Nursing jobs are available according to specialties, certifications, location, and degree requirements. But are all nursing careers lucrative and offer job security? Do you get the same benefits or have similar responsibilities in each career? Consider these questions when deciding whether to enter this field. You must also decide what kind of patients you would like to treat.
Some nurses can work with a wider population and treat patients of all ages. While others deal with a more narrowed population, those patients belong to a certain age group or have a specific disease. For instance, you might be working in a cardiac ward or with a gynecologist.
Regardless of the job you are assigned, salary and compensation packages are among the criteria to determine if a career is right for you. At the end of the day, you associate a career in nursing because of its caring nature. Therefore, it is justified to pursue a nursing career that pays well.
Table of Contents
What Is The Basic Requirement for a High-Paying Job in Nursing?
To land a high-paying medical job needs you to have the right qualification for the career. Let’s be honest; you cannot expect to have a lucrative career with just a diploma in nursing. You will be surprised to know that even BSN seems like an insufficient qualification when choosing your dream career in some hospitals. Many hospitals are encouraging their staff to have an MSN degree. Therefore, professional nurses are heading to enroll in an online MSN program and rushing to attain the right qualification.
Why Is There An Emphasis On High Qualifications For Nurses?
Hospitals strive to provide the best service to their patients. So, their primary job is to cure people by providing them with the medical help they need. But the other side of the coin presents hospitals as business entities that need the right staff with advanced skills to thrive as businesses. Not just regarding their services, but hospitals compete with others based on their qualified staff, including nurses and doctors.
More hospitals and patient care clinics require nurses to have advanced qualifications. Highly qualified staff make fewer mistakes, garner positive patient outcomes, and improve patient satisfaction. Many hospitals are filtering prospective staff based on their degrees and skills. Once you have the right qualification, you can move ahead to the area of your choice.
Here are some of the careers you must consider if you want nursing to change your life financially.
-
Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
The job of a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist is to administer anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery or any other treatment. Their job is to prepare the patient for anesthesia. Later, when the surgery is over, they accompany the patients until the anesthesia wears off. Nurses also perform diagnostic, obstetrical, and therapeutic procedures. In addition, they also provide pain management and emergency treatment when needed.
The job of CRNA is very critical because the accuracy of their job directly impacts the success of the surgery. If anesthesia is improperly administered, the patient may come to sense during the surgery, leading to their death. The bureau of statistics’ May 2020 estimates show that the average salary is approximately $ 183,580, accounting for an $ 88.26 hourly rate. Nurse Anesthetists can work in any setting where anesthesia is administered to the patients. It could be in a hospital, private clinics, outpatient surgery centers, pain management centers, to name a few.
-
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
As the name implies, these nurses provide help to patients who have been dealing with mental illnesses, including depression, stress, anxiety, etc. They also treat patients who have faced the menace of drug abuse. Their job includes diagnosis, treatment, and care of such patients. They aid physicians, counselors, and therapists to bring the patients back to life, restoring their self-esteem, and making them responsible for their lives and loved ones. During their service, they also offer counseling to patients and their families, keep them updated about the patient’s condition, and prepare treatment plans to improve the patient’s condition.
Constantly monitoring the patients for changes in their conditions, communicating the changes with the doctors is also part of their job. The salary of a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner is lucrative too. They earn a median salary of $146,311 per year.
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners can work in any setting depending on the service they intend to provide. Some prefer to work in the hospital psychiatric ward. Others work in the rehabs where substance abuse patients come for recovery. You will also find a few nurses who carry out independent practice in their personally established clinics.
-
Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP)
If you want to treat a wider population, including patients from adolescence through old age, being an adult-gerontology nurse can be one of your choices. Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioners treat patients with primary care-related illnesses. Such nurses have keen observation skills and years of experience helping them provide the best service to their patients. Apart from routine assessment and immunization, they educate their patients about keeping safe, preventing illnesses, and how to fight when you have one. They also design care plans based on the medical history of their patients. The follow-up monitoring and assessment of patient conditions is their job too.
A nurse searching for lucrative careers in nursing must try this one. They can earn an average of $98,788, though it can vary depending on the state and your employer. An AGPCNP can work in hospitals, private care clinics, and independent practice physician offices. Others can also work in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and behavioral health clinics. Some nurses prefer to be associated with non-clinical roles. Hence, they work in academic settings to teach new nurses.
Conclusion
Nursing is rewarding! Like any other profession, some careers are more lucrative than others. Registered nurses wanting to excel in their careers monetarily and professionally must test their luck in these careers. A lucrative career makes your life financially sound and places you among more regarded professionals in your career. It is a fact that people give more attention to those who are stronger financially. However strange it may look, it is still a reality.
