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Job Profile: Registered Nurse

RN Specialties by Population

Finally, RNs may specialize by providing preventive and acute care in all health care settings to various segments of the population, including newborns (neonatology), children and adolescents (pediatrics), adults and the elderly (gerontology or geriatrics).

RNs also may provide basic healthcare to patients outside of healthcare settings in such venues as including correctional facilities, schools, summer camps and the military. Some RNs travel around the United States and abroad providing care to patients in areas with shortages of medical professionals.

Most RNs work as staff nurses, providing critical healthcare services along with physicians, surgeons and other healthcare practitioners. However, some RNs choose to become advanced practice nurses, who often are considered primary healthcare practitioners and work independently or in collaboration with physicians.

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• For example, clinical nurse specialists provide direct patient care and expert consultations in one of many of the nursing specialties listed above.

• Nurse anesthetists administer anesthesia, monitor patient’s vital signs during surgery and provide post-anesthesia care.

• Nurse-midwives provide primary care to women, including gynecological exams, family planning advice, prenatal care, assistance in labor and delivery, and neonatal care.

• Nurse practitioners provide basic preventive healthcare to patients, and increasingly serve as primary and specialty care providers in mainly medically underserved areas. The most common areas of specialty for nurse practitioners are family practice, adult practice, women’s health, pediatrics, acute care and gerontology; however, there are many other specialties. In most states, advanced practice nurses can prescribe medications.

Patient Contact

Some nurses have jobs that require little or no direct patient contact. Most of these positions still require an active RN license.

• Case managers ensure that all of the medical needs of patients with severe injuries and illnesses are met, including the type, location and duration of treatment.

• Forensics nurses combine nursing with law enforcement by treating and investigating victims of sexual assault, child abuse or accidental death.

• Infection control nurses identify, track and control infectious outbreaks in healthcare facilities; develop methods of outbreak prevention and biological terrorism responses; and staff immunization clinics.