Life Of A Nurse

The Role and Character of a Registered Nurse

The character of a nurse is just as important as the knowledge she possesses. Registered nurses comfort and assist us so we can feel more comfortable and enhance our care. As a registered nurse I can influence the world by providing advice and emotional support to patients and their families. The challenge in nursing is not the hard studying but the stereotypes, harassment and pay gap.

There is a lot of studying and hard work at the beginning of becoming a registered nurse. I am grateful for my medical studies classes because they have shown me the basic challenges I will face in my journey of becoming a registered nurse. My CTE class has taught me the basic principles in the medical field to help me prepare for my future career. For example, the prefix, suffix & word root to understand medical words. Also, it has helped me learn how to properly hand hygiene, properly apply knee-elastic stocking & property assist with the use of bedpan, so I can be advanced in giving proper healthcare. Registered nurses fulfill a variety of job duties and responsibilities. Most registered nurses work as part of a team with physicians and other healthcare specialists. Registered nurses duties and titles often depend on where they work and the patient they work for. For example, they record patients’ medical histories and symptoms. Also, observe patient and record observation while administering patients medicine and treatments. Nursing offers a wide variety of options for areas of focus.

The Growing Demand for Nurses in the Healthcare Industry

There are more than 3 million registered nurses in the United States. These healthcare professionals are at the front line of the medical industry. Gulf Coast Region of Texas health care providers continue to grow in response to ever increasing population demands. Registered nurses are expected to increase by 16% by 2024, which is faster than the national average for all other occupations. Dallas, Texas is surprisingly affordable for a nurse making the average salary of $71,000. Houston, Texas ranking first in every category. Houston is the best metro area for a registered nurse. At 14.6% the Houston metro made up the largest share at nursing jobs among the top ten. This generation is creating greater demand for health care in many places and some cities have become major hubs for health care providers.

Educational Pathways and Career Progression in Nursing

There are multiple entry levels in nursing. You can work towards certification and licensing for a career as a licensed practical nurse or registered nurse. Registered nurse education degree requirements range from a diploma to a bachelor's degree. Nurses can also be doctors. They can earn a Ph.D. (Doctors of Philosophy) or a DNP (Doctors of Nursing Practice). Their license should always be up to date. Some nurses do not work directly with patients but must still have an active registered nurses license. Nurses work in many different environments as well as specialization providing the opportunity for a full and rewarding career.

Salary and Compensation for Registered Nurses

Registered nurses earn a competitive salary however the income of a registered nurse depends on several factors, including location, type of specialization, industry, and advanced certifications. The average salary of a registered nurse in the United States is $71,000. The average hourly wage of a registered nurse is $34.14. Nurses can be demanded everywhere. Experienced nurses can really go anywhere they want to find a job. Registered nurses may make more or less than these amounts based on other factors. While some lower-paying states average in the $20 per hour pay, stats show that some areas within the top ten highest paying states also average as low as $26.75.

I am interested in the occupation as a registered nurse because I can make a difference in someone's life. You'll value life as a nurse, when you see people fighting to stay alive. I am also interested because I am trusted with lives. Nursing is a science, and trained and prudent nurses are right there next to doctors when it comes to saving lives. As a nurse I learn continuously. As a nurse you have a continuous opportunity of learning by working in different departments. I am interested because as a nurse I grow as a person even as I make a difference in another person's life.

Nurses around the world serve others 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week, and in doing so can help change lives. They give their time freely and sacrifice for people they’ve likely never met before. Whether it is serving in a hospital or local community, or educating families about the treatment plans regarding loved ones, nurses help make a difference in the world – one life at a time.

Challenges in Nursing: Gender Equality and Workplace Harassment

I don't believe that everybody should be paid the same. I believe in equal pay for equal work. Registered nurses provide the best care they can while making themselves indispensable to both doctors and patients. What are gender equality issues in the nursing profession? Gender equality issues in the nursing profession include wage gaps between males and females, workplace violence toward women, misogyny, and fewer job opportunities for females. The solution to ending these striking issues is to introduce new laws promoting equality.

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Also one of the most interesting fields where gender discrimination occurs is healthcare. Harassment exists in the medical field and stereotypes is one of them. Both male and females are faced daily with unfair stereotypes. A nurses goal is to help people every day no matter what so we need to take a stand against these stereotypes in a positive and not a negative way.

Going into the nursing profession men and women should both be paid the same as they have the same amount of training and do the same work. Evidently they are paid with a bias on which gender they are instead. Male registered nurses earn, on average, $5,000 more than their female counterparts. Kelly Gooch in her article reveals the astonishing fact that male nurses make $5,000 more than their female counterparts while doing the same work. In 2010, the median weekly salary for male nurses was $1,201, compared to $1,039 for women.Even as recently as 2010 the wage gap between male and female nurses exist. Male nurses in the exact same profession, workplace, and with the same qualifications make an unfair 11% more than the women nurses working with them. The wage gap is not a myth. It exists, and it hurts women in all major professions, especially nursing. To fix this the United States government needs to introduce new laws enforcing equal pay in all professions.

Nurses (male and female) receive the same education and training and they all provide the same safe, high-quality patient care for every type of procedure. The pay gap should be eliminated because there’s no acceptable reason for there to be such an imbalance in the pay scales.

Away from the mental anguish, the wage gap brings to female nurses, they must also worry about actual violence in the workplace. Between 2012 and 2014, workplace violence injury rates increased for all healthcare job classifications and nearly doubled for nurse assistants and nurses. Within the past 4-6 years, violence in the workplace for nurses nearly doubled. This includes violence between co-workers, patients to nurses, and male nurses toward female nurses.

The percentage of male nurses and female physicians continues to rise, and yet almost century-old stereotypes still exist in these professions. There are males who work as nurses for a local hospital and experience gender bias on a daily basis. They are presumed to be a physician by patients, patients’ family members, and even other medical staff. Likewise, female physicians are mistaken for nurses and often approached to perform the duties of a nurse. Sometimes their opinion is even discredited because they are female physicians and not male physicians. Women must see that they should not respond in a negative or bad behavior but instead prove these stereotypes wrong positively.

Society is stuck with the belief that being a nurse is for women. This causes a challenge for men in the registered nurse field because they get characterized as gay when they are not. We need to eliminate the sexual stereotypes barrier and eliminate occupational differences. For that reason society and the nursing profession will be more accepting of male nurses with same sex partners & won't discriminate straight male nurses.

Personal Motivation and the Impact of Nursing

My inspiration is all the nurses and doctors because they have studied for so long to help people and make the world a better place. My inspiration goes for the healthcare field because they make sure that everyone receives the best health care, no matter if they are rich or poor, by making available health care resources such as Medicare and Medicaid. They are my inspiration because they are so dedicated to helping people that the hospital starts to become their home. Medicine and surgeries become their life. They spend more hours at work than at home just to make sure we are okay.

I believe that the solution of having the United States government introduced new laws enforcing equal pay in all professions will be beneficial for the pay gap because that is what they deserve. They have equal training and education which should also lead to Equal pay. Also, I believe on the solution of education workers about discrimination and encourage workers to respect each other's differences will eliminate negative discrimination in the workplace because everyone will have enough respect for each other and they will not discriminate against each other. The respect they will have for one another will end harassment and discrimination by defending one another when something goes wrong. While their focus is to better our health and keep us alive the least we can do is respect them and not judge nor harass them. Violence and harassment is not only in the medical field but also outside and our job is to end all unfairness and inequality that is toward doctors and nurses because we are a fair society that is equal to everyone. Not all heroes wear caps and healthcare workers are one of them.

My capstone starts by giving an introduction into what a registered nurse is. It talks about its salary, certification and education involving registered nurse. Afterward, it talks about my interest in becoming a registered nurse. It then starts by introducing one of the problems in health care which is the gender pay gap in the medical field. In ends that topic with a solution for that problem and starts a new problem in the medical field that is harassment and discrimination in the medical field aiming for both male and female. It gives a solution to that problem and starts talking about my inspiration in the medical field. Last but not least it talks about my ideas on the solutions and why I agree with them and I give my conclusion.