Exploring Your Options for Online Nursing Continuing Education
Nursing is one of the fastest growing, most popular professions in the nation—due in large part to the excellent employment opportunities and the breadth of professional variation available to ambitious nurses. As a registered nurse, you will have many options for enhancing your career; however, all of them require some form of nursing continuing education. Online nursing continuing education options make it easier than ever to pursue further training for your career.
Benefits of Online Nursing Continuing Education
Of the roughly 2.5 million registered nurses in the United States, only about 59 percent of them work in hospital settings.1 Other registered nurses find job opportunities in classrooms, ambulances, medical flight helicopters and more.
The key to finding the perfect nursing career for you is to earn your master's degree in nursing (MSN) or otherwise specialize through a nursing doctoral or certification program. Online nursing continuing education options can help you get the exact training you'll need to get the career you want.
Specialization allows you to play to the professional strengths and skills you've developed as a registered nurse. If you thrive in a fast-paced, high-stress environment, becoming a surgical nurse or a critical care nurse would be professionally stimulating. Or if you derive professional satisfaction from exploring medical and nursing ethics, a career in academia might be in your future.
Complete Your MSN, Doctorate or Certification Online
Continuing your nursing education online allows you to complete your MSN, nursing doctorate or certification program in your free time, without having to sacrifice your career or quality time with family. In fact, attaining specialization has become easier than ever: the only prerequisite to enrolling in an online nursing continuing education program is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. Even individuals who hold a bachelor's degree or higher in another field can enroll in an 18-month accelerated BSN program to jump-start their career in nursing.
Once you have your BSN, you'll have plenty of accredited online nursing continuing education programs to choose from. In 2006, 448 nursing schools offered master degree programs, 108 offered doctoral degree programs and 58 offered accelerated BSN-to-doctoral programs.1 In addition to a degree, you'll need to pursue certification in order to practice as a clinical nurse, nurse anesthetist, nurse-midwife or nurse practitioner.
Online nursing certification is another avenue to attaining specialization. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) awards certification to qualified nurses. To meet the rigorous standards of the ANCC, registered nurses must complete a continuing education nursing program beyond the BSN, satisfy requirements for clinical practice in their field of specialization, and pass a certification examination.
Certification is available in 27 areas of specialization, including pediatric nursing, home health nursing, nursing administration, and psychiatric or mental health nursing. Since 1990, over a quarter-million registered nurses have become certified through the ANCC.2 Certified nurses in almost all fields earn higher salaries than their non-certified counterparts, and this pay discrepancy only increases with time and experience.3
Reap the Rewards of Online Nursing Continuing Education
Registered nurses often report that the highlights of their jobs—nurturing the sick, overseeing patients' physical rehabilitation or counseling patients on their medical options, to name a few—are their own rewards. By continuing your nursing education online, these rewarding aspects of a nursing career can be reinforced. Specialization results in greater career flexibility, superior growth potential and a higher earning potential. Isn't it about time you began exploring your online nursing continuing education options?
