Prior to the development of nursing as a profession, nursing care was usually done by nuns or military personnel. In fact, in the United Kingdom, senior female nurses are known as sisters, referring back to the roots of nursing. Today nurses run offices and hospital processes and are instrumental in developing national policies and procedures.
There are still many nursing schools that will take students right out of high school and teach them how to become registered nurses. These schools are usually associated with hospitals and provide a two year certificate program for the student. Once graduated, the student can then go on to take the state licensing exam.
A Bachelor of Nursing program provides the student with a four year baccalaureate degree. These programs are designed for registered nurses or for students coming from high school who want to obtain their four year degree. These programs require basic science, history, English and psychology classes as well as nursing classes in order to graduate. There are many BSN programs associated with excellent colleges nationwide. After graduation a nurse is prepared to work in consulting work, leadership areas as well as clinical arenas.
A Masters of Science in Nursing is a graduate degree.These programs are designed for the BSN who wishes to develop further skills in a particular area of nursing such as clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner and nursing management.Some of the programs prepare the nurse for administrative roles while other programs prepare the nurse for specialty service such as psychiatric or obstetrical medicine.
A Doctorate in Nursing requires many hours of study and is designed for the nurse who wants to teach at the college level. According to NursingPh.D, this degree focuses on research and best practices in teaching other nurses. Many Ph.D nurses are found as the senior administrators of nursing programs.