Registered nurses assess patient needs and health problems, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. They also administer care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. Nurses regularly advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or case management. In the United States (and more specifically, the state of California), licensing or registration is required to make public health nursing careers.
Nursing careers in Los Angeles also include advanced practice nurses such as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives, neonatal nurses, and certified registered nurse anesthetists. Advanced practice nursing is practiced by RNs who have specialized formal, post-basic education and function in highly autonomous and technical roles.
Requirements of Public Health Nursing Careers
Education & Training
Choosing a health care school is similar to choosing schools in any discipline. Location, credentials, and faculty quality should be considered when selecting your school. It would help if you also viewed the following:
1. Be sure to look for a manageable class size with a good ratio of students to teacher — the more students, the less time a teacher has to spend with an individual if extra assistance is needed. In health care studies, one-on-one attention could be crucial to understanding essential concepts and duties.
2. Look at the credentials of the people teaching the classes. Are they employed solely as educators, or do they teach part-time and have current hands-on experience?
3. Ask if faculty members are involved in research or scholarly publishing. The more involved they are with either of these aspects, the better the chance of being introduced to new concepts and plans for the future of the professions.
4. A major part of learning the skills for jobs in allied health is associated with hands-on participation in the form of internships (also called “externships‘ or “clinical” field experience). Schools should have the ability to provide you with pre-arranged internships or be able to assist you in finding ones for yourself.
5. Ensure that classes (mainly clinical) will be taught in state-of-the-art facilities. With so many changes in technology, learning on equipment that is already several years out-of-date is a poor decision.
Don’t let the school you choose to leave you unprepared. Learn more about school facilities and programs by requesting more information from any schools listed.
You may also like: