care. In the operation room, these are the nurses that hand the instrument to the surgeon.

A nurse in the perianesthesia field is also is licensed to work in a Plastic surgeons office.

A nursing career in the radiology field trains the nurse to provide tests that include ultrasounds, x-rays, diagnostic radiation procedures, and MRI's.

There are so many choices when attending nursing school, and each field has its own specialty training, it can be a difficult to know what type of nursing career to choose, and sometimes it is necessary to use a rotation method to make the decision.

A hospital will allow a student nurse to work in different wards in order to decide which nursing career to choose. There are some nurse careers that do not require any patient contact. Although they do not work with patients directly, they are still required to have a license. For those patients that have been injured, a case manager can assist with all of the patient needs.

A forensic nursing career is possibly the most fascinating aspect to a nursing career. Forensic nursing is a combination of nursing and investigating crime. A forensic nurse works with law enforcement agencies to solve crimes involving child abuse, accidental death, or sexual assault cases in which the victim has died.

A nursing staff is supervised by nurse administrators, these nurse also establish and maintain schedules, supply inventory and work within the budget that established for that department.

Most health care facilities and hospitals have to maintain a certain level of cleanliness. A place that is not maintained or is not clean will be shut down.

The standard working conditions for nurses are sometimes very tough. There are long hours, working holidays, weekends and nights. Sometimes a nurse can work for more than a week without a day off. Their pay rate is not very high, and sometimes it is not very rewarding. But their training has taught them that no matter how bad of a day they are having, the patient is having a worse one. After all, they are the ones that are sick or injured. This usually puts things into perspective and they can get on with their day.

A nursing career is a calling, and is not for everybody. Men can seek a nursing career, although ninety five percent of the nursing community is women.

About the Author
Freelance writer for over eleven years.