​Nurse Practioner

• Educational Requirements: To become an NP, one must be a registered nurse (RN), hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), complete an NP-focused graduate master's or doctoral nursing program and successfully pass a national NP board certification exam.

• Job Duties: Ordering, performing, and interpreting diagnostic tests such as lab work and X-rays, diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, and injuries, prescribing medications and other treatments, managing patients' overall care, and counseling

• Average Salary: $93,000-$180,000

• Fringe Benefits: Usually, it will include things like health insurance, life insurance, a retirement package, and time off. The amount of your health and life insurance that the employer pays for may vary as well as what type of insurance it is.

• Working Conditions: The work environment of a nurse practitioner can be quite stressful as they often have direct involvement with treating patients that are ill, injured, or experiencing an emergency.

• Advantages: Competitive pay, ability to improve and save lives, advocating for the patient, career advancement, comprehensive patient care, job satisfaction, nurse practitioners can specialize, effective provider, flexibility, flexible hours, improved access to healthcare, independence in procedures, interesting work environment, job security, opportunities, professional growth, promoting physical wellness, and traveling opportunity

• Disadvantages: Challenges of being a nurse practitioner include being on-call and working overtime. The long and unpredictable hours may negatively affect the nurse's family and social life. Unhappy nurse practitioners may experience burnout and dissatisfaction with their career choice.

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ER Nurse

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• Educational Requirements: Either an associate's degree in nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is required. It's also required to become licensed. This can be done by passing the NCLEX-RN exam. Emergency Room Nurses are required to have the same degree and certifications like any other registered nursing job. They must have a Bachelor degree in nursing and a state license. Additionally, certifications for BLS/CPR and ACLR are highly necessary in the Emergency Room. A clear distinction between an Emergency Room Nurse and RN is the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) certification.

• Certification of Licensing Requirements: All require an unrestricted RN license and certifcation by exam every four years. Recommended: Two years professional experience. Fee: $370 for initial exam, $340 for retest, $350 continuing education and recertification.

• Job Duties: Emergency Room Nurse is primarily responsible for developing a patient care plan after a quick and thorough evaluation of a patient’s injuries. Common responsibilities include bone setting, blood transfusions, wound care, medication administration, and much more. Demonstrates accurate assessment skills, appropriate to the patient's age, based on scientific facts and principles, performs and documents ongoing assessments including observation, physical examination, laboratory/test results, and patient response to procedural intervention, participates in the identification and clarification of patient needs, as evidenced by participation in multidisciplinary care planning, to achieve optimal patient outcomes implements, reviews and revises plan of care according to change in patient’s status, implements the plan of care according to identified physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs, prioritizes nursing interventions commensurate with patient’s needs, utilizes effective verbal and written communication skills through the presentation of pertinent information, coordinates, and documents appropriate discharge planning and referrals to ensure continuity of care after discharge, and shares knowledge and acts as a professional resource to other members of the health care team.

• Average Salary: $57,000-$121,000

• Fringe Benefits: Reduced or flexible hours, family medical leave, maternity & paternity leave, military leave, unpaid extended leave, and work from home.

• Working Conditions: The emergency room environment is fast-paced and highly stressful. ER nurses frequently encounter patients in critical condition, and they might be expected to work in ambulances from time to time. Both physical and mental demands on nurses are higher in the ER than in the general hospital.

• Advantages: As an ER nurse, you'll always be seeing something new, which means you'll regularly face new challenges and get to take on new tasks. Those new challenges and tasks come with the opportunity to learn new skills. Few other nursing careers give you so much experience in such a wide scope of injuries and illnesses.

• Disadvantages:  ER nurses and other staff members are routinely involved in stressful incidents, including resuscitation efforts and witnessing the deaths of patients. Working as a travel ER nurse can also be physically demanding, heightening stress levels.

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