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Nursing shortages in the United States during the last few years have resulted in new high school graduates increasingly turning to programs that will give them a nursing degree. Even doctors in third world Asian countries like the Philippines are enrolling in fast-track nursing degree in droves leaving the profession they have practiced for many years because of the multitude of career options a nursing degree promises.

Who can blame them? Well-paying jobs for those who have obtained a nursing degree are available in every city in the United States of America. This nursing degree is also very in demand in the United Kingdom, Australia, and in other first world countries.

Nursing is a good career choice and not only because of the financial compensation. As a nurse, one would have the opportunity to help save and improve lives. He would get the chance to teach people how to achieve better health and to advocate for patients to make sure they are receiving the best health care.

If you are considering taking up a nursing degree, it is important to have a good understanding of the profession. Nursing is a discipline focused on service and on assisting individuals in order to attain and maintain optimal health and functioning. In 1859, Florence Nightingale said, "the goal of nursing is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him, primarily by altering the environment." The field has evolved immensely since. From caretakers, today, bearers of nursing degree do things done by physicians many years ago. Nurses take blood pressure readings, do physical examinations, give injections, handle medical equipments, and change wound dressings. The American Nurses’ Association now defines nursing as "the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems." A nursing degree gives an individual to practice nursing as a profession.

Individuals who have obtained a nursing degree have many career options beyond bedside care in a hospital setting. Nursing is the most diverse of all healthcare professions. Nurses practice in a wide range of settings from hospital to the field of research. They can go into occupational health, rehabilitation, home care, hospice care, and they can even go beyond their nursing degree and aspire to be nurse practitioners or nurse anesthetists. Bearers of nursing degree can also go into ambulatory care, burn care, emergency, pediatrics, ICU, maternal care, oncology, operating room, renal, pediatrics, and even geriatrics.

Today, a nursing degree entitles one to go into professional pathways such as the law, sales and marketing, informatics, community care, journalism, business, teaching, and private ventures. A nursing degree will entitle one to a job that gives great compensation, ranging from $30k upwards to $45k a year, with additional pay for evening, night, and weekend shifts. Additional benefits include health insurance, holiday pay, and college tuition reimbursement in some programs, pension plans, and vacation pay. Nurses with advanced training and degrees such as nurse anesthetists make considerably higher salaries.

To obtain a nursing degree there are a few options each involving a different type of nursing program. Three types of programs offer nursing degree after graduation. Colleges and universities offer bachelors program in nursing, which is a four-year program. The nursing degree from this program is required before one can take masters in the field. An associate degree in nursing program is a two-year program which one can take in community colleges. A hospital diploma is a two-year nursing program based in a hospital setting.

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