Top 6 Rewarding Career Tracks with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
What can you do with a bachelor’s degree in nursing? Check out these top six rewarding career tracks you may qualify for with a nursing degree from Saint Leo University.
Nurses have the ability to help patients heal not just physically, but mentally as well. Their physical care helps wounds heal faster and aids in disease management and treatment. Their compassion and empathy also help patients through what are for some, the most difficult of times. That makes this a rewarding career path for anyone who wants to be a beacon of light and hope for people facing illness, injury, and disease—sometimes even death.
Another benefit of going into nursing is that you can choose from a variety of incredibly rewarding career paths. Here are a few that can all provide a satisfying career in nursing.
1. Staff Nurse
Hospitals hire staff nurses to take care of patients with non-life-threatening health issues, as well as those recovering from surgery. This might be a good career track for you if you don’t have a specific area of health and wellness that you’d like to specialize in, or if you don’t have a certain population that you’d like to administer nursing services to. In a staff nurse role, you get the opportunity to work with patients who have any number of health conditions or ailments, making this a good option for those who want to use their nursing degree in a more general way.
2. Emergency Room (ER) Nurse
If you like the idea of providing nursing services in a fast-paced environment, you might enjoy working in an emergency room. Patients come through the ER’s doors for simpler issues, such as cuts or broken bones, but also when experiencing life-threatening medical concerns, maybe after being in a major car accident or when suffering a heart attack. You’ll likely see a bit of everything as an ER nurse, offering the ability to utilize your skills in a variety of different areas.
3. Critical Care Nurse
Critical care nurses work with some of the most ill patients. Patients are placed in a critical care unit when they face severe health issues, which means that they need more advanced treatment and monitoring. Critical care nurses can be found in hospitals and other managed care centers, sometimes even in specialized units such as trauma, burns, or cardiac care.
4. Pediatric Nurse
Do you have a special place in your heart for children who are sick, injured, or battling a certain disease? Becoming a pediatric nurse may be the best way to use your bachelor’s degree in nursing. Hospitals, doctor’s offices, and urgent cares all employ pediatric nurses. Depending on where you work, you may even be able to work with children of a certain age, from newborn babies all the way up to late teens.
5. Psychiatric Nurse
Another way to use your nursing degree is to go into behavioral health. Psychiatric nurses help care for patients who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Some addiction treatment facilities also employ psychiatric nurses since there is typically a physical and mental component to dealing with these types of issues. Caring for psychiatric patients often requires different strategies and approaches, making this career track ideal for someone who is up to the challenge while still showing their patients care and compassion.
6. Public Health Nurse
Not everyone has access to quality healthcare. As a public health nurse, your role would be to help change this. Public health nurses help educate communities and lawmakers about health issues facing populations of people, advocating for changes that provide these populations greater access to the healthcare services they need. Governments of all levels hire public health nurses, as do schools and correctional facilities.
Do You Still Need Your Nursing Degree?
If you are interested in one of these career tracks but don’t yet have your nursing degree, Saint Leo University offers a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree program.
The “simple to complex” teaching approach begins with providing the foundation needed to work as a professional nurse. Next, students receive more advanced instruction in certain areas of nursing, giving you a more in-depth knowledge base from which to draw on as you step into your desired nursing career path.
Why get your nursing degree from Saint Leo? Our nursing students enjoy the ability to practice what they learn via access to labs, simulations, preceptorships, and by providing hands-on care in clinical settings. Graduates from our nursing program are also eligible to sit for the National Council of State Board of Nursing Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).
Contact our admissions office today to learn more or to enroll. You can reach us at (800) 334-5532 or by completing our online form. Our enrollment counselors and advisors look forward to hearing from you and discussing how we can help you begin your career in nursing.