Nursing Careers

Careers in Nursing

Nursing is a dynamic and diverse profession with over 100 areas of specialization and 180 available credentials. Explore over 150 nursing careers and specialities in traditional hospital and non-traditional roles.
Nursing Careers
Becoming a nurse is a great way to bring together your passion for helping others with your desire for a career with strong job growth, earnings potential, and security. With over 100 areas of specialization, nursing offers career flexibility that allows you to choose the path that suits you best. You can pick the type of patients you want to care for, the work environment that interests you most, and how far you want to advance within the profession. Explore our list of nursing careers below to find everything from entry-level positions to advanced practice and specialty roles.

What Is Nursing?

Nursing can be described as a constantly evolving, highly specialized profession that encompasses health promotion, health prevention, and the care of physically ill, mentally ill, disabled, and dying people of all ages, communities, and health care settings. The unique function of nurses ranges broadly from activities that contribute to the health, recovery, or dignified death of a patient to the development of policy, research, advocacy, and education.

What Does a Nurse Do?

In a field as varied as nursing, there is no all-encompassing answer. Due to the vast range of specializations, care settings, expertise, and patients’ physical, biological, and behavioral needs, each nurse may have different responsibilities. Job duties can range from promoting preventative health care strategies in schools to acute treatment decisions in an intensive care unit.

The primary unifying characteristic in every nursing role is that nurses use their judgment and specialized knowledge to deliver the best possible care and positively impact patient outcomes. Nurses must be smart, skilled in critical thinking, and capable of adapting to any situation. Specifically, here are a few of the general nurse duties:

  • Conduct physical exams and collect detailed health care histories
  • Collect vital signs, draw blood, and order diagnostic tests
  • Administer medications and other personalized treatments
  • Coordinate care with a wide array of healthcare professionals and specialists
  • Provide health promotion, counseling, and healthcare education to patients

Where Do Nurses Work?

Not all nurses work in a hospital setting. You can find nurses in a wide variety of direct and indirect patient care settings, including urgent care settings, public schools, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, clinics, private homes, hospice care, and government jobs. Across the entire patient experience, you can find nurses who use their skills wherever there is someone in need of care. The most common places where nurses work include:
  • Hospitals
  • Physician’s Offices
  • Ambulatory Surgical Centers
  • Nursing and Residential Care Facilities
  • Correctional Facilities
  • Clinics
  • Federal and State Governments
  • Schools – State, Local, and Private

Nursing Career Paths

Becoming a nurse is one of the best career choices you can make. Nursing careers offer great workplace satisfaction, generous income, opportunities for advancement, and an abundance of job opportunities. If nursing is a profession you are considering, you will need to familiarize yourself with the various career options. Your choice will depend on the type of nursing work you want to do, your career goals, salary expectations, and time to complete your training.

Entry Level Nursing Careers

When it comes to launching your nursing career, it’s best to remember that everyone starts somewhere. Not all career paths require you to spend extensive time in school, and several options allow you to enter the workforce relatively quickly so you can start earning an income and building real-world experience.

An entry-level nurse is commonly defined as a newly licensed nurse with no more than 12 months of experience. Nurses in these roles have the minimum knowledge, skills, and abilities required to deliver safe and effective nursing care. Nurses in entry-level positions may have a limited scope of responsibilities and often work under a registered nurse or physician’s supervision while providing basic bedside care.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Careers

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) hold at least a master’s degree in nursing, in addition to the nursing education and licensing they initially obtained to become a registered nurse. APRNs are at the forefront of technological and methodological developments in the field, which affords them the broadest scope of all nurses’ practice.

Their responsibilities include but are not limited to, treating and diagnosing illnesses, managing chronic disease, prescribing medication, interpreting diagnostic exams like MRIs and blood work, and advising the public on health issues. APRNs specialize in a particular patient population such as neonatal, geriatrics, pediatrics, or mental health.

RN Specializations & Alternative Careers for Nurses

Registered nurses are an indispensable part of the healthcare system, forming the backbone of patient care in the United States. From advising the community about critical health issues to performing complex medical interventions, nurses provide essential health care to the public wherever it is needed.

Nowhere is the versatility of registered nurses more evident than in the number of RN specializations and alternative career options. If you are interested in a nursing career but prefer to work with patients beyond the bedside or outside a fast-paced hospital environment, there are dozens of alternative careers in various settings for you to explore.

What Qualifications Do You Need to Become a Nurse?

The minimum qualifications needed to become a nurse depend on what type of nursing occupation you seek. Regardless of what type of nurse you want to be, there are a few pivotal requirements in any nurse’s career – formal education and nursing licensure. Without the correct credentials, you will not be allowed to practice nursing.

Education Requirements

If you wish to be a licensed practical nurse (LPN), you need to complete an accredited LPN program, offered by vocational schools, community colleges, and private colleges. Students entering an LPN program can expect to take courses in nursing, biology, and pharmacology while also participating in hands-on clinical experiences. LPN certificate programs take about one year to complete.

The minimum education requirements to become a registered nurse (RN) are an associate degree or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). However, requirements within nursing are expected to change as states push to expand the qualifications for nurses. In many states, every position in the nursing field may soon require a bachelor’s degree. A BSN degree requires three to four years of coursework to complete.

Nursing License Requirements

Earning your nursing license by passing a state competency exam or national nursing licensure examination (NCLEX) is mandatory for any individual who wishes to practice nursing. The three most common exams are listed below:
  • National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) Exam: Individuals who want to work as a nursing assistant must pass a state competency exam. CNAs have a limited scope of responsibility compared to registered nurses, which is reflected by the exam.
  • National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN): Individuals pursuing roles as licensed practical nurses must pass this exam. LPNs have a slightly expanded range of job duties than their CNA counterparts. For example, they are often tasked with conducting medical tests and administering medication. The NCLX-PN will cover a nurse’s comprehension of these additional responsibilities and test their understanding of basic nursing concepts.
  • National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN): To become a registered nurse (RN), individuals must pass this rigorous, knowledge-based exam. The NCLEX-RN is the most comprehensive exam of the three listed on this page. The format integrates four major Client Needs categories and eight subcategories to determine if it’s safe for individuals to practice as entry-level nurses.​

Nursing Career Resources

Nursing Careers FAQ

What kind of nurses get paid the most?

Earning an outstanding salary while doing something you love is an obvious perk of many nursing careers. Registered nurses make an annual mean salary of $80,010 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But, that’s only the average across all nursing specialties. The highest paying nursing careers pay over $181,000 per year.

Is it hard to become a nurse?

If you’re on the path to become a nurse, you are headed for a great career that is fulfilling and always exciting. But nursing school is known to be difficult. Most nursing programs require two to four years of rigorous study, and clinical rotations. Students who make it through nursing school must still pass the notoriously difficult NCLEX exam.

How can I become a nurse fast?

The answer depends on what type of nurse you want to be. Nursing school can take years, but some career paths allow you to enter the workforce relatively quickly without spending an extensive amount of time in school. If your goal is to become a nurse as soon as possible, consider an LPN program, which can take as little as 12 months to complete.

Why do nurses quit?

The most common answers from nurses who report that they’ve thought about leaving the profession include frustrations about staffing, work schedules, burnout, stress, and injuries.