How to Become a Registered Nurse

While looking for a job as a registered nurse in any health institution, you will be required to provide verification documents to prove your prominence in this line of work. This article shares the steps and the process you should follow to meet your goal of becoming a registered nurse.

How to Become a Registered Nurse 1

Nature of Job

Being a nurse involves treating injured and sick patients, in addition to providing the patient’s family with emotional assistance. In some health institutions, a nurse is required to handle the patient’s paperwork.

Nurses should be time-conscious, hardworking, and excellent communicators. They should be creative and highly skilled to help the doctor in diagnosing the patient and following up on their healthcare. It requires commitment and readiness to deal with many severe cases of patient injuries.

Patients, at times, hire nurses to provide care at home; therefore, the need for a nurse to be well-trained cannot be stressed enough. Government health acts have drafted the duties, qualifications, and conditions a nurse should meet before being registered.

In modern society, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has shared that jobs in nursing are becoming prominent at a higher rate, creating more job opportunities.

Average Pay Rates

In the United States, a registered nurse working in a public hospital earns an average salary of around $63,000 per year.

In the UK, the pay is around £25,000 yearly.

In Canada, a retired nurse receives an average of about CA$62,000 yearly.

In Australia, the pay is around AU$61,000 yearly.

In South Africa, the average pay is R230,153 yearly.

The pay salary for this job will differ with the health company, the location, and the duties and responsibilities provided to the nurse. This amount may also vary based on one’s experience and qualifications.

Eligibility

A nurse must have a Bachelor of Science Nursing degree, which can last up to four years at the university. An AND program is also a qualification pursued at the junior college for three years. The local licensing board also provides an examination that you must succeed to qualify as a registered nurse.

A nurse must know all the set rules by the health act, as per their state. Based on the hospital a nurse works for, there may be additional qualifications and rules required, especially if the place of employment is private.

How to Become a Registered Nurse

The vital stages of becoming a registered nurse include the following.

Complete a registered nurse-accredited program. You must be a graduate with a nursing diploma or a bachelor’s degree. Anatomy, Physiology, Nursing Research, Healthcare, Chemistry, and Introduction to Professional Nursing are some of the necessary coursework to be covered and equip the student with all the required skills and information.

Take a state examination. It is essential to take the set state or country exam to be certified with completion of the nursing course.

Seek an internship. The country’s governing act determines this. Nurses must seek employment for some years, which is considered a part of learning.

Pass the licensing board exam. This exam is the key to obtaining the permit to jump-start your nursing career in any hospital.

It is straightforward to become a qualified registered nurse by following all the above steps. Earning a job after getting the nurse permit is the most natural part. There are various sites to help you find jobs in this line of work, including the following.

Indeed – Indeed is one of the most well-known job search websites available right now. You can filter your search by location, company, and experience level.

Glassdoor – Glassdoor is another site through which you can find jobs as a nurse. This site compares average entry-level salaries between various companies and lets you search by location.

Monster – Monster is perhaps one of the oldest job search platforms that was made available to many users on the Internet. It is tried and true, and many believe it is still useful to this day.

Government Sites & Programs

There are some jobs in nursing that are available through government-associated companies. But if by some chance you are merely looking for more resources to find job listings, there are still some government resources at your disposal.

In the United States, visit the job search resources at USAJobs.gov.

In the UK, you can navigate to the jobs page through https://www.gov.uk.

Head to https://www.canada.ca/ for nursing jobs in Canada.

If you live in Australia, you can seek out government resources for job searching at https://www.employment.gov.au/.

For South African nursing jobs, visit the official government website at gov.za.

Conclusion

If becoming a registered nurse is your dream, then you need not worry since, with the diplomas and degrees stated above, you will be highly considered. A nurse is known to play a significant role in a working hospital; thus, it is an added advantage to be creative and establish connections with other professionals in the same field.

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