| For those individuals who are looking for a career | | | | door to working in medical research. In short, as in |
| with long-term earning potential, lots of opportunity | | | | any other career path, further education opens more |
| for advancement and a wide range of settings in | | | | doors to advance your nursing career both personally |
| which to work, those are just a few of the many | | | | and professionally. |
| advantages of earning a degree in nursing. According | | | | Advantages of Earning a Degree in Nursing |
| to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care | | | | |
| industry will grow by 21% by 2016, opening hundreds | | | | 1. You’ll always be able to find a job. |
| of thousands of jobs. | | | | There’s more to this than the aging of the |
| The majority of those jobs will be in the home health | | | | Boom Generation, too. Medical science is opening new |
| care field, which will grow by 51%. According to the | | | | doors in the health care industry from home health |
| Occupational Outlook Handbook, the demand for | | | | care to community nursing. There will always be jobs |
| registered nurses alone will increase by 35%, adding | | | | for qualified nurses, and those who have nursing |
| another 700,000 jobs to the marketplace. That | | | | degrees will always get hiring preference. |
| means that there will be more opportunities than | | | | 1. You’ll be able to find a job anywhere you |
| ever to find a job in nursing. In these economic | | | | want to live. |
| times, ease of finding a job is a major plus to earning | | | | From the inner city to luxury suburbs, every |
| a degree in Nursing. | | | | community needs nurses. Whatever your ideal setting |
| Requirements for getting a job in the nursing field, | | | | is, chances are good that the community will |
| however, are getting more stringent. It is no longer | | | | welcome you with a job and open arms. You can |
| enough to have a diploma from a nursing school, not | | | | even choose to travel while you work – there |
| if you want a job that pays well and the ability to | | | | are nursing jobs in the hospitality industry, including |
| decide where and how you want to work. In fact, | | | | nursing jobs on cruise ships and in resort towns. |
| the highest paying jobs in nursing and health care will | | | | Want to spend the winter in Fort Lauderdale and the |
| be going to those who have advanced degrees. | | | | summers on the shores of the Great Lakes? |
| Higher certification standards mean that those who | | | | That’s doable, too. There are agencies that |
| do not have at least a nursing certification will not be | | | | specialize in temp jobs for nurses in high demand |
| able to work in the field at all. If your intent is to get | | | | cities. When you have a nursing degree, you can |
| a nursing job that pays well, a certificate or license is | | | | choose where you want to live and know that there |
| no longer enough. You really need a degree to | | | | will be a job. |
| expect a promotion to management or even floor | | | | 1. Nurses with degrees can command higher salaries. |
| management in nursing. | | | | Nurses with an advanced degree can earn, on |
| Nurses with advanced degrees will find unexpected | | | | average, 25% to 50% more than non-degreed |
| doors opening to them. More and more hospitals are | | | | nurses, even in the same position. In addition, a |
| requiring at least a B.S. in Nursing for their charge | | | | nursing degree is a requirement for some of the |
| nurses and head nurses. A B.S. in nursing will also put | | | | highest paying jobs in nursing. Those jobs include |
| you in the running for other management jobs, as | | | | head nurse and management jobs, jobs in hospital, |
| well as for specialized jobs within the field of nursing. | | | | nursing home and clinic management, industrial nursing |
| Those specialized fields may include Trauma Center | | | | jobs and nursing jobs in city, state and federal Public |
| nursing, pediatric nursing, psychiatric nursing or | | | | Health departments. |
| nutritional counseling. | | | | 1. A nursing degree gives you more career choices. |
| Other nursing degrees will give you more autonomy | | | | Specialization is becoming the norm in all fields these |
| as a nurse than most Registered Nurses can expect. | | | | days, but especially so in medicine. Advanced nursing |
| A nursing degree may open the door for you to | | | | degrees often offer you the opportunity to acquire |
| become a nurse practitioner, with the ability to | | | | specialized knowledge in a particular nursing field. That |
| diagnose and prescribe for patients, or a nurse | | | | specialized depth of knowledge will allow you to work |
| midwife. A nurse with a degree concentration in | | | | in higher paying jobs that have more of an effect on |
| business and management may manage a nursing | | | | the world of medicine and on the patients with |
| home, a hospice or a nutritional clinic. A nursing | | | | whom you work. |
| degree with a concentration in research can open the | | | | |