Sunday, December 30, 2012

Big List of "Back-Up" Plans for Premeds- Part 4: Nursing

This is Part 4 of my Big List of "Back-Up" Plans for Premeds series, intended to give a brief introduction to some alternate careers in health care that premeds might consider pursuing.

I would like to introduce nursing as a career, and accelerated nursing programs that you can enter after having completed some university work. 

What does a nurse actually do?
  • Nurses perform a wide range of duties, from:
    • Technical- i.e. monitoring the patient's vital signs, I.V.s & medical devices, collecting samples.
    • Administrative/Educative- maintaining records, triage, educating public & families.
    • Clinical- assess the patient, evaluate care diagnostic testing, dispensing medication, small procedures.
    • Counseling support for patients and families as well as personal hygiene.
    • ...and many more. There are thousands of things that nurses do and I can't compress that into a neat list.
  • Nurses work in a variety of settings- direct care, research, education, public health, etc. Find out more at the Canadian Nurses Association.
I think one of the greatest benefits for nursing is that there are a lot of things you can do with a nursing degree after graduation- there are a lot of choices that you can take advantage of. Furthermore, the role and scope of nursing is always expanding in Canada.

Possibility of further training
  • With further training, nurses are able to extend the scope of their practice. There are advanced training opportunities available for Registered Nurses, such as:
    • Anesthesia assistant, advanced life support (cardiac, pediatric, etc) certificates
    • Procedure-based training such as ultrasound, sonography
    • Research training- clinical research associate
    • Clinical nurse specialist
    • Administration
  • Nurse practitioner- NPs act as primary health care providers, functioning autonomously at a similar level of scope and authority as family physicians/physician assistants/etc. You can become an NP by going through advanced programs (usually Master of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner programs) after becoming a RN.

With that said, since this is a "Back-Up" series I will only write regarding Accelerated Nursing programs which have shorter time frames (~2 years) than regular nursing programs (~4 years).

Important points regarding Accelerated Nursing Programs in Canada:
  • Generally 2-year long programs entering at Level III (third year) of regular nursing programs, includes both theory and clinical components.
  • Often require X number of university credits (usually 10 full course credits= 2 full years), and ~B averages (~75%, 3.0).
  • Prerequisite courses generally include physiology, anatomy, psychology, statistics. Check school websites for details.
  • There are plenty of accelerated nursing programs, ranging from 1.8 to 3.5 years in length.
Potential salary & Job security/market

As you may already know, nurses usually have no problem finding a job. In 2010, 93.4% of RNs were employed in nursing, 1.8% outside of nursing, while only 2.7% were unemployed. For Nurse Practitioners, 97.3% were employed in nursing, 0.6% outside of nursing, and only 0.9% unemployed. Considering there were 287,344 RNs and 2554 NPs in 2010, I would say the job security for nurses look great.

Salaries are based on:
  • Seniority/experience
    • For example, hospital nurses in Ontario are paid according to a "grid" where salary increases with each year of experience for RNs.
    • Starting salary is $30.17/hr ($58,831.50 annual), while after 5 years it's $36.12/hr ($70,434.00).
  • Amount of additional training
    • RNs with advanced training are paid slightly more, along with increased flexibility and scope of their practice in terms of locations, hours, etc. For example, salary for NPs range from $80,000 to +$100,000, which is significantly higher than average RN salaries.
  • Location
    • Similar to other healthcare professions, pay differs from province to province.
Nurses have a huge variety of options in employment and practice along with great job security- which makes nursing all the more attractive as an alternative profession in healthcare. Consider nursing before thinking about leaving Canada for international medical schools that are associated with increasing restrictions & difficulties (along with a huge price tag) of coming back to Canada.

Matt
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