Are you interested in nursing but not sure what career path is the best fit for you? This guide outlines the top 20 nursing career specialties, and how to start your career in these areas.
The healthcare sector continues to grow faster than other fields. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates an increase of 13% in jobs in healthcare jobs between 2021-2031, which is more than the national average. This could mean two million job openings in the next few years.
The median annual salary for healthcare professionals and technical jobs, which includes registered nurses (RNs), as well as advanced practice nurses, and registered (APRNs), was approximately $29,000 more than the average national wage for all jobs. Some nursing specialties make even more. These specialties enable nurses to concentrate on specific populations of patients, increase their autonomy as well as their salary as well as enhance their abilities and enhance their education.
Find out more about the 10 most sought-after nursing specialties according to the highest median salaries as per Payscale information from November 2022. Find out how to begin your career with any of the specialties.
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Top Nursing Career Specialties Based On Salary to Consider
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Nurse Anesthetist
The APRNs give anesthesia and pain medications and monitor vital signs. They also make adjustments, and observe patients during surgery as well as during the recovery process. Nurse anesthetists assist people of any age with scheduled surgical procedures as well as emergencies. Before surgery, they take patients' histories and provide information regarding the different types of anesthesia utilized in the procedure.
How to become this field: It requires the possession of a BSN degree as well as an RN license or an MSN degree, with a specialization in nurse anesthesia. Nurse anesthetists must have special certifications to practice. The requirements for the registered nurse anesthetist credential are more than 3,000 hours of clinical experience and passing on the national exam conducted by the National Boards for Certification and Recertification Nurse Anesthetists. They are also required to apply for licensure in the state as ARPNs who have prescriptive authority.
Salary: $167,870 (November 2022)
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Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
The APRN nurses examine the condition, diagnose and help patients suffering from mental illnesses. Mental health nurses in psychiatry provide aid to patients suffering from anxiety disorders, mood disorders depression, dementia, or phobias as well as people who are struggling with addiction issues, or addictions. Alongside administering medications and therapy, their responsibilities include crisis intervention as well as mental health assessment and evaluation, as well as patient assistance.
What is the process to become the nurse you want to be: Nurses must possess at the very least an MSN and an active RN license to obtain APRN licensure. Aspiring nurses (NPs) can follow a variety of routes to graduate degrees such as RN-to-MSN courses for RNs with associate degrees, as well as straight into MSN programs for those with bachelor's degrees not geared towards nursing. The graduates of an NP program that has the psychiatric population in mind who are seeking licensure in the state must be able to obtain the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certificate via the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Salary: $113,870 (November 2022)
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Nurse Midwife
Advanced nurse practitioners who are specialized in prenatal care, pregnancy childbirth, and postpartum recovery may be certified as nurse midwives. Nurse midwives provide care to women from birth to delivery, and also provide postpartum care. Although they are primarily concerned with pregnancy medical care, these nurses can also provide general assistance to women, including gynecological, reproductive, and preventive health.
How to become: Nurse midwives have a variety of paths for licensure. Potential nurse midwives who possess a bachelor's degree in nursing, as well as an RN license, can take an M.S. program or pursue a doctorate in nursing. Certain MSN programs allow RNs with no bachelor's degree. Direct entry MSN programs accept students who do not hold a bachelor's degree in nursing. Following completion of their graduate program nurses are required to earn the credential of certified nurse midwife which is administered through the American Midwifery Certification Board.
Salary: $100,600 (November 2022)
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Family Nurse Practitioner
Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) assist patients from childhood through adulthood in family practice and clinical environments. More than 70% of nurse practitioners have FNP certification, which makes it the most popular of APRN classifications. FNPs evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients over their entire lifespan, from childhood until the age of old, with a particular focus on preventive healthcare.
What is required to become an MSN is the minimum education prerequisite for FNPs. Although most nurse practitioner courses, including those online, require a BSN however, some schools accept students who do not have a bachelor's degree. Future FNPs can join bridge programs with an associate degree in nursing, or direct entry programs for students with bachelor's degrees that are not nursing-related. When they complete their graduate studies FNPs can seek certification as family practitioners from different boards of certification for nurse practitioners.
Salary: $98,740 (November 2022)
Also, Read What are the reasons for Choosing Nursing as a Career?
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Clinical Nurse Specialist
This kind of APRN requires a master's or doctoral nursing degree that is specialized in a practice area for nursing. Clinical nurses may select focus areas like pediatrics, elderly care, critical or emergency medical care, specific disease treatment (such as cardiovascular or diabetes) the rehabilitation of mental illness or pain management, and wound treatment.
How to become: Most clinical nurses begin an MSN program after they have obtained their RN license as well as some work experience. Similar to other APRNs, clinical nurses can choose from a variety of pathways to education, based on their previous education and their training. Although the field doesn't require any specialization to work some clinical nurses are seeking specific credentials to grow in their careers and earn higher pay. This American Nurses Credentialing Center offers numerous certifications in gerontology oncology, cardiovascular disease, and various other areas of practice.
Salary: $94,800 (November 2022)
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Nurse Researcher
Highly skilled nursing professionals carry out a scientific research studies, analyze data and present their findings on health issues and how to improve the quality of health care. They are employed in a variety of environments such as research labs and hospitals. While nurse researchers are not able to offer direct nursing care to patients, they do perform vital medical functions, focusing on subjects that impact the nursing profession and help save lives.
What you need to know: The majority of nurse researchers have earned bachelor's or master's degrees and have valid RN licenses. There is a growing demand for research positions for nurses who require doctoral-level training. Although nurse researchers don't require specialized qualifications they can increase their careers by obtaining the clinical researcher certified certification from the Society for Clinical Research Associates or seeking other research certifications offered by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals.
Salary: $81,500* (November 2022)
*Based on a tiny sample size
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Travel Nurse
The RNs move from one healthcare center to another around the United States and even internationally to fulfill staffing needs for different lengths of time. Travel nurses could specialize in a particular field or fulfill a range of general RN tasks like collecting the patient's history, evaluating the symptoms, making diagnoses, and giving treatment and medication. It doesn't matter if they are self-employed or by an agency, travel nurses are employed for 1 month up to 2 years.
How to Be The educational requirements for travel nurses are an associate level or BSN degree as well as a current RN license. The majority of employers and agencies that employ travel nurses require around two years of experience in nursing. Although national certification is not existed currently to travel nurses some RN specialties could improve job chances. The most sought-after certificates include certified pediatric and certified critical care and emergency nurse certifications.
Salary: $80,970 (November 2022)
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Informatics Nurse
Many nursing homes, hospitals insurance companies, hospitals, and government health departments, utilize information technology nurses to handle data related to healthcare as well as communications. The nurses, who are skilled in information technology, computer science, and nursing, handle data integration between the various healthcare providers to help these organizations to improve efficiency and enhance patient care.
How to be specialists usually enter the field after obtaining a BSN degree and obtaining an RN license. After having completed the BSN, RNs interested in nursing informatics may obtain a general MSN qualification or an MSN with a focus on health informatics. A few RNs earn advanced degrees in computer science or information science. Although not mandatory by all employers, getting a specific certification in nursing informatics from the American Nurses Credentialing Center can increase the chances of a career.
Salary: $80,280 (November 2022)
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Trauma Nurse
When working in emergency rooms and critical care units or teams of emergency medical intervention, trauma nurses assist in the care of patients with critically unstable, life-threatening circumstances. The RNs are trained to collaborate with doctors to stabilize and take care of traumatized patients. They manage the treatment of wounds and emergency medicines as well as IV fluids and blood transfusions. They also utilize life-saving equipment like defibrillators and keep track of vital indicators.
How to become Trauma nurses typically begin their career by obtaining an associate or BSN degree and passing the NCLEX-RN examination. Students in nursing should make use of the field or internship opportunities in the field of trauma. When they have two years in the field as RN These nurses must seek certification as a certified emergency nurse or other trauma-related qualifications by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing.
Salary: $79,560 (November 2022)
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Nurse Educator
Registered nurses have undergone advanced graduate courses which prepare them to instruct nursing students at academic hospitals or in hospital nurse training facilities. Alongside nursing nurses who are enrolled in degree or diploma courses, these nurses also provide continuing education courses and refresher programs for nurses. Other responsibilities include advising students, drafting and evaluating nursing education curricula in addition to conducting research, and creating grants.
What you can do: As with any other nursing career path being a nurse educator involves fulfilling several requirements in the field of education starting with a satisfactory score in the NCLEX-RN. Candidates must then complete an MSN and also gain further practical experience in an APRN practice field. Nursing schools are increasingly inclined to hire nurses who have completed either a doctoral practice degree or Ph.D. in nursing. These nurses are required to take their National League of Nursing exam to earn the necessary certification as certified nurse educators.
Salary: $78,910 (November 2022)
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