Have you ever wondered what a psychiatric nurse does or are you interested in becoming one? Well, the truth is that what they do is not well understood by the general public. But if you have had some mental problems or was close to someone with the same then you know how indispensable these professionals are. They are trained to handle a myriad of mental illnesses affecting millions of people around the world.

As a patient or someone interested in the nursing psychiatry, there are things you should know. It helps to have some knowledge in such a field since it’s very crucial to the health sector.

Contents:

• Psychiatric Nurse Job Description
• How to Become a Psychiatric Nursing Professional
• Qualities of Psychiatric Nurses
• Psychiatric Nurse Salary
• Areas of Specialization
• Where to Work
• Job Outlook
• Is This a Worthwhile Career Path?

Psychiatric Nurse Job Description

It is in everyone’s interest to know what this kind of a nurse does. Here is a brief of what someone specialized as nursing psychiatric would do on a daily basis:

• Intervening in crisis and offering counselling. Most times mental conditions are traumatic and they will need professional intervention for the patient and family to handle it. A nursing practitioner comes in at such a time to offer the needed help and directions.
• Managing therapeutic environments at the place of work. Recuperating patients will need an ample environment if they have the chance to get back to good health. This nurse has the duty to ensure that kind of environment is available at the nursing institution they work.
• Monitor and administer treatments. The progress of patients will determine whether the kind of treatment chosen is working or not. Psychiatric nurses keep an eye on the progress of medication and when needed offer a change of treatment as necessitated by the prevailing conditions.
• Assessment of mental health needs. Before someone is put under mental medication, a psychiatric professional has to assess him/her and give the way forward.
• Be part of the nursing team to develop nursing care plans. Their experience and education make them valuable members of the nursing fraternity and their input is sought when developing care plans.
• Linking patients and families to effective health care providers. They know where mental patients can get the best treatment. They help families to access the best facilities for their loved ones.
• Keeping medical documents and records. They ensure that patients’ records are safe for future references. Such records are crucial to establishing the history of illness and thus lead to future success in treating such people.
• Consulting with psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians to determine the best course of action for a particular medical case.

This list is not exhaustive of what psychiatric nurses do, it may vary from one institution to another but the deviation is not far from what you have here.

How to Become a Psychiatric Nursing Professional

There is a long way before you become a psychiatric nursing professional. There is the education bit and getting the licence of practice. Here is what it takes to be a qualified nurse in the psychiatric field:

• Education: this is an advanced nursing portfolio and you should have a bachelor’s degree in nursing. You will undertake both class and practical lessons associated with the nursing profession. You will later learn of the various areas of specialization you can choose as you advance in your education. You can also go for a bridging course if you have an associate’s degree. In some colleges and schools, those with a degree in another field undertake an accelerated nursing degree and you can choose the psychiatric path. It is advisable that you choose an accredited school. To help in this, both the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) have online directorates to search for appropriate schools. Besides, ensure that the school you choose is approved by the state board of nursing.
• Training: there is a threshold of hours of training that you should have under your belt before you are qualified as a nurse in psychiatry. By the time you sit for the RN-BC exam you should have clocked 2,000 hours of hands-on practice in a mental care institution for the past 3 years. You should also have 2 years’ experience as a full-time registered nurse (RN).
• Getting licensed and certified: you must be certified by the board of the state you are working as a nurse. Each state has its own criteria of certification but what cuts through all the states is licensing of nurses. You must sit and pass National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to be licensed as a nurse.
• Advancing in capacity/position: there is always a room for advancement and you have to further your education. Psychiatric nurses who wanted to become administrators or managers should take master’s degree. You should also show exemplary leadership skills before you get the nod to earn a leadership position.

Qualities of Psychiatric Nurses

Beyond the nursing education and training, you will need other personal qualities to be a successful nurse in this field. Here are soft attributes that will make you a better candidate in this choice of career:

• Ability to work in collaborative situations. Most of the times you will have to work in a team and this will require skills to deal with others for a common goal.
• Excellent intervention and communication skills. More often, patients will be brought to you in serious conditions. Your intervention skills will come in handy in helping such patients. Your communication skills will help in handling tense situations and keeping patients and their family at ease as you take care of the situation.
• Passion in working with behavioral and mental disorders. These will be your daily cases to deal with. You have to be someone who is interested in them to deal with such disorders and your time at work will be well spent.
• Impeccable judgement skills. The life of a patient is at your hands and any erroneous decision will be disastrous. You have to be someone who makes the right diagnosis and offers the most appropriate treatment.
• Compassionate to patients and their families. It is not an easy task to deal with mental disorders. They are critical and a compassionate nurse will be a lot of help.

You are now privy to the information about what a psychiatric nurse does. You also know what it takes to become one. What remains are the nitty gritties like salaries, specialization and what the future has in store for you if you choose this career path. For starters, this is a good career choice as you will see in all the information provided here.

Psychiatric Nurse Salary

It is true that nursing is among the best professions not only in the US but also the world over. This easily explains why many students, as well as professionals, prefer a career in nursing. Before getting to the actual figures earned by psychiatric nurses in an hour or yearly, let’s look at the factors that are used to set their salaries:

• Education: the higher education qualification you have the higher you will earn per hour and annually. A nursing psychiatry with bachelor’s degree in nursing will earn less than a colleague with masters’ or PhD.
• Experience: there are those who have been in the profession for years and have garnered experience that can be relied on. These individuals get heftier pay than their junior colleagues who have just joined the profession. For instance, a fresh graduate will get less as compared to someone who has 5 or 10 years of practice.
• Place and location of work: depending on the institution you will find a nursing job, your salary will be dictated by the set policies. There are institutions that have strictly set austerity measures and hence your salary will be at the threshold level. What you earn will also be affected by the state where you have found the job. For instance, California, Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska are the best places to work as a nursing professional. On the other hand, the worst paid nurses are in the states of Louisiana, West Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky.

Those are the determinants of the salary you will receive at the end of the day as a nurse psychiatric. So, what exact figures should be hoping to take home at the end of the day?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a registered nurse (under which a psychiatric falls) gets a minimum of $45,880 and a maximum of $98,880 per year. Of course, the above-discussed factors will come into play when determining your final paycheck. In 2007, psychiatric nurses took home a median annual salary of $62,480. That sum has grown over the years and in 2013 it stood at $68,910. However, in 2013, there are states that paid nurses way better than the median salaries as posted by BLS. California paid RNs an annual salary of $96,980, followed by Hawaii, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Oregon that paid annual salaries of $85,380, $83,720, $83,640, and $80,440 respectively. According to payscale, a level-entry nursing psychiatric makes $25 each hour while those on the upper tier make $44 per hour. This is way above most of the other nursing specializations.

Areas of Specialization

There are areas of specialization in which psychiatric nurses can choose to be their specific area of knowledge. This does not mean that you cannot perform the general duties that may come your way but it means that this is the area where you have deep knowledge. The most popular areas of specialization include:

• Forensic nurses: when accidents and other injury-causing incidents happen, forensic nurses should be at the scene to help with information that would later be crucial to treating victims. They help determine the kind of treatment that someone needs and they also recommend on health care facilities where mental patients can get the best care.
• Adolescent and child specialist: such a nurse will be expected to deal with mental and behavioral cases of children and those in their adolescence. They should come up with care plans to ensure that this lot receives the best attention in case of mental problems.
• Substance abuse nurses: as you know, substance abuse will lead to mental problems. When it gets chronic, victims will need care that will help them get back to their health. Nurses specialized in this niche will prescribe the best medication and a change of behavior. They help those affected stop using drugs and other harmful substances.
• Eating disorders: some other mental disorders will affect eating habits of people. They will need a specialist to help them eat. This is a very crucial aspect in helping mental patients get back to their health.
• Consultation nurses: as one advances their experience and education in psychiatric nursing, their expertise will be sought from time to time. As said earlier, nursing is a collaborative profession and here it is where that comes to a full meaning.

Where to Work

It would be right to say that nurses have massive job opportunities since both health and non-health institutions need them. So, where would you work as a nursing psychiatric?

• Hospitals: this is the number one of nursing professionals in the US. Approximately 25-30% of the entire US nurse population works in hospitals both private and public.
• Mental health centers: these are institutions specifically aiming at mental illnesses. This is where psychiatric nurses would find a job directly related to their specialization.
• Schools: learning institutions will need the services of nurses and such one they will invest is in a psychiatrist nurse.
• Correctional facilities: incarceration does not deny prisoners the right to medical care. They will still need nurses to attend to their needs.

Job Outlook

Generally looking at the nursing field, job growth and the industry’s expansion is inevitable. The BLS cited credible studies that in overall, nursing careers will see a growth of 22% between 2012 and 2022. By 2013, there were 2,661,890 RNs so it means that by 2022 there will be approximately 0.5 million vacancies for new nurses. The growth and expansion do not include those who retire each year so the figures for vacancies will be higher than what is projected here. For anyone who wants to get a job right after graduating, nursing is such an attractive option. The projected growth has been witnessed so far and everything points to a bright future for those seeking nursing jobs.

You already have made up your mind whether to become a psychiatric nurse or not but there are a few things you should know to help you understand the profession better:

Things you should know about psychiatric nurse job:

• It is a rewarding career: all the nursing fields are rewarding but psychiatric nursing is way better than most of the other options. You will have the independence to make your decisions and that is something other nurses would want in their daily duties. As you have seen, these nurses earn handsome salaries thus they are financially independent.
• Your communication skills, patience and flexibility will be tested: to be honest, this is a high pressure working environment. Things will be calm this moment but the next one will feel like the world is turning upside down. You have to adapt to these abrupt changes and you will make a good profession. The good thing is that your skills will be strengthened every day and you will become a better professional and person each day.
• Nursing psychiatric are different from general psychiatric, psychologists and social workers: for someone who does not have a deeper understanding of the nursing psychiatric specialty, it is easy to confuse them with these other closely related areas and nursing professionals. They overlap in some duties but they are as different as day is from the night. The major difference is that a nurse psychiatric can prescribe medication while the others cannot.
• You need balance: there is a strong temptation to become too attached to the patients. They are people who need special care and your compassion and human pity may take over your emotions. However, you should draw a line between your duties and the human compassion. It is right to feel pity for your patients giving in to such will not do any good to the patients and you.
• It gives you the experience to become a better caregiver: as you deal with mental conditions, you will notice that life is fragile. It teaches on how better to handle stressing situations and you become as better professional. The experience lasts forever.

Is This a Worthwhile Career Path?

What would you want in a career: good money, independence at the work place and something that makes you better every day? If this is you then this is a career path that you should not think twice about taking it. As credible statistics show, the field is expanding in terms of vacancies. You will not search for a job for long and that is one thing that many students would look for as they choose their nursing course. Everything points to a successful career if you become a nursing psychiatric so be assured of a fulfilling profession if you make the choice.

Now you know all there is about a psychiatric nurse. You know what you need to become one, where to get jobs and where to work. It is a rewarding career path as long as this is your passion. Welcome to the world of nursing and regularly visit this website for latest update about this prestigious profession.

If you are interested in a challenging career in nursing, PRN may be worth your try. It is a Latin term standing for Pro re nata loosely translated into English as “whenever demand arises”. But if you have never heard of this area, you should not be worried for here is all that you should know.

Contents:

• Who is a PRN Nurse?
• What Is Entailed In PRN Nursing?
• PRN Work Schedule
• Working Conditions of PRN Nurses
• Requirements to PRN Nurses
• PRN Nursing Jobs
• PRN Nurse Operandi Mode
• PRN Nursing Salary
• PRN Nursing: In-Depth Analysis
• Area of Specialization of PRN Nurses
• Benefits of PRN Career 
• Drawbacks of PRN Career
• Where to Work as a PRN Nurse?
• PRN Job Outlook

Who is a PRN Nurse?

PRN nurse takes a shot at an accessible if the need arises, makeshift premise, filling in for attendants on leave or giving extra help when admission rates rise. Some work for attendant staffing organizations and might fill in at an alternate clinic every day, while others work for a doctor’s facility or social insurance framework, drifting between offices or departments as required.

What Is Entailed In PRN Nursing?

• It is about being a medical caretaker in a family run, free administration supplier.
• Their point is to help individuals live as autonomously as could be expected under the circumstances in their own particular homes, empowering them to make the most of their way of life to its maximum capacity.
• They give an extensive variety of home care after individuals with an assortment of various needs including household errands, shopping, general help at home or fellowship for get-togethers or human services visits.
• PRN Nursing gives a bespoke consideration administration to grown-ups of all ages living at home or in the neighborhood group. They give a wide assortment of services going from household help to complex care needs, whether short or long haul.
• One of the ways PRN accomplish this point is to receive a multi-disciplinary way to deal with group cooperation by working cooperatively with GPs, District Nurses, Community Psychiatric Nurses and Hospice Nurses. By taking this course, the desires of the client stay of central significance.
• Notwithstanding this, PRNs know it is not only the individual client who needs support. They perceive that close relations of the client may require further backing, whether passionate or down to earth, and plan to be available to give this backing as and when it might be important.

PRN Work Schedule

Assignments for PRN medical caretakers may last just a day or up to a few weeks, contingent upon why they’ve been brought in. In the event that they’re filling in for an attendant on maternity leave, the task could most last for a few weeks, yet in the event that they’re rounding in for somebody who’s out wiped out, they may just work a day or two.

They can regularly pick the sort of work routine that works best for them, settling for one day only or two days a week or just tackling short-or long haul assignments enduring a few weeks. On account of the adaptability and the appeal for their administrations, they can frequently set their own timetables, picking assignments that work around their kids’ needs, for instance.

Working Conditions of PRN Nurses

PRN medical caretakers may work at various offices or in various units consistently and must have the capacity to rapidly change in accordance with new obligations, strategies, and associates. Attendants who work for an office may have assignments at healing centers in different geographic areas, offer various administrations and work under fundamentally distinctive strategies.

Medical attendants can likewise sign on with a clinic’s pool of outlay attendants, so while they may work in various divisions and have distinctive obligations every day, they profit by recognizable situations in which they know the strategies, hones and perhaps huge numbers of their colleagues.

Requirements to PRN Nurses

Most organizations and doctor’s facilities require PRN medical caretakers to have RN licenses, and staffing offices have strict necessities, including phenomenal references and qualifications and one year of basic consideration experience, as per Nursevillage.com. They likewise regularly require drug testing and current vaccinations. Offices may likewise regulate competency tests to figure out whether medical attendants have the learning and experience to rapidly adjust to new circumstances.

PRN Nursing Jobs

PRN programs offer positions for representatives to deal with an “as-required premise.” These positions are provisional job so you normally get no advantages. Numerous projects are set up to permit attendants and other restorative experts, for example, word related specialists, drug store professionals, clinical dietitians and phlebotomists who work routine set of expenses to pick how long they need to function every month.

Routine set of expenses representatives who are available to come back to work frequently are reached finally to fill in. Not all PRN assignments are available to come back to work. Now and then you can get short- or long-haul interim assignments obliging you to work low maintenance or full-time hours.

PRN Nurse Operandi Mode

Healing facilities frequently depend on routine set of expenses representatives when the ordinary staff can’t meet the present workload because of a startling or sudden lack of staff. Albeit a few healing facilities contract routine set of expenses workers straightforwardly, others experience staffing offices. PRN positions offer work to representatives who need adaptable timetables that permit them to pick their own hours. Different people use routine set of expenses work as an approach to pick up experience while they hunt down a changeless position. Some individuals work routine set of expenses occupations notwithstanding standard all day job to acquire extra pay.

PRN Nursing Salary

Normal PRN pay rates for employment postings across the nation are 19% higher than normal pay rates for all occupation posts.

PRN employments frequently pay more than full-time nursing positions, It offers flexibility and financial rewards. Offices ordinarily offer higher rates than healing centers. Numerous organizations offer advantage bundles including medical coverage to retirement anticipate attendants who acknowledge a base number of movements every week, and some compensation PRN nurture quickly taking after every movement they work. A few clinics likewise offer advantages bundles for PRN nurture that focus on working a specific number of movements every week in the office’s routine set of expenses nursing pool.

PRN staffing positions pay more since occupation assignments are variable. You may get higher pay to remunerate you for not getting advantages. Be that as it may, in the event that you are utilized by a staffing organization and work a specific number of hours every month, you may get advantages.

Outlay medical attendants who work through medical caretaker staffing offices can gain $30-$40 every hour. Medical caretakers who work overnight move or in a claim to fame field may procure more. Nurses who work in clinics ordinarily acquire more than the individuals who work in nursing homes, home wellbeing administrations or doctor workplaces.

PRN Nursing: In-Depth Analysis

You are presently aware of the information about what a PRN nurse does. You additionally recognize what it takes to wind up one. What remain are the specialization and what the future has in store for you on the off chance that you pick this vocation way. For one thing, this is a decent profession decision as you will find in all the data gave here.

More so if you want to work as you will and when job arises this is the chance for you. There are benefits as well as challenges once you choose this as your choice as a nurse. But it would be important that you get as much information as possible to ensure that you are making the right decision.

It’s difficult to arrange your life or your financial plan around PRN work, unless you’re the person who chooses when and how regularly to function, yet there are additional advantages to working PRN.

Area of Specialization of PRN Nurses

There are zones of specialization in which a PRN Nurse can be their particular range of information. This doesn’t imply that you can’t perform the general obligations that may come your direction, however, it implies this is the region where you have profound information. The most prominent ranges of specialization incorporate:

• Give proficient nursing consideration to occupants, taking after set up office strategies and methodology.
• Help chiefs in consideration and administration of the unit and giving quality consideration.
• Help with actualizing inhabitant care arrangements and strategies.
• Guarantee correspondence with family in case of a patient exchange to healing center or post intense office.
• Guarantee fitting documentation of pharmaceutical errors.
• Diagram Compliance Reviews.
• Check rooms routinely to protect occupants are being given the consideration asked.
• Delegate obligation as expected to nurse faculty.
• Oversee direct inhabitant care work force in the unit.
• Guarantee that the individual nursing care arrangement is taken after.
• Guarantee that a duplicate of the medicinal record or a theoretical of it is sent to the exchange of inhabitant.
• Guarantee that medications secured by the Controlled Substances Act are evident by stock.
• Guarantee fitting demolition of drugs.

Benefits of PRN Career

To the extent exacting banquet, for example, paid time off or wiped out time, you most likely can’t expect either when you work PRN. There are special cases; a few organizations will give you get-away time after you work a specific number of hours every year for them.

In any case, one advantage of working PRN is that you likewise don’t need to ask and argue for a considerable length of time off; you simply don’t answer the telephone when you perceive the healing facility’s telephone number on your guest ID.

Another advantage of PRN is that you, as a rule, gain more for every hour than you would be working a staff position, and if the healing facility is frantic to fill an opening, you may win time-and-a-half or even twofold time for coming in.

There are a few things to consider when choosing your next job opportunity.

Being in the opportune spot at the perfect time can help you land a healing center position. On the off chance that you deal with a unit in a PRN employment, you’re as of now a well-known face. Your hard working attitude – ideally a decent one – is now known.

When it’s an ideal opportunity to contract somebody for low maintenance or full-time position, your name may come up as an applicant. Since you’re as of now a clinic representative, you may likewise have entry to employment postings first.

Drawbacks of PRN Career

The downside to PRN is triple: the absence of a predictable compensation, the likelihood of working moves nobody else needs, for example, night shift and the absence of advantages. In the event that you are let go from a PRN employment or should be off work for an expanded time, you likewise aren’t typically qualified for unemployment or incapacity pay.

It’s additionally troublesome now and again not to be a piece of the standard staff, despite the fact that in the event that you take a shot at one unit much of the time and become more acquainted with everybody; you may feel extremely good working PRN. In case you’re always tossed into new units, it can be uncomfortable – and you’re liable to get the assignments nobody else needs.

Where to Work as a PRN Nurse?

In case you’re searching for an all-day work in the doctor’s facility and can’t discover one, a PRN employment can help you get your foot in the entryway. If your employment is PRN, it implies you just work when they require you.

As a PRN worker, you may work entirely “accessible if the need arises,” to be accessible as required when there is a staff lack or a crisis. On the other hand, you can contract with an office to work a specific number of hours consistently or month, despite the fact that not generally that days or hours.

PRN Job Outlook

• There are upsides and downsides to each occupation. While there are some weaknesses to filling in as a routine set of expenses medical caretaker, the employment is perfect for some individuals. More seasoned attendants who need to stay utilized, however, can no more work an entire day, for instance, or a youthful mother with youngsters may discover there are numerous points of interest of working PRN.
• Work of PRN medical caretakers is anticipated to grow 19% soon, speedier than the normal for all occupations. Development will happen for various reasons, including an expanded accentuation on precaution care; developing rates of perpetual conditions, for example, diabetes and corpulence; and interest for social insurance administrations from the person born after WW2 populace, as they live more and more dynamic lives.
• Additionally, there is more monetary weight on doctor’s facilities to turn out patients when they can. This will build the quantities of individuals who should be sent to long haul care offices and outpatient care focuses. So it is intelligent that there will be solid employment development for medical attendants in those associations.

Whenever it comes to choosing careers, a pediatric nurse would be such a great choice. After all, many people find the nursing career attractive. But before you make the decision, you should be privy to what you are walking into. Information is power and this article will empower you with all that you may wish to know about pediatrics starting from the known to unknown for easy comprehension.

Contents:

• Who is a pediatric nurse?
• Training in the United States
• Eligibility
• Optional certifications
• Roles of a pediatric nurse
• Areas of specialization for pediatric nurses
• Common child diseases you need to be aware of
• Where will you work?
• Salary expectation
• Pediatric affiliated organizations
• Crucial sources of information

Who is a pediatric nurse?

A pediatric nurse provides health care to children right from the time they are born to the level of becoming young teenagers. It is a diversified field and you may have to specialize in one or 2 areas. A newborn would require special care which is different from what an adult would need. A child is just beginning to develop and it will need maximum attention to growing and developing without any life-threatening conditions. Their needs and anatomies are different thus they face a variety of health issues which would need instant attention for them to become strong adults.

It is not just everyone who would become a nurse in the field of pediatrics because there are prerequisites on a personal and general level. These attributes include:

• A good communicator. You will require excellent communicational skills to understand a newborn and a parent who may be in pain.
• Patience. You require patience to give a few-months-old baby what he may need.
• Genuine love for children. Since you will be dealing with them all of your time, you must be loving them.
• Deep understanding of health issues that affect young children. It would be in vain if you do not have well-founded information and knowledge on healthy problems and needs of the young ones.
• Friendliness and cheerfulness. Children are easily scared and if you are ever serious and unwelcoming this may not be your thing.

Training in the United States

Your childhood passion is not enough to make you a nurse working with children; you need 4 or so years of intensive training to start your path towards that goal. Besides your registered nurse (RN) license, you also need to sit and pass the Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN) exam which is a true reflection of your expertise and knowledge. To get the RN licensure; you may be a holder of diploma, a degree or higher degree, BSN or MSN and each of them should be accompanied by a minimum of 1800 hours as a pediatric practitioner. In the U.S. slightly above 20,000 nurses have the CPN certification. It is compulsory that you take further training in child care which forms the basis to the daily work for you.

The training is composed of formal education and clinical practice garnered during school and afterwards. For the undergraduate, there are 2 options towards becoming a pediatric practitioner:

• Bachelors of science (shortened as BSN); this course takes 4 years and thus prepares students for their RN exams. The topics are offered on a broad basis in the pediatric nursing field and the supporting areas such as ethics and good communication. Most of the students here already hold their RN qualification on their way to CPN registration and practice.
• Associate of science (ASN) is a 2-year program that is the initial preparation to a career in nursing. It is a foundation course to the nursing field and covers areas such as diseases, human anatomy, and the spread of disease from hosts to real victims. Some other areas covered include oral communication and psychology.

Eligibility

Even after training, you will not count yourself as fully qualified to become a pediatric practitioner. That is why we began by saying that it is a career for the passionate ones. There is a legibility criterion that must be met and here is the breakdown:

1. Active and current RN license within a state or a territory of the U.S.
2. For the international pediatric practitioners, you will require a legally recognized document in the country you choose for your practice.
3. Have practiced for 2 years as a registered nurse and it should be full time.
4. For the last 3 years, you should have at least 2,000 hours in a pediatric nursing field.
5. For the last 3 years, you should have had 30 hours of continued nursing education within a pediatric nursing field.

With all these requirements met, you are eligible to become a pediatric practitioner and enjoy the career you have always dreamt about since your childhood.

Optional certifications

To be super qualified, which is something you may need to be competitive, you should take additional certifications which are not compulsory. Here are 2 such certifications for your consideration;

• Pediatric Nurse Credential
• Pediatric Nurse CE’s

Roles of a pediatric nurse

So now you are qualified to be a pediatric practitioner in whatever specialization you have chosen. Your next question will be what roles are you expected to do. Here are some of the chief duties which may come your way in your place of work;

• Child immunizations. Children have to be kept safe from early development diseases and conditions. It is your duty to give them these immunizations at the right time. It is detrimental if they are not given during the appropriate time and right dosage.
• Medicine prescription. Once in a while, children get common ailments just like the rest of us. They will need medication for such diseases. Their dosage is not what would be appropriate for an adult. This is a tricky balance and your expertise comes to test during such procedures.
• Screening and diagnosis. Before any treatment is given to a child, screening and diagnosis should be done thoroughly. This is the first step before you can prescribe any medication.
• Conducting physicals. Sometimes you will be required to make a physical examination and tell whether there is a problem with a child. It requires a keen eye and knowledge to make such an examination without the help of any test tools.
• Guidance and counseling. As much as you are trained to deal with child cases, their parents are also under your docket. You will be required to give them professional guidance on how to give the optimum care to their child. That is why in the general nursing course you studied psychology and oral communication that come in handy at such matters as this.

Areas of specialization for pediatric nurses

The work of a pediatric practitioner is not in any way a one-dimensional task; it is composed of parts and parcels and you definitely will not be a master of all of them. That is why you will have to choose an area of specialization. It has to be a choice that you feel competent and passionate about. For your review, here are areas you can choose:

• Pediatric oncology nurse
• Early care pediatrics
• Acute care pediatric nurse
• General care pediatric practitioner
• Maternity pediatric nurse

Common child diseases you need to be aware of

As stated earlier on, knowledge on child health issues is very crucial. The diseases you may come across every now and then include:

• Measles
• Tetanus
• Smallpox
• Diphtheria
• Influenza
• Hepatitis
• Chickenpox
• Mumps

Where will you work?

It is a common question to ask about the places where you expect to get a job once you are an eligible pediatric nursing practitioner. Generally, you will get a job in health facilities that offer medical care to babies, children, and young teens. Public hospitals, private clinics, nursing homes, and social service agencies are places you may consider beginning your career.

Salary expectation

Well, nobody would want to work for peanuts and that is why you may be interested in what you are to expect as a qualified pediatric practitioner. Your salary may not be cut-dry in whichever institution you may find work since there are differences in remuneration in each one of them. In annual average, the median salary for a practicing pediatric is $ 660, 640 for those with RN qualification and $102, 670 for those with NP qualification.

Pediatric affiliated organizations

Many professionals have affiliated organizations which support and ensure standards are maintained. The Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) is the overall quality and standardization body but it is supported by other organizations which include:

• Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN)
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• National Association of Pediatric Nursing Practitioner (NAPNAP)
• Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (AFPNP)
• Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON)
• Institute of Pediatric Nursing (IPN)
• North Pediatric Cardiology Nurses Association (NPCNA)

Crucial sources of information

You may be a certified pediatric practitioner which is the major hurdle to cross. But to be abreast with new trends with your areas of specialization you will need to inject new information from time to time. Where can you get credible information on pediatric nursing?

• Pediatric nursing journal
• Journal of pediatric nursing

Both of these journals contain authoritative information in this field and a copy would be adequate to keep you informed and bolster your efficiency and effectiveness.

It is a general phenomenon that the need for nurses will keep ballooning. Projections show that in the next decade, the need for pediatric nurses will almost double. Your training and experience will get you the job you want. Are you ready now to become a pediatric nurse? You have all that you need to know and it is a good preparation for what you may find ahead. Even for those who are already practicing, they may need a review of what they are expected to do. Good luck with pursuing your dream career.

Personal care assistants, also known as personal care attendants, or caregivers (individually known as a PCA), are persons who are employed to aid those who are disabled, chronically ill, mentally ill and those with additional health care needs. They also assist the elderly people to complete the tasks of basic living such as dressing them in the morning and preparing their meals. They are, therefore, an important part of the home healthcare team. Over the past few decades, the career of a PCA nurse has gained popularity because, without the assistance of a personal care attendant, many of these disabled and mentally ill people would not manage to go about their daily tasks.

For anyone who wants to know what is a personal care aide and if they can actually benefit from their services need to clearly understand the necessary certifications and license the PCA’s should have, the responsibilities required skill level and training the caregivers should have. So if you are thinking of pursuing the career path of a PCA which is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling career paths, keep reading to find out what the career entails and has to offer.

Contents:

• Who Can Make a Good PCA?
• Personal Care Assistant (PCA) Career Overview
• Personal Care Assistant (PCA) Career Options
• How Much Do Personal Care Assistants Make? — A PCA Salary
• Average PCA Salary vs. Other Best Nursing Jobs
• How to Become a PCA?
• PCA Educational Requirements
• PCA Training
• PCA Certification/Licensure
• Completion
• Important Qualities to Becoming a PCA
• What Are the Benefits of Becoming a PCA?
• What Are Some of the Challenges a PCA Faces?
• Career Prospects of a PCA

Who Can Make a Good PCA?

However, this career is not just for anyone. You need to have compassion, ability to be very understanding and patient and have a strong interest in caring for others if you want to pursue this career. This is because the job can be both physically and emotionally demanding. For instance, sometimes a personal care attendant must move and lift patients or even work with patients suffering from communicable diseases. Additionally, personal care aides are sometimes hired to care for patients suffering from mental health impairments and may become quite violent with them.

Personal Care Assistant (PCA) Career Overview

Personal care aides can work in a variety of settings where their services are required due to an aging and/or a disabled population. Some work in patient homes, large-scale care communities, small residential facilities or group homes to help patients with common tasks such as grooming and using toilet facilities, cooking, bathing as well as dressing. They provide care to people of any age, from children with disabilities to the elderly.

Their other duties include helping the clients make and keep appointments with physicians, checking the patient’s vital signs, providing or arranging transportation, serving as a companion for their patients and ensuring they take their medicine. Basic housekeeping is also important in order to provide a clean and safe environment.

In addition, these professional caregivers also help with tasks related to ADLs and can also complete other basic nursing tasks but only under the supervision of a registered or licensed nurse. However, most personal care attendants work for private clients, agencies or home health providers that offer services to senior citizens and the disabled.

In day-to-day activities, a PCA will normally work alone but will have to report to a registered nurse. They typically work in shifts of eight or twelve hours, including weekend shifts and overnight shifts. According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most personal care attendants worked full-time in 2014, but two out of five worked part time.

Personal Care Assistant (PCA) Career Options

Career advancements for personal care aides are limited. An experienced personal care assistant may choose to work as a self-employed PCA with no supervisory instruction, or his or her own care agency. In such a case, a PCA may find his or her own clients, arrange the working schedules and set their own fees. Additionally, one can also choose to advance their career by entering into training in order to become a registered nurse or a nursing aide.

On the other hand, there are different types of personal care aides which include:

• Home health aides
• Nursing aide
• Medical assistant
• Physical therapist assistants

How Much Do Personal Care Assistants Make? — A PCA Salary

According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal care aides in the year 2010 made a median income of $20,170 per year or $9.70 per hour. Fortunately, the median salary increased to $20,440 in 2014 which was approximately $9.83 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The best-paid PCA, however, made around $27,910 and the lowest $16,580 that same year. In the year 2015, there was also an increase in the median annual salary for personal care attendants.

In May 2015, the median annual salary was $20,980 with the lowest paid making less than $16,910 and the highest making more than $28,620. In the same year, the median annual salaries for personal care assistants in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:

• Home health care services — made around $19,130
• Developmental and residential intellectual disability, substance abuse and mental health facilities — made around $22,150
• Persons with disabilities and services for the elderly — made around $21,070

Geographic location is the biggest factor affecting PCA salary followed by years of experience. However, state governments usually tend to compensate personal caregivers the best. The highest earning in the personal care assistant industry work in the metropolitan areas which include some places like:

• Bismarck, North Dakota — Average salary is $28,820
• Anchorage, Alaska – Average salary is $30,510
• Barnstable Town, Massachusetts – Average salary is $28,400
• Kingston, New York — Average salary is $28,010
• Fairbanks, Alaska — Average salary is $27,900

Additionally, personal care attendants with less than five years of experience earn a median pay of around $21,000. Those with five to ten years of experience, on the other hand, can expect to take home around $22,000 on average while those with ten years plus of experience also earn an average salary of around $22,000. However, seasoned personal care assistants with more than two decades of relevant experience can expect to enjoy a median pay of about $23,000.

Average PCA Salary vs. Other Best Nursing Jobs

With an average salary of around $20, 440 in 2014, a PCA earned a comparable salary to home health aides who at $22,400 made about $1960 more. However, personal care attendants don’t make as much money as most other health care and nursing jobs in the industry. For instance, medical assistants made around $31,220, nursing aides took home $26,250 while physical therapist assistants made around $54,330.

How to Become a PCA?

If you are thinking of joining this career field and want to learn how to become a personal care aide, there are several requirements you need to meet in order to do so. Having completed these requirements, you open yourself up to extensive job listings and the ability to work just about anywhere in the country. These requirements include:

PCA Educational Requirements

For starters, PCAs are not subject to specific educational requirements. You don’t need a high school diploma or even a formal education to become a PCA. However, having at least a high school diploma or equivalent (GED) can give you an advantage over other personal care assistants who do not.

PCA Training

Although there is no actual educational requirements and federal training requirements, there are some specific training practices required in order to become a personal care aide. Training is generally important for PCAs interested in using the career as s springboard to a more advanced position like a registered nurse or a home health aide. However, these training programs depend on the state where you work and since state laws vary widely, for specific state requirements, always ensure you consult with the state’s health board. When it comes to training, you train directly under an RN, supervisors, Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or experienced caregivers so you can provide the very best service possible. An employer may also train PCAs to perform jobs in a specific way and to undergo a competency evaluation. In addition, for states requiring more standardized training, you can receive the formal training through:

• Vocational schools
• Home health care agencies
• Local community colleges
• Eldercare programs

For starters, you need to enroll into a training program through an organization like the National Association for Home Care and Hospice. This organization offers a voluntary certification program for personal care attendants. Most certification programs require around 40 to 75 hours of formal training.

During the 40 to 75 hours of formal training, there are various courses and topics you have to cover. These topics include:

• Fundamental coursework in anatomy
• Sensitivity training
• Death and Dying
• Gerontology
• Personal care equipment
• Physical developmental disabilities
• Medical terminology
• Dementia

The skill sets offered through this training on the other hand include:

• Ability to take blood pressure of an individual
• Emergency medical response
• Ability to take and monitor pulse rate and temperature of an individual
• Infection management
• Communicable disease control
• Basic first aid and CPR
• Medication administration

There are also some client based topics one needs to master and they include sanitary housekeeping, assisting in grooming and cooking foods for specific diets.

PCA Certification/Licensure

The National Association for Home Care and Hospice offers national certification for personal care assistants. Certification or licensure is not required by state or employers although some employers require a PCA to have certification especially in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid. This is because the employers see certification as a voluntary demonstration that the personal care aide has met industry standards. To obtain certification, you need to complete at least a 75-hour training program, 16 hours of supervised training, pass a written exam and provide proof of competency. Certification could meet state requirements for an employer who receives federal government compensation from health programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Completion

Having gone over the entire course material and finished your entire PCA training, the next step is to be appraised by the RN. However, the appraisal is only possible if the registered nurse passes you in the 17 skill sets. And if this happens you’re able to start your job as a PCA. However, in case you fail or there are some specific areas in which you need to work on, no need to start all the educational training program all over again. You just need to focus on those specific areas the registered nurse found you to be lacking in to be able to complete the training.

Important Qualities to Becoming a PCA

• Interpersonal skills — In most cases, you will find that the patients/clients are in so much distress or pain. In these cases, PCAs are required to be extra sensitive to their emotions. They must also show compassion to the clients and enjoy helping those in need.
• Detail oriented — PCAs need to follow certain rules and even protocols to help take care of the patients. They also need to pay so much attention to a client’s medical condition so they can be able to quickly notice any changes that may require medical assistance.
• Physical stamina — this is important because a PCA often has to lift or even turn clients with disability. They should, therefore, be comfortable performing physical tasks.
• Integrity — Personal care assistants should be trustworthy and dependable so that patients and their families are able to rely on them. In addition, they must be able to make clients feel comfortable, especially when they are tending to their personal activities like assisting the client to take a bath.

What Are the Benefits of Becoming a PCA?

For the right person, a career as a personal care aide is very rewarding in so many ways. First, you can be sure to get internal satisfaction from knowing you have made a big difference in the quality of someone’s life. Other benefits you can expect as a personal care aide include high job prospects, possibilities for advancement in the medical field as a registered nurse, flexibility, and few requirements to enter the personal care attendant field. Additionally, you can find a job in a variety of settings including large care communities, agencies providing in-home services or even small group homes.

What Are Some of the Challenges a PCA Faces?

The career of a PCA is very demanding both physically and emotionally hence; challenges are an unavoidable part of being an aide. These challenges present a real danger for the client and the PCAs as they work to offer quality home-care. Some of the most common challenges they face are a lack of PCA training, time constraints, and low pay. The best way to overcome these challenges is by embracing them through learning as much as they can and preparing for the problems at hand instead of shying away from them.

Career Prospects of a PCA

The job outlook for personal care assistants looks very good. The aging population is gradually increasing and statistics show that the baby-boomers need more personalized care. Another factor that affects employment prospects is the trend to transfer patients as soon as possible out of critical care facilities to familiar surroundings of home.

Generally, the number of aging people and age cohort that is challenged by health complications to an extent of requiring prompt assistant with day to day activities is growing (and is expected to increase in the long run). Besides that, the number of people suffering from mental and physical disabilities is also rising.

The job openings created by this increase in demand for specialized care workers coupled with the fact that replacements are needed once in a while means that the future of a PCA is bright. Besides that, the relatively low skill level requirements and high emotional demands mean joining this career offers a double-edged sword. The low-level skill demand means anyone can join in but the high emotional demands mean only few can actually manage to stay on the job long enough.

In the state of California, the population of PCAs is projected to grow much faster than the average growth rate for all other related job positions. It is expected that demand for people with this skill set will grow by 51.8% by 2022. Specifically, in Ventura County, the number of care aides is predicted to grow exponentially at a rate of 33.9% between 2012 and 2022.

As a PCA it is worth noting that your working hours will vary depending on your job. This may sometimes include weekends, evening or split shifts. If you get an opportunity to serve at a residential location, you may be expected to sometimes stay overnight on a rota basis. In some situations, you might even be required to move in with the person who needs care. Part-time opportunities are also readily available particularly if you work with the community and are willing to travel between client’s homes.

To increase your career prospects, you may be encouraged to work towards further qualifications, such as the level 2 or 3 Diploma in Social Care and Health. This will, in turn, give you an opportunity to become a senior care worker. As your career progresses, you may want to advance on to higher qualifications, such as obtaining a degree in social work. You could progress to become a senior caregiver of even shift supervisor provided you are willing to amass more experience and qualifications to support your resume.

SOURCES:

money.usnews.com

learn.org

study.com