Mia
There are many benefits to working as a nurse. You get to help out others, get to have challenging and rewarding work and get to enjoy your career while making good money. As a nurse, you will also be able to pick from a wide variety of careers and specialties, which is part of what makes this such a great job to choose.
As you are looking into nursing and deciding what you would like to do with your nursing career, you may want to take a look at some of the most in-demand nursing jobs to help you make the best decision. Some of the top nursing jobs that are in demand for these professionals right now include:
Travel Nurse
If you are a nursing professional who likes to travel and see the country and you are interested in having a chance to meet a lot of people, then working as a travel nurse is a great option for you to choose. A travel nurse will be an RN who is responsible for some of the basic tasks of a nurse but will travel around to fill in temporarily at different facilities.
These nurses are in high demand, especially when shortages happen across the nation. Many will be given higher wages, relocation pay, and housing to help entice them to come work in a certain area. These nurses can expect to earn close to $109,000 on average a year.
Hospice Nurse
Another option that you can choose for a nursing career is a hospice nurse. This professional will be the one responsible for assisting and caring for patients who are terminally ill and will help make the end-of-life process as comfortable as possible for the patient. They may do a number of different tasks including:
- Administering the medication the patient needs
- Assessing the needs and comfort of the patient
- Communicating status to family members
- Recording any changes in condition and treatment of the patient
- Consulting with doctors and other medical staff
As a professional in this field, there can be a wide range in the amount the professional will make. The national average in this role is about $80,000 a year
Intensive Care Unit or ICU Nurse
Some nursing professionals will choose to work as ICU nurses. This is going to be a nurse who will evaluate, monitor, and administer care to the patients who need to spend time in intensive care units. They will be responsible for high levels of supervision and treatment since these patients can be in critical condition. Some of the responsibilities they may have include:
- Monitoring and evaluating the vitals and progress of the patient
- Identifying the changes in the patient’s condition
- Monitoring dosage
- Creating and implementing the care plan for the patient
- Coordinating with doctors and other medical staff.
Since these nursing professionals need to spend time monitoring patients who are in critical condition, they will often make more than some of the other nursing positions on the list. ICU nurses can make an average of $140,000 a year.
Labor and Delivery Nurse
Many medical facilities are looking for a labor and delivery nurse professional to help them take care of new mothers and their babies. This can be a fun field to work in, helping out during an exciting, though sometimes scary, time in the life of the new mother. There are different specialties that the nursing profession can choose as well, adding more variety to the mix.
The amount that a labor and delivery nurse will be able to make will depend on their specialty, the number of years of experience they have, and where they choose to work. The labor and delivery nurse salary national average each year is $123,146.
Director of Nursing
A professional who works as a director of nursing will be responsible for supervising and leading a nursing or medical unit. They will have a lot of different responsibilities they need to keep up with including:
- Directing employees on daily tasks
- Coordinating resident and patient care plans
- Creating and implementing the necessary policies and procedures
- Hiring, training, and firing employees
- Creating and helping to maintain the administrative budget
- Make sure that the facility and all employees are compliant with all laws
This job is expected to see a job growth of8% a year and pays well too. This one will focus more on the management aspect of nursing rather than the care, though these professionals can still do a lot with the care of the patients. Many professionals in this career will be able to make a national salary of almost $91,000.
RN-Acute Care Nurse
You can also choose to work as an acute care nurse. This professional is going to be responsible for treating acute conditions in a patient including respiratory conditions and heart attacks. They will need to help the patient prepare for and then recover from some operations and other medical situations where the patient will need to get some critical care.
It is common for the acute nurse to specialize in one field over the others. This means they may work in cardiac care or surgery, oncology, or geriatric. They will work hard to check and monitor vital signs, provide medications to the patients, and will work with the medical team to track and record the progress of the patient at different intervals.
Since this is a very specialized part of nursing, many medical facilities are looking for nursing professionals to come and help them with it. Those who choose to take on this role will be able to make an average of over $88,000 a year.
Choosing the Right Nursing Career for You
There are many different types of nursing careers that you can choose from and all of them will provide you with rewarding work that you are sure to love. As you make some of your decisions about nursing, take a look at the in-demand careers above to find out which one is right for you!
