What is a Nurse Educator? Instead of dedicating their career exclusively to patient care, a nurse educator is passionate about teaching and advocating for nurses. They instruct aspiring nurses and offer guidance, which may include training in both practical and educational settings.

Where Do Nurses Work? Not all registered nurses work in hospitals. You can find a nurse in a wide variety of health care settings, including doctor’s offices, urgent care centers, pharmacies, schools, and many other locations.

The 15 Best Cities for Nurses

1. Boston, Massachusetts. With 17 top-ranking hospitals and medical centers, Boston is a nurse’s dream city.
2. Des Moines, Iowa.
3. El Paso, Texas.
4. Kansas City, Missouri.
5. Seattle, Washington.
6. San Diego, California.
7. San Francisco, California.
8. Houston, Texas.

Working Conditions Most nurses work in health care facilities, although home health and public health nurses travel to their patients’ homes, schools, community centers and other sites. RNs may spend considerable time walking and standing.

Most registered nurses begin their career on a salary between $60,000 – $65,000. The beauty of the Nurse Award 2010, is that your pay will then grow 4-5% every year after that, until you have 8 years’ experience. At which point, all nurses at this stage of the career will be on roughly the same amount.

Registered Nurse duties and responsibilities

• Observe and record patient behavior.
• Perform physical examinations and diagnostic tests.
• Collect patient health history.
• Counsel and educate patients and their families on treatment plans.
• Administer medication, change wound dressings and care for other treatment options.

• Organizational Skills. Every RN should be organized and perform activities in a planned manner.
• Stress Management.
• Kind and Compassionate.
• Excellent Communication Skills.
• Dedication and Patience.
• Detail Oriented.
• Critical Thinking.
• Alert and Observant.

There are many soft skills and the following are the top four that nurses can develop to be great!

• Effective Communication. Communication begins before you even speak.
• Practicing Empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
• Organization and time management.
• Networking.

Nurses routinely clock in long hours, whether on rotating shifts or 12-hour shifts. “They work extremely long shifts and the mental toll being with patients is quite taxing,” said Reed. “They stand for really long hours on cement floors so they are exhausted at the end of the day.”

12-hour shifts aren’t going anywhere, and nurses will continue to want to work only three days a week. The hours are long and the work is exhausting but nurses continue to do it, first and foremost for the patient.

The average age of nurses who are just starting is closer to 30. How many years do you have to work as a nurse to retire? Most nurses can expect to work more than 40 years before they retire. This assumes a person who started working at age 25 and retires at around age 70.

The simple answer is: There’s no simple answer. Extensive scientific research on the effects of 8- and 12-hour shifts has produced no clear winner. Both 12s and 8s work wonderfully for some facilities while causing problems for others.

Surviving 3, 12-hour shifts in a row is tricky. The first two are okay but it gets rough towards the end if you don’t look after yourself. This is, of course, made even harder if you work more than three in a row and you should take extra care when reading the suggestion below.

Do Nurses Prefer 12-Hour Shifts? While there are benefits associated with both 8-hour and 12-hour shifts, a majority of acute care nurses prefer 12-hour ones because of the work-life balance they offer.

As a nurse, you can work as many days in a row as you would like. Though you should factor in provider fatigue into the equation.