RN Salaries: Fastest Growing Career

RNs make up the largest portion of jobs in healthcare. About sixty percent of the over two and a half million jobs are in a hospital setting. Others work in skilled nursing facilities usually with a role of manager or supervisor, in home health care, or doctors’ offices. There are other job opportunities for Registered Nurses such as occupational health, addition recovery services, hospice care, and holistic medicine.

RN Specialization

Working in a hospital gives a RN the chance to specialize in a particular field of medicine just as a doctor would. These opportunities include, but are not limited to:

• Emergency or trauma, transplant
• Rehabilitation, radiology
• Psychiatric-mental health
• Perianesthesia
• Critical care
• Ambulatory care

Focusing in the care of a specific disease, genetic disorder, or illness is an option for an RN:

• HIV/AIDS and cancer
• Disabled populations, such as physical, mental, or emotional
• Wound nurses treat patients with openings due to traumatic injury, bedsores, diabetes, amputations, etc.

RNs also specialize in specific physiological areas and the diseases and illnesses associated with them.:

• Urology
• Cardiovascular
• Dermatology
• Gastroenterology
• Gynecology
• Nephrology
• Neuroscience
• Ophthalmic
• Orthopedic
• Otorhinolaryngology
• Respiratory

Another form of specialization a nurse might find interesting is by age population:

• Neonatology – newborns
• Pediatrics – children and adolescents.
• Gerontology and geriatrics – adults and the elderly.

RN Settings

RNs who specialize may work in hospitals, rehabs, and/or doctors offices. Some registered nurses who chose not to work in typical healthcare settings work in places such as correctional facilities, camps, military, resorts, ships, and schools.

RN Education

RNs have three different paths to acquire licensure:

• BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) offered by four-year colleges
• ADN (Associate Degree in Nursing)
• Diploma from an approved nursing program

Most nurses obtain their RN from either the Associate or Bachelor Degree programs. The ADN takes two to three years to complete. A BSN usually takes four to five years to complete. There are accelerated programs (12 – 18 months) for those who have a bachelor’s degree in another field.

After completing the education from one of the thousands of nursing schools worldwide and clinical training requirements, students must pass a national licensing examination known as the NCLEX-RN. Additional training is often needed if a specialized nursing career is to be pursued.

RN Salaries

RN salaries usually ranges from $50,000 to $70,000 depending on experience, work environment, and specializations. Nurses who acquire a managerial position may have the opportunity earn a higher salary similar to the salary of nurses with years of experience.

RN Job Outlook

Job outlook for RNs is excellent overall. Location and environment determines the amount of employment opportunities a nurse may have. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics has determined that employment opportunities for RNs are anticipated to be the fastest growing occupation in the next ten years, including more than a half million jobs. These statistics do not account for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that will become available by those nurses retiring from their careers.