Job Responsibilities
Assessing pediatric patients, consulting with
doctors/respiratory therapists/physical therapists about my
patients, giving medications, performing treatments (such as
chest physical therapy), changing dressings, checking telemetry
readings/lab values, and teaching the family how to care for ill
children. And then I document all of the things that I do--the
most time consuming part of my job, but very necessary in order
to provide continuity of care and protect against litigation.
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Job Requirements
I have a bachelor's degree in nursing, which required a lot of
science classes and clinical hours. My department only hires
bachelor's educated nurses but there is also a lot of work in
the industry for associate's degree nurses. Nursing is a field
that also requires a lot of continuing education. I take classes
in person and on-line to keep my skills up to date.
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Uppers
The main reward is helping my patients and their families. It's very rewarding
to have a child who spent a month or two on life support come back to visit us
and tell us that they're back in school living a full life. I have good job
security because nurses are in high demand.
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Downers
Not all our patients get better and it can be very hard when
patients die. It's hard to leave work at home. The work is
physically exhausing. I don't know any nurses without back pain!
We work long shifts and often don't have time for our unpaid
breaks or even to go to the bathroom. More experienced nurses
are not always supportive of new nurses and sometimes try to
take advantage of them. A new nurse will typically have to work
the night shift for several years. The pay is decent but it
comes with a lot of stress.
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Lifestyle
Nurses work in many diverse areas, including hospitals, clinics, schools,
prisons, over the phone, in the pharmaceutical, marketing and legal
industries...there are so many different things you can do with a nursing degree.
It's a 24 hour, seven day a week industry, and there are jobs in every small town
and large city. It's an industry that welcomes diversity. Bilingual nurses are
especially in demand!
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Compensation
I'm a unionized employee and my base salary is 63,000. I get
pain an extra 10 percent for working nights. I have good
benefits, including health insurance.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Be prepared to work very hard. You have to be physically and
emotionally resilient. The job outlook is excellent for nursing
as the population ages and has increasing health care needs.
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