Taking care of sick people is the main task nurses perform and it can be done in various capacities. Registered nurses attend to patient wards and run education and awareness programs. Midwives help mothers deliver babies at home and in hospitals. They also help take care of women and expectant mothers, both before and after birth. LPNs do routine nursing practices like taking temperature, giving shots, checking blood pressure, checking pulse and monitoring catheters.
An RN with a bachelor's degree can become an assistant teacher in a nursing school. She may also become a clinical instructor. A nurse with a master's degree can become an instructor at a nursing school. There is a shortage of nursing instructors (as of 2011) and it forces nursing schools to turn away students. An act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives offers help with loan repayment if master's and Ph.D. students agreed to teach for four years at accredited nursing schools.
A nurse in charge of a shift can focus on organization and move away from direct clinical work. Nurse managers and supervisors run the hospital. They are in charge of hiring, firing, training, motivating and planning work for their fellow nurses. Administration deals with the business side of nursing and a nursing degree can lead you into a senior managerial post in a health care organization. The hours are long and the pressure is high, but the job is rewarding. For nurses who want to administrative and clinical work, they can become clinical nurse leaders (CLNs). A CLN organizes and schedules fellow nurses, but deals directly with patients as well.
A nurse with a master's degree may prefer to work in an office rather than doing ward rounds. She can become a nurse practitioner (NP) who works under the direct supervision of a doctor, though in some states, a nurse practitioner can work independently. An NP is allowed to write prescriptions and see patients, and many open up their own clinics inside drugstores and grocery stores. An extra year of specialized training is required to become a NP. Examples of NPs are CNMs and CRNAs. Nurse anesthetists are paid better than all other specialist nurses. They provide services to large populations in the military and rural areas. The American Association of Nurses found that in two-thirds of rural American hospitals, anesthesia was solely done by nurses.