Nursing - Career Outlook

The U.S. is experiencing an acute nursing shortage, that is projected to continue and become more acute over the next ten years. Consequently, nursing is among the hottest career opportunities in the country.

Driven by technological advances in patient care, employment opportunities for registered nurses are growing faster that the average for all occupations within the healthcare industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics named nursing among the five occupations projected to have the largest number of new jobs. The areas of home health, long-term and ambulatory care are expected to grow the fastest, but there will always be a need for hospital nurses.

Nurses outnumber every other group of providers on hospital staffs and are principal providers of patient care. They also deliver most of the nation's long-term care. Most healthcare services involve some form of care by nurses. As health care moves beyond the hospital, nurses are entering a wide range of other settings, such as:

• Private practice
• Health maintenance organizations
• Public health agencies
• Primary care clinics
• Home health care
• Nursing homes
• Outpatient surgical centers
• Insurance and managed care companies
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Schools
• Mental health agencies
• Hospices
• The military
• Industry
• Healthcare research
• Schools of Nursing

There are more than four times as many nurses as physicians in the United States. Nurses deliver a vast array of healthcare services, including primary and preventive care by advanced nurse practitioners for patients in all stages of life - pediatrics, family health, women's health, and gerontology. Nurses also offer care as certified nurse midwives and nurse anesthestists, as well as in cardiac, oncology, neonatal, neurological, obstetric/gynecological nursing, and other advanced clinical specialties.

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