When most people hear the term "Certified Nursing Assistant" (better known as CNA), the first thing that comes to mind is a career in a nursing home. While it's true that this is probably the industry's biggest demand for CNAs, there are other places to use this certification. But what exactly is a CNA, and how can it work for you? ...

Are you concerned about the health of your community? Aware of the impact of income, location, opportunity and mobility on health? Consider a career in public health nursing. Public health nursing is one of the oldest nursing specialties in the United States. Lillian Wald established the first public health nursing agency in New York City in 1893. According to Wald, “Our ...

As a nurse with a certification in healthcare quality management, there are avenues to influence the more global issues facing your organization and ultimately, patient care. This has become a time of cost saving, cost cutting measures. Who determines what budgets are reduced and where the work force adjustments occur? Of course it is not the floor nurses. However, floor nurses ...

Do you want to become a nurse but don’t know where to start out? This 10-step guide will help you find your way. You'll learn about the nursing profession, find out about the educational requirements and certifications, and get tips on how to survive your first year as a nurse. This guide is meant for prospective, current, and second career nurses ...

Passing the NCLEX exam is one of the most important steps en route to becoming a nurse. Though it is inevitable that it, like all exams, will make prospective nurses stressed and feeling overwhelmed, there are several important tips that may serve to mitigate these pressures. First of all, It is important to remember that the NCLEX-PN and NCLEX-RN are designed ...

Anyone who has completed nursing school can tell you where they have floundered in their education. These could be big mistakes, the school they chose, or small mistakes, “boy, I didn’t read that instructor very well.” But, here are five possible pit-falls that, in my experience, might be worth side-stepping… • *Gain some first hand knowledge of the field before choosing ...

Many hospitals offer some form of tuition reimbursement or loan forgiveness, but these five hospitals do that, and more. From staff development classes to on-site degree programs, these hospitals virtually pay you to go to school. If you are lucky enough to land a job at one of these prestigious hospitals, you will find not only opportunities for educational advancement, but ...

After nurses finish nursing school, choosing the right nursing specialty becomes their chief focus. With so many specialties to choose from, many prospective nurses find it difficult to just pick one, but with nearly every specialty requiring candidates to pass a series of exams and fulfill a period of on-the-job training, time is of the essence! Pay should not be your ...

Erin Downing is a 23 year old University of California, Santa Barbara graduate who will begin an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in September 2008 at Samuel Merritt College. Before pursuing nursing school, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology. In this interview, she shares her experiences, in her own words, with NursingLink. h4. How did you decide ...

What happens after you get hired? How do you make a success of yourself? The first year on the job is often the toughest for new nursing graduates, especially those who work in hospitals. In fact, new nurse graduates account for more than half of the turnover rate in some hospitals, according to a study published in 2007 by Johns Hopkins ...

The alarm goes off at 5:30 am, and you could swear you went to sleep five minutes ago. First a quick shower, followed by the finishing touches on that homework assignment due tonight over coffee and breakfast — if there’s time. Then it’s off to work, a solid eight-plus hours of time where you’re busy with charts, rounds and other assorted ...

[photo:180621]So you've decided to become a nurse, and it's the best decision you've ever made. Your life now has purpose, and you can't wait to have a job where you help people, handle new and challenging situations every day, and make a respectable living to boot. However, there's a problem. You can't get into nursing school. That's the biggest stumbling block ...

When someone thinks about what they gain from their job, invariably salary rises to the surface. For nurses, it's no different. However, quality of life isn't solely about money. There's how much one enjoys their work, and of course perks and benefits. Many of the perks and benefits of being a nurse are monetary, either directly or indirectly helping nurses ...

So what can you do to make your transition from nursing student to working nurse easier and your first years on the job more satisfying? Here are some issues to ask about and consider before and after taking the job. Ask About First-Year Nurse Turnover Rates High turnovers indicate how the employer treats first-year nurses, Benner says. Turnovers higher than 20 ...

There is a projected need for 393,000 CNAs needed in the United States by 2016. CNAs are one of the most in demand professions in America, but with so many job openings, it begs the question: Where should you work? NursingLink is committed to providing its members with the most most pertinent career research available. Below is the 10 best and ...

You are one of the most powerful sources of information. You have gone to school for at lease a dozen years, you may have worked at various jobs after school during the summers, you may have gone to places and met people who taught you many lessons in living. You may have married, returned to school after a personal experience with ...

Twenty five years ago, nursing instructors told their students that in just a few years there would be no Associate degrees in nursing. All nurses who hoped to work as registered nurses would need to be Bachelor’s or Master’s trained. Today, according to Nancy Tucker, Dean at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California, two thirds of nursing graduates every year complete ...

Is it possible for a profession to have an identity crisis? If so, then nursing does. Nurses frequently fight among themselves about who should be called a nurse, and they fight with the outside world about whether nursing is a profession or a trade. So which one is it? Is nursing a profession? Or a trade? The world needs tradesmen. Even ...

Given the nursing shortage, it's unfortunate that nursing schools reject many eager prospective nurses each year. In 2007, nearly 31,000 qualified applicants were turned away due to a shortage of faculty and resources, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. In Maryland, nursing schools are "bursting at the seams," says Tracy Jamison, director of admissions at the University of ...

While both Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) are both required to work under the supervision of a doctor or registered nurse, LPNs are given greater responsibility and thereby receive higher salaries than their CNA counterparts. LPNs, referred to as Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs) in California and Texas, make the natural "second step" between CNAs and RNs. The ...