Still doubtful about nursing as your next career step? Can’t blame you; choosing a nursing career for ourselves might seem challenging! Your skills and talents are key factors, but it’s also important to know which part of the nursing job is most promising when choosing a career path. Nursing jobs are always in demand because these jobs are the ones with the most hopeful growth in the industry!

Being around the patients and dealing with them calmly day after day during the tight working schedules can be very challenging. And nursing is not about being only helpful and compassionate but also being capable of administering the right medical care and making difficult decisions in the absence of doctors. If you are ready to boost your career in 2020, here are some vacancies employers are looking for this year!

1. Registered Nurse (RN)

The role of the registered nurse is to provide services to reduce illness, promote health, educate patients, and help patients recover from their health problems. And 2020 is a year for nurses who have completed their RN to BSN nursing program !

Responsibilities: As a registered nurse, your daily responsibilities would assess a patient's health needs and status: emotional, physical, and psychological and as well as record patients’ medical symptoms and histories. Observe patients and administer medicines and treatments to get them to recover fast. Setup health care plans for patients and educate them about their illness and health care plans.

2. Travel Nurse

It’s your chance to get paid to advance your career, hone your nursing skills, and make a difference all along with traveling all around the country. If this career sounds good to you, it’s time to give travel nursing a chance.

Responsibilities: Travel nurses are skilled health care professionals from various clinical backgrounds who work for independent staffing agencies or hospitals with short term staffing needs. Their assignments may vary from clinics to care for bedridden patients in their homes. Responsibilities would include educating families and caretakers of efficient health and medical care plans for the patient and as well as other registered nurse duties.

3. Emergency Nurse (ER)

As emergency cases like accidents and other medical emergencies are first bought here, ER nurses have to be quick and effective in their field, as the patients are in urgent need of medication.

Responsibilities: ER Nurses have to be quick decision-makers. They have to go under a wide range of situations, without taking much time, they’ll need to know how to treat a patient from their injuries to gastrointestinal or cardiovascular issues. ER Nurses have to face urgent, life-to-death situations on a daily basis, being able to work under pressure and heat of emergency is necessary.

4. Oncology Nurse

Oncology nurses care for all patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. It is challenging where nurses have to support the patient, family, and caregivers through the stages of diagnosis and treatment.

Responsibilities: Nurses working in the oncology department must be educated themselves with new technologies and treatments for cancer and must be detail-oriented to handle the complex medical administration. As an oncology nurse, you’ll have to counsel patients and family and have to help manage side effects, administer chemotherapy, and create treatment plans.

5. Pediatric Nurse

Pediatric nurses practitioner provide care to children from infants to adolescents. Their primary goal is to ensure all children develop and grow to their potential.

Responsibilities: Pediatric nurses can measure vital statistics, perform physical examinations, and administer diagnostic tests. As their bodies are growing and developing, children have special health care needs.

6. Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)

A Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) works under physicians and registered nurses and takes care of basic nursing duties in places such as nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and hospitals.

Responsibilities: LPN duties and responsibilities vary under the facilities they work with. In general, they assist doctors and registered nurses to monitor and record medical data, and as well as provide care for patients.

7. Nurse Practitioner (NP)

A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse who has additional duties and responsibilities for managing patient health care plans than a registered nurse.

Responsibilities: In some states, nurse practitioners have full practice authority, just like a physician has, and they can examine patients, diagnose health issues, prescribe medication, and provide treatment. Nurse practitioners will have an additional practical degree, and they are mastered in a specific area of medicine.

8. Medical-surgical Nurse

Medical-surgical nurses are specialized in taking care of patients who have been admitted with surgical, and non-surgical conditions. Med-Surg nurses work to prevent disease, promote health and help patients cope with their illness.

Responsibilities: Medical-surgical nurses have to take care of patients who are preparing for surgery, or patients who are recovering from surgical procedures and patients admitted with some cause of injury or illness. Patients in this unit need detailed monitoring and recording, and based on this collected data, med-surg nurses have to confirm whether they need to be transferred into a high-level unit or further medical operations.

9. Operating Room Nurse

Operating room nursing is where nurses assure the patient’s health before, during, and after their surgery. Moreover, an operating room nurse means being a team player, disciplined and focused on your work.

Responsibilities: Operating room nurses provide healthcare to patients who have scheduled for surgery and alleviate their concerns. And the operating room nursing duties would include performing patient assessments prior to and during the operative services, and ensuring all the materials and surgical equipment are ready in the operation room.

10. Home Health Nurse

One of the great benefits of choosing a nursing career is its wide range of career scope, including non-traditional work areas like home health care nursing. If you want more independence in your workspace, then choosing a home health nurse seems to be a good path.

Responsibilities: Home healthcare nurses work closely with patients in clinical homes or patient's homes. This includes feeding and bathing the patients, along with helping them to take medications to wound treatments, medicine, and massage. This may take long hours, and typically they may spend more time in the patient’s home.

The demand for nursing job opportunities are increasing day by day, as there are several career paths a nurse could choose. You can narrow down your employment search based on your skills and knowledge and the nursing field specialties that interest you. Now there are many nursing paths you could choose to make sure you’re receiving the right education and degree for your job, grasping required skills, knowledge, and certifications to giving a must-hire nurse perspective to employers.

Author's Bio: 

Keerthana is a freelance writer specializing in the health, career and education sector. She has been working with professionals covering the health, career and education industry for many years now. In addition, she also takes an interest in various SEO strategies.