What do registered nurses do?

Question

What kind of schooling..

And what do they do while on the job.

Answer 1

The beauty of being an RN is that there is no "typical" day nor job. RNs work inpatient, outpatient, OR, ICU, Quality Assurance, Education, and in my case, at this stage of my career, a health care systems consultant working on a variety of high-profile projects involving the National Cancer Institute, Medicare, and the Veterans Administration. Assuming that you are wanting to know about the typical day on an inpatient setting, you will deliver a great deal of physical care assisting patients with their ADLS - activities of daily living; performing endless assessments and data gathering for your patients, determining when the physician needs to be notified for any variety of situations including abnormal vital signs, lab results, etc. As an RN you will supervise LPNs and aides, delgating responsibility as appropriate and making sure that things get done - right.  You will be asked to coordinate a patient's care, acting like a traffic cop to make sure that the patient gets all the studies, therapies, and procedures needed in a prioritized manner. You will  interact with other members of the health care team including physicians, social workers, pharmacists, EKG techs, Respiratory techs, and on and on. And of course, there is the patient's family members, who will look to you to interpret the plan of care and to answer questions. You will do a lot of teaching as well -- about medications, treatments, signs and symptoms for a patient to be alert to when they go home -- and perhaps most importantly, serve as a patient advocate to make sure that they get what they need and to work as a partner with the doctors -- not as an adversary. It is an exciting career.

As far as education goes, I recommend that you get your Bachelor's Degree in Nursing as the basic credential. While you can get a diploma or an Associates Degree (and many outstanding nurses have one of these) you may find yourself limited to the types of jobs you can have in the future that are outside basic patient care (e.g., Director of Nursing).

Answer 2

Anywhere from 2-4 yrs of post-high school education, depending on if you want an associates degree, diploma, or bachelors degree (although not many schools anymore offer the 3 yr).

What they do:

Patient care (bathing, dressing, bandaging, brushing teeth, dentures, etc)

Medication administration

Specific treatments and procedures which you'll be educated in how to perform, and you'll have to perform it in order to be allowed to do it.

Consult with physicians, family members, social workers, dietitians, funeral homes, mortuaries, morgues, laboratory and other therapeutic area staff.

Bathe the deceased and wrap in a 'shroud' to prepare for transport to the morgue, funeral home etc.

LOTS, did I say LOTS, and I mean LOTS of stinkin' paperwork, all for not NEAR enough money :-) (oops, sorry, guess you could never tell I use to be one :-) ), while being short-staffed, and UNDER appreciated by everyone!

Answer 3

Becoming an RN is not easy nor impossible. The classes oene takes to become an RN is very similar if not identical to those classes required to obtain a BS in biology, plus a year of practicals. After school you also have to pass boards to become registered.  RN's duties can vary from working in a public school to assisting an MD in Los Angeles. Actually, it is not uncommon for an RN to make over 100,000 and can be highly respected by MD, PA, and NP alike. It all depends on where you're working and for whom. It's a great job for a dedicated person who isn't interested in becoming a higher positioned medical person.