INC Work Setting

As an Independent Nurse Contractor, you can work in various types of work settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, long term care units, home health care agencies, outpatient clinics, offices of the physicians and other health care settings that are facing acute shortage of nurses.

You must also remember that currently, the United States of America is passing through the qualified nursing shortages and the situation is more sever in under-served areas, distant locations, rural areas or facilities facing shortages or unable to retain qualified nurses. In such scenario, the importance of the Independent Nurse Contractor can be best understood for filling the gap of the nursing shortages.

INC Work Duties

The duties performed by the Independent Nurse Contractor are identical to responsibilities performed by the registered nurses and depend upon the job description of their specific employment and setting. For example in nursing homes, their duties are more concentrated to caring elderly patients, who are there for long term cares. In hospitals their duties are related to the departments they are employed, and as a home health care they are required to provide cares to patients recovering from long illness, patients with disabilities or elderly patients. They are mostly self-employed and works where health care provider contract them to work.

Their common duties include, measuring vital signs, preparing health care plans, administering medications, procure the medical history of the patients, diagnose the illness, disease or injuries and assess, monitor their condition and recovery, document, counsel patients on healthy lifestyles and provide other required cares.

Independent Nurse Contractor Education

The initial step to become an INC is to complete an ASN or BSN program for a Bachelor degree and appear for the NCLEX-RN Exam. The passing of the exam will award you a License and you will be registered as a Registered Nurse. The clinical setting training provides you the required skills for nursing cares or you can gain more experience by working in traditional hospitals, health clinics or other health care settings for the certain period of time to gain the required health care experience.

In addition, you can further pursue advance studies for certifications in critical, intensive and emergency room nursing, which can provided added qualification to you and brighten up your job opportunities with lucrative salary. ;

Independent Nurse Contractor Salary

The salary offered to an INC is different to what is offered to a registered nurse. In addition to the salary, they are also paid additional benefits such as accommodation, insurance, traveling allowances and others.

The average salary earned by these nurses comes to around $ $52,450 to $72,500 depending upon the health care provider, education and certification, working experience and job locations.

The nursing shortages of the qualified nurses have greatly increased their demand and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected demand growth will be around 22 per cent in between 2008 to 2018, which also shows the excellent employment opportunities in this field of nursing.

Home Health Care Nurse Job Description

In homes you will have to provide cares to patients who are recovering from long illness, complex injuries, recovering from critical and chronicle ailments, elderly patients, patients with genetic disorders, disable and/or limited mobility. Your job may also consists of offering everyday routine cares to mental and/or physical disabilities patients or manage their medication schedule, counsel patients on their treatment and care procedures, care for rehabilitating patients, recovering from critical illness and injuries, and educate family members on old age patients caring. You may work independently or you may be employed through the home health care agencies. In addition, you will have to prepare home patient care plan and manage their pain management schedule.

You must remember that the popularity for the home health nurse is on the rise, as people are finding it difficult to manage their office along with the visit in the hospitals for their near family members taking long term care in the long term care units, nursing homes and hospitals. In addition, the patients also do not feel comfortable staying in these facilities for long because the hospitals do not offer same comfort that can be availed by staying in the home..

Qualities needed of HHCN

As a home health care, you must be skillful, compassionate and sensitive because in homes you may come across with families with different cultural values and traditions which you will have to respect while offering cares. In addition you must also posses’ excellent communication and interpersonal skills because you will be with the patient for long, which needs forming strong bond and provide them emotional support. Therefore, you must also bear the quality of critical thinking, must be able to coordinate with patient and family members, assess the ailment and cares, document the care plan and procedures. You must also specialize and have patience in caring children with disabilities and interact with the physician and pharmacist for the care management.

Home Health Nurse Education

Pharmacology is the important part of your education and you must be familiar with variety medications and correct dose because, while caring a patient in home, you must be well versed with the medications that were administered to the patient in the clinical settings.

In order to practice as a home health care nurse, you must be a licensed registered nurse. You must complete a diploma program, associate or baccalaureate bachelor program and obtain a degree. The earning of the degree also makes you eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam for the License.

In addition, some health care jobs also require you to obtain a MSN Degree and purse advance studies for specialty or sub specialty certification in geriatric, pediatric or hospice nursing for advance level of cares. You must also obtain certification for CPR and Basic Life Support (BLS).

Home Health Care Nurse Salary & Job Prospect

As a HHCN, you can earn a salary of around $45,500 to $72,500 depending on your education, job location and experience. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for the home health care nurse will see a growth of 33 per cent, in between 2008 to 2018.

Geriatrics Nurse Work Settings

The specialized qualification of Geriatrics Nurse is required in different types of the health care settings such as home health care, hospitals, adult care centers, health clinics, nursing homes, long term care units, physician’s offices, rehabilitation centers, veteran centers, hospice facilities and others.

Geriatrics Nurse Work Duties

These nurses are required to execute various types of duties essential for the caring of the elderly patients. In course of their employment, they perform responsibilities such as providing personal cares, basic nursing cares, administer medications and see that the medications are taken as per schedule, provide preventive health care for diseases and disabilities, constant monitoring the condition of the patient, count, measure, relieve their pains and record vital signs.

In addition their duties also include, educating the patient on the treatment procedures, counseling family members on the certain medical complications that may arise later in life, charting out plans for the treatments and ducument, rehabilitate patients after ailments and injuries.

GN Nurse Qualities

It is also necessary that a Geriatrics Nurse must possess compassionate nature and humble behavior, must bear excellent communication and interpersonal skills and must have patience, while dealing with the elderly patients. They must try to create strong emotional bonds with the patients and families, and treat the patients under their care with dignity and respect. They must also maintain the patient’s privacy and confidentiality and respect their rights and independence.

GN Nurse Education

In order to gain the eligibility to work in the entry level geriatrics position, you must be licensed Registered Nurse, with an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing, and clear the NCLEX-RN exam for licensure and get  registered as a Registered Nurse. You must also earn CPR or Basic Life Support (BLS) certification, as they constitute vital requirement for your working as a GN.

You can also pursue advance Geriatrics studies for specialization, which can grant you certification as nurse practitioners. The prerequisite for the specialty Gerontological Nursing Certification is minimum MSN Degree. The passing of the certification exam, offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center will get you certified for advance level practicing as NP for working in the Geriatric field .

Geriatric Nurse Salary

Gerontological nursing ranks among the 10 best paying NP specialties as per the ADVANCE and Scrubs magazines, which also estimate their salary $93,668 as of 2010, and as per the PayScale, their salary ranges from $80,473 to $95,592 annually.

Their salary also depends on the work experience, job location, type of the work settings, education and certification, and job positions.

The nursing shortages for registered and advance level practicing nurses for higher job position and for advance cares have created heavy demands for the GN. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected job growth of these nurses will be around 25 percent between 2008 and 2018.

Emergency Nurse Overview

An ENP can be termed as a practicing nurse that are trained through education and training to assess, diagnose and treat varied common diseases, ailments and critical cares in an Emergency Care setting. They are the first treatment provider before the actual cause of the ailment or disease is known or, before the specialized cares is provided after the assessment and diagnosis.

ENPS work with the patients of all age groups including infants, children, adolescents, adults and elderly patients of varied races, gender or medical problems, and work in settings such as hospital or any other health care centers that have emergency center including ambulances, helicopters, military base, warships and cruises, sports arenas. They try to find out the severity of the problems initially, assesses the treatment requirements, diagnosis and prepare a care plan for the treatment.

It is also necessary that a ENP must posses both medical as well as general expertise, as they may have to provide cares to different types of cares in a emergency setting, from traumatic acute stomach pain to gunshot wounds, traffic accidents, broken bones, cardiac stroke and others.

ENP Work Place

Emergency Nurses work in hospital emergency rooms, ambulances, helicopters, urgent care centers, sports arenas and any other place a person may face emergency problem that may threaten their lives or put them into a critical condition. In such scenario they offer emergency cares before diagnosing the ailments.

Emergency Nurse Education

As associate Degree can be enough for the Emergency Nurse Education but due to the complexities of the treatments and cares, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Degree is desirable for advance clinical practice and knowledge. They must also earn a licensure as a registered nurse after completion of their BSN Program. In addition they must also get certification for CPR and Life Support.

Their education also requires them to appear for the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN), a computer-administered examination of Emergency Nurses’ Association (ENA) for certification, which remains current for 4 years and need to be renewed by appearing in the exam again or by completing hundred continuing specialty education units (CEUs).

The certified ENP also have the option of the “open book exam” for the renewal. The exam comprises of 175 test questions, which include 25 sample questions and 150 test questions. The score of 75% & above clears the test. The test questions are based on the subjects such as General Medical Emergencies, Cardiovascular and Neurological Emergencies, Gynecological, Gastro-intestinal and Obstetrical emergencies and others.

ENP Salary

The median average salary of Emergency Nurses is around $55, 000 to $78,000 & more annually, and the head ENP can earn nearly $67,000 to $117,000 per year, depending upon the facility, position, experience, education, degree and certification.

The per hour earning of the Emergency Nurse is around $23.00 to $ 37.00 & more depending upon the above give factors.

The below given details will furnish you information on Clinical Nurse Specialist vs Nurse Practitioner

Nurse Practitioner

1. NP is a highly trained registered nurse with advance certification with specialty, performing varied duties that can be performed by a physician, for providing numerous cares and treatments to a patient.
2. They are also qualified to provide cares independently, with a team of nursing professionals, along with the physician or under the direction of a physician.
3. Their qualification also allows them to prescribe medications and provide cares for various types of medical ailments, critical as well as chronicle.
4. Master’s degree in Nursing is prerequisite for their high level education and they gain specialty certification or doctoral degree.
5. Their job description include, diagnosing, recommend various tests and examination, apprise the physician about the test results, provide drugs and initial check ups, document patients’ history, counseling and others.
6. They work in varied health care settings including hospitals, physician’s office, long term care facilities, OPD, nursing homes, private and retail health clinics, intensive care units such as NICU, gynecology unit, pediatrics, child care units, adult care units.
7. Their salary is around $65,000 to $98,500 & more depending upon   the job location and position, type of the facility, education and certification and work experience.
8. NP specializations include varied specialty tracks such as Pediatrics, Psychiatric Mental Health, Acute Care, family health, Women’s Health and others.

Clinical Nurse Specialist

1. CNS is also advance practicing nurse specialist with Master’s, Post-Master’s Certificate or doctorate level education.
2. Their education prepares them for advance level cares for acute and non acute care and for leadership role.
3. They practice for specified specialty, such as lung or heart disease and others.
4. They mostly work in acute care centers, such as intensive care units, palliative care and emergency rooms and others, though few of them also work in non acute centers such as hospitals, home care agencies, homes, clinics, physician’s office, private practices and schools.
5. Their specialized cares are based on the evidence based practice and they follow three spheres of influence including, population, nursing personnel and organization and/or system.
6. Their primary competencies framework consists of assessment, diagnosis of the disease, identification, plans for specialized care, interventions and evaluation.
7. Other than providing specialized cares, their duties also comprises of improving cares through research and use of latest and innovative medical technologies, practice as a health care consultants and teachers by  guiding and coaching nursing professionals for best outcomes and constantly work for the improvements of the system.
8. They need to apply for the prescriptive authority, provided they meet the prescriptive authority criteria.
9. The salary of a clinical nurse specialist is around $64,545 to $94,500 & more depending upon the employed facility, education and certification and position.

Their practice is based on three spheres of influence including Patient, Nursing personnel and Healthcare System.

Patient – In the first sphere, their goal is to diagnose and provide expert care to various types of illness through evidence based practice and devise strategies that results in improved patient outcome.

Nursing personnel – They work in a multidisciplinary team, which include patient, families, other professionals and specialists. By working with the lower level nursing personnel, they guide and coach them for better outcome.

Healthcare/Organizations System – They work with other nurses and specialists for the improvements in the clinical cares through research, changes and innovation that can lead to overall improvement of the systems and bring out the positive change in the organizations. Such practice also makes them consultants for implementing the improvements.

The framework of the primary competencies of CNS include assessment of the patient, diagnosis for identification of the disease, identify the illness, plan and implement expert clinical care and interventions, and evaluate the result of the care.

Therefore, their specialized cares are based to a particular population such as geriatrics, pediatrics and others, in the specific settings such as Intensive Care, critical care or emergency care room and by providing specialized evidence based cares through expert knowledge and skills of their specialized specialty or sub specialty.

Clinical Nurse Specialist Program

In order to become a Clinical Nurse Specialist, you must earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree with advanced level clinical training, which allows you to pursue specialized course in specialization or you can continue for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), which is essential for your clinical leadership role or for implementing the changes for the improvement in the system. But, before opting for your MSN Program, you must earn a RN License by passing the NCLEX-RN Exam and by completing your bachelor degree program.

Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) license is granted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In addition, for working as a CNS, you must also gain 3 years working experience in intensive care unit, which also include one years working in a specific specialty area.

CNS Salary

As a Clinical Nurse Specialist, you can easily earn a salary ranging from $65,000 to above $100,140 depending on your work experience, the type pf the facility you are working, job positions, job location and, education and training background.

The demand for the advance practice Clinical Specialists in the United States of America is also rising in a phenomenal rate, due to their expertise in offering both primary and specialized cares and their demand will be highest in underserved and unrepresented areas, such as distant locations and rural areas, where they can provide advance cares similar to that of a physician except very few duties of the physician, which only they can suffer such as surgery.

Clinical Nurse Leader Overview

CNL are vested with the decision making authorities to oversee the patient care and treatments through assessment of the risk and evaluating the collected outcome sof patient cares. It is the primary responsibility of these nurses to prepare evidence based care plans for particular group of the patients and implement innovations in the cares. They also participate in these care plans and periodically reviews and evaluate the outcome of the plans and document them.

In order to offer best possible cares to the patient, they work in a multidisciplinary medical team, which include other nurses, pharmacists, health care professionals, physicians, NP and Clinical nurse specialists and also social workers and jointly they plan the strategies for the outcome of best patient results. They work in various types of health care setting with a motto of advancing the nursing practice to a higher level to achieve desired outcome and in the process they implement the latest nursing practice, innovative health care technologies and latest medical procedures.

You must remember that Clinical Nurse Leaders are termed as advance generalists, whereas Clinical Nurse Specialists are specialist through specialty or doctoral studies. Their education is more concentrated toward gaining the advanced knowledge in general medicine, instead of pursuing studies in a specific specialty as done by the CNS.

Clinical Nurse Leader Education

In order to become a Clinical Nurse Leader, you must pursue Master Degree level education that prepares you for the generalists, which is advised by the AACN but it is also been found many clinical leaders even working with the bachelor level degrees. In addition, the study of courses such as clinical assessment, pharmacology, pathophysiology and others are essential. The successful completion of the program makes the candidate eligible to sit for the clinical leader certification exam. The examination is administered by the Commission on Nurse Certifications.

The basic qualities that a Clinical Leader Nurse possesses include leadership role, management skill, zeal to learn and use innovative and latest medical techniques and technologies for best patient care outcome.

Though, they are not advance practice nurse, still their qualification and practice complement the specialty nurses by evaluating the advance care plans for the best possible outcomes, which are the result of implementation of the advance and latest medical technologies for best cares. The outcome also facilitates replicating future care with the results of past cares.

Clinical Nurse Leader Salary

The average earning of the clinical nurse leader comes to around$55,500 –$75,000 depending upon the job location, education and experience. CNL are not as specialized as NP or CNS but still their higher level education and knowledge earn them better salary than a registered nurse.

The trained nursing personnel who takes care of the ailing and sick patients under the supervision of the registered nurse in the hospitals or any other medical care facility.

There are few pre requirements that the students have to complete before enrolling for the CNA Training in Riverside:

• A high school diploma or GED.
• A proof that the student is eighteen years and above.
• Clearing the criminal background check is also necessary.

If one wishes to work proficiently in the medical field, then he or she has to enroll for the state approved CNA training offered by various vocational institutes, schools and colleges in Riverside.

The training time and the costs vary from state to state. A minimum of 70 to 120 hours of training is provided to the nursing students and the tuition fee may start from $500 to $1000.

The CNA training is followed by the CNA examination which is essential for all the nursing students to clear them. If they clear the tests, CNA certifications are rewarded to them.

The trained nursing personnel who takes care of the ailing and sick patients under the supervision of the registered nurse in the hospitals or any other medical care facility.

There are few pre requirements that the students have to complete before enrolling for the CNA Training

• A high school diploma or GED.
• A proof that the student is eighteen years and above.
• Clearing the criminal background check is also necessary.

The nurse aides are required to complete a minimum of 75 hours of training in classroom and clinical sessions.  The CNAs are required to spend a minimum of 16 hours on clinical sessions. During the classroom sessions, the nurse aides are not allowed to get in direct contact wit the patients. Upon successful completion of the nurse aide training program the nurse aides get in contact with the patients under the guidance and supervision of registered Nurse aides. After passing the nurse aide competency test, they can work in any of the medical and health care centers.

The CNA testing depends upon the location and the state where the test are given. The duration of the course depends upon the course structure of the training program. The CNA classes may be two week long or may even take several months to complete. In order to qualify for the nurse aide course, one is required to pass written and practical sessions.

Before take up the CNA test one is required to have comprehensive knowledge regarding the human physiology and anatomy. The course for CNA testing includes written portion and physical behavioral techniques.

The Clinical exam portion comprises of testing in nursing areas like hand washing methods, blood pressure monitoring, bathing methods and various other physical procedures.

The written exam portion comprises of anatomical and physiological questions that needs to be answered in written portion. The physical procedural portion will also need to be defined.

Those who successfully complete the CNA Training program and pass the CNA state competency exam gain a valid license.

Some CNA also work as travel nurses while some work at the private homes of the patients, solely looking after a single patient. The certified nursing assistant nursing home jobs are primarily concerned looking after the aged patients. Here, the working atmosphere is completely different for normal long term medical care facilities as the CNAs are in continuous touch with the patients. And the patients are elderly, so they need to maintain an emotional bond with them.

A Certified nursing assistant working for nursing home must be polite, compassionate and should have lots of patience. They also look after the routine needs of the patients, such as feeding them, bathing, grooming, helping them walking, exercising, moving their wheelchair, cleaning their rooms, changing bed covers etc.

There are some patients, who wear diapers, so these diapers are also to be changes by the certified nursing assistants. They also check the critical signs of the patients, such as temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiration, urinal output etc.

But to work as a CNA in nursing home, you need to first complete the CNA training program in your state. These programs are offered in all the states of America by schools, community colleges or universities. They train you in all the nursing and clinical skills that you will require while working professionally as a CNA in nursing home. For the enrollment, you just need to have a high school diploma or GED and be at least 16 years of age.