One of the professions now gaining popularity is the nursing professions with different types of nursing degrees from which to choose. Many health centers, clinics and hospitals now offer lucrative salaries in the field. As a nurse, your salary will depend on many things, including your degree, experience and other certifications. Many nursing degrees have different levels, with each level having different educational programs depending on the one you are interested in.
The LPN, also known as Licensed Practical Nurse, is generally the entry level in the field of nursing. The duties of the LPN are in administering medication to patients, start IVs, providing daily living maintenance, and may also be responsible for medical paperwork in some cases. Going for this requires you to have completed high school or hold a General Education diploma. The training for this can be obtained from a vocational school or through a community college, and after a year of full time study, and after the one year of practical nursing program, you must sit for and pass the state licensing examination. After qualification as a Licensed Practical Nurse, you should start earning at least $45,000 per year.
If you would not be contented with the $45,000 annual salary, you may consider further education in being licensed as a registered nurse (RN). Some of your responsibilities here include intensive care, medical surgical nursing and neonatal care. For this, you need to complete an Associate of Nursing (ASN) degree, which you can do with a full-time study of 2 years. The study involves clinical and classroom training. With your 2-year degree, you should then be eligible to sit for the NCLEX test, the nursing certification test that grants you the license to work in the state desired as a Registered Nurse (RN). Depending on the employer, the annual salary in this case should start from $70,000.
After the Associate of Nursing degree, you may continue to have your Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN). This is very easy to go for because many clinics and hospitals always encourage their registered nurses to have this qualification. You may even be provided reimbursement and tuition assistance. Many nursing programs also exist, offering RN to BSN programs to help nurses in having the bachelor’s degree. If you do not have experience in nursing, you need to spend 4 years to obtain your BSN. The degree helps in the expansion of your nursing skills, and when working, you should be having higher salaries. For instance, states like Illinois, Texas, New York and California pay $27, $27, 29 and $35 per hour respectively, which means about $110,000 per year.
To be successful in the different types of nursing degrees, you need to have an outline of your career goals. Depending on the university, some of them are expensive, which may require you to have some scholarships to complete them successfully. Many schools have scholarships of different types with different terms and conditions in terms of eligibility. You need to explore these things before deciding on a college in which you have the interest in studying.
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