The field of medicine has transformed unpredictably, thanks to the raging advancements of technology. Newer health conditions and illnesses were indeed a problem faced by everyone, but technology helped make room to penetrate and cure them. Doctors and researchers experimented using the data that they had and discovered remedies to these newer diseases. Introduced medical procedures and medicines helped to ease the patient’s conditions while suffering from excruciating pain. That made it evident how doctors always had room for improvement and why they need to de flexible to change.
Saving a life is no joke. It requires rigorous training and a confident attitude to assure yourself that you are capable enough to fit the shoes of a doctor. Doctors practically have to battle in an operating theatre to bring a patient back to life. And that requires a resolute mind, as well as updated information to ensure that the procedures you are using are safest. However, doctors aren’t the individuals who invest themselves in saving a patient’s life.
In reality, doctors spend far less time with their patients than nurses. Nurses know the patients better than doctors and are responsible for numerous duties classified under standard and efficient healthcare practices. They take care of their diets, daily necessities, changing needs, health reviews, and review their medical conditions. It happens most often that a capable and well-informed nurse is the reason behind saving a patient’s life. But unfortunately, not everyone acknowledges the value of nursing and can identify the diligence it demands.
Just like doctors, nurses have to be as updated with the latest medical procedures and information to ensure a smooth flow of work. They have to make reasonable deductions from patient health status, inform doctors of their observations, and see that they can notice the nuances in real-time data. These things help understand the problem better and improve the treatment that a patient is getting. It also allows doctors to be better at their jobs and avoid running into annoyed patients with several complaints.
However, nurses need to upgrade themselves and their knowledge to improve these services that they are offering. For someone just starting their career as a nurse, you might not be well aware of the options that you have to advance. Here are seven tips to help you with that and upgrade your nursing education to move onto the next level.
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Aim Higher
The first goal of any nurse should be to aim higher than their current standing. While being a nurse, there’s a good chance that since you are licensed and practicing, you might assume that you achieved your goal, but that’s not true. Getting your nursing license and registering yourself are the primary steps for you to get into the field of medicine. From here on out, you should consider bachelor’s or advanced online MSN programs to progress in your profession. These will help you get certified for every growing step, so be sure to use the proper channel and favor growth.
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LPN to RN
You can secure a nursing license with a diploma or an associate’s degree from a community college or a hospital. You need to study under the RNs and handle primary healthcare and medical tasks such as taking vitals and administering medication. The programs that let you get past this step are generally a year-long, but the duration may vary between 7 and 24 months. Once in, you can start working on settling your feet and progressing as a nurse.
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RN to BSN
If you have your license, you can find a medical school on the map or online and get yourself enrolled in an RN to BSN program. These are the usual 4-year programs that help you get a bachelor’s degree for your profession. You will have to balance with your job as a nurse, but luckily these courses accept credit scores and are flexible for you to manage. After getting a bachelor’s, you get to be in charge of other LPNs, as well as nursing assistants, and shoulder vital patient care issues.
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Non-nursing to BSN
If becoming a nurse wasn’t part of the plan before your bachelor’s, then you are still not too late to start. You can get in an accelerated RN or BSN nursing program that will take around 1 to 2 years of vigorous training to have you practicing in a medical facility.
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BSN to MSN
Getting into a Master’s of Science in nursing program is always the next step after completing your bachelor’s. These are 18 to 24 months long and offer you the option to specialize in your nursing career. You can choose a more active role like clinical training or become a researcher. All you need to do is meet the standard requirement set, including minimum scores and some work experience, and you are good to go.
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Doctoral Nursing Degree
The next step from MSN is a doctoral nursing degree, which puts you in a position of higher demand than the nurses with an MSN. They help you aim for prominent careers in health care and open the options of advanced clinical practices and research. They help you cultivate skills necessary for research, such as data analysis and statistics, and make you well versed with the history and philosophy of nursing. You also get specialized training for honing your leadership skills in this program, as you might find yourself in those shoes. They are typically 4 to 6 years long, but they show great promise on your part.
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Certifications
Besides all these, you have the option of giving specialized exams that help you gain more ground than an RN in your professional. These exams get you Professional Nursing Certifications for clearing them and enable you to cultivate skills in a more specific area. Technically speaking, it elevates your skills beyond the scope of regular RN, which can help you realize your potential for growth.
Summary
These were seven useful tips to upgrade your nursing education and become then you already are. Remember that this growth is not just for you, but will help improve the standards of health care for other people through you. So if you feel trapped in your profession as a nurse, it might be a good time to start exploring possibilities of growth.
