Nursing has been a valued and recognized profession in the US since the early 1900s. Thousands of people, men and women, have been trained and licensed to practice within the nursing field including License Practical Nurses (LPN), Registered Nurses (RN) and Nurse Practitioners (NP).
As a nurse, you would play a critical part in the healthcare puzzle. You would be asked to complete a number of patient related tasks such as treating patients who are sick through their recovery, providing instructions for maintaining good health, performing research, and educating the them and their families. How much educational related duties you would have would depend primarily on your employer.
As a graduate from a California nursing school you could s as an educator, a manager or a clinician and you could work different work environments including government, hospitals, private practice, academia, clinics and private industry. Each state has their own licensing and educational requirements for each kind of nurse and they are responsible to ensure that each practicing nurse is qualified.
Although nurses work very closely with physicians, they are autonomous when it comes to complying with the nursing code of ethics and their regulating boards as well as keeping separate malpractice liability. As a nurse you are considered quite separate from the physician when it comes to roles and responsibilities and most states recognize that difference.
When looking at different nursing roles, LPNs have the least amount of responsibility and therefore the less amount of educational requirements – 18 months and two years of post high school education. LPNs also have National Council Licensure Examination-PN requirements and are supervised by RNs or physicians.
As an RN, you have to graduate from a two to five year state approved nursing school in California. Then you would have to pass a NCLES-RN exam before you are legally able to work. Within the nursing field there are also advanced nursing degrees available including Advanced Practical Nurses (APN), Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Ph.D. nurses (DPN).
There are different levels of responsibilities depending on the type of nurse that is involved with patient. For example LPNs are supervised by an RN or a doctor and they are only allowed to administer various medications, take vital signs, monitor patient condition, collect samples and document patient information.
The RNs, have the same responsibility of an LPN but they also can have the added responsibilities to triage patients, perform procedures, execute pain management, and even manage other staff.
Next on the hierarchal scale are the NPs, APNs and DPNs who have the most responsibility and who can diagnose and treat patients.
Nurses play very key roles in the medical system and they are responsible for a very large number of duties that cross over every field of medicine. They have critical jobs when it comes to helping to care for all people in our communities no matter how old or how young or how sick they are. Nurses not only help to take care of their patients they also help support everyone around the patient including families and loved ones. They also supply a lot of education, comfort and support in times when people are most vulnerable.