There are different types of nurses with different duties; Understanding what is nursing, also the nurse’s area of specialty depends on their level of education and what they specialized in while in college. Types of nurses vary in different regions, here are the type of nurses in US:
- Registered Nurse (RN) – these are nurses that have acquired a diploma or a degree. Registered nurses have a lot of experience garnered from the many years they have been in service, they also have passed board examination which every nurse must go through before they become qualified as a registered nurse. They supervise Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), nurse assistants and orderlies. See: How To Become A Registered Nurse RN
Their responsibility is to offer direct medical treatment and to recommend the necessary steps they should take in a patient and try to treat them. They also take care of injured and ill patients while at the same time providing technical and psychological knowledge to their patients and families.
- Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) – A licensed practical nurse should have 18 months experience and every time they wish to renew their license they should have passed National Board Examinations. The work of these nurses is to provide both complex and simple medical process with the supervision of a physician or registered nurse. They are allowed to administer and measure medication, keep record of various patients, to manage care, and they are also allowed to perform in case of an emergency situation since they possess the life saving skills.
- Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) – An LVN can perform either complicated or simpler jobs and must be working under the direction of an RN (Registered Nurse).
- Advance Practice Nurses, these are registered nurses that have advanced their education, skills and knowledge hence improving their practicing scope. Advance Practical Nurses are certified to be nurse midwifes, nurse anesthetists, allowed to perform primary health care, they can diagnose, give prescriptions, offer mental services to mental ill patients, and are allowed to train medical professionals and the public on various ways and means that they improve their immune system to avoid occasional sickness.
Be sure to check out our Houston Nursing Jobs RN LVN board while you’re here.
Other types of nurses are;
- Ambulatory care nurses are nurses that offer care and treatment to patients who stay in hospitals in less than 24 hours.
- Agency nurses are like part time nurses who only offer their services to a group of people at the agreed shift time.
- Cardiac care nurses in collaboration with the other medical staff works to intervene and stabilize a cardiac patient.
- Legal nurse, these are nurses who are well informed of the governing law and are aware on various nursing field. Legal nurses’ work with attorneys to check if there was any medical negligence on the patient in question.
- Emergency or EMT paramedic nurses who administer care to patients in a limited area. They work with other health professionals to administer treatment in these patients.
- HIV or aids nurses mandate is to provide health care and to council HIV aids patients.
- Holistic nurses work is provision of medical services to their patients while at the same time obeying the patient’s opinion, this could be patient’s values and health beliefs. Holistic nurse honors patient spiritual beliefs and offers them time to reflect on their daily health care.
- Geriatrics nurse’s man obligation is to care on elderly patients, taking care of them while in hospitals, their homes and even nursing homes.
