Loading...Louisiana Nursing Degree for Easy Employment
If you are a resident of Louisiana and aiming to start your career in health care field, you must understand that the LA state offers you best nursing job opportunities. The state has many important cities, such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria, Bossier City and others that pays lucrative salaries to a nursing professional, which may range $64,040 annually to Registered Nurses and $41,470 annually to Licensed Practical Nurses.
The second reason, why you should you obtain Louisiana Nursing Degree lies with the fact that state also locates many major health care centers, such as Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Woman’s Hospital, Lafayette General Medical Center, Terrebonne General Medical Center, Beauregard Memorial Hospital and many others. These facilities offer immediate employment to qualified nurses.
Further, it is also true that similar to other states of America, the state of Louisiana is also facing acute shortage of nursing professionals in different types of health care centers. The shortage problem also has urged the state and employer of the facilities to offer various financial aids to individuals to earn nursing degrees and to retain existing nurses.
The result of all these factors have also led to establishment of numerous nursing schools, universities and colleges that try to offer quality nursing programs to aspiring students, who can ease the nursing shortages faced by the state.
Different types of Louisiana Nursing Degree offered by these schools include degrees from entry level LPN, NA, RN, LVN, CRNA, ARPN to Masters, Specialty, PhD and Doctoral. The students have the option to become LPN. LVN, RN, specializes in specific field with advance master and specialty courses or continues with research with PhD or Doctoral.
The primary degrees that can be attended by nursing students, comprises of:
- Practical Nursing
- Nursing Assistant to LPN
- LPN to RN (Associate Degree in Nursing)
- LPN to RN (Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing)
- LVN to BSN
- RN to MSN
- Accelerate Programs
- Second Degrees
- Associate/Diploma to Baccalaureate Degree
- MSN
- Masters
- Specialty Programs
- PhD programs
- Doctoral Programs
The degrees offered by these schools and colleges are accredited by either National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission (NLNAC), Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or Louisiana Nursing Education Articulation Model. The schools and programs must also get the approval from LA Board of Nursing.
The completion of nursing education also offers a student eligibility to appear for different exams, such as NCLEX, NCLEX-PN, LCPLEX-RN, Specialty exams and others.
But, it is also necessary to understand that the admission to a nursing school or college also require completion of certain prerequisites to get enrollment to programs and they include, Registered Nurse Entrance Exam, completion of few necessary courses either through the program offering colleges or from the board approved or accredited colleges Nursing Entrance Test, Psychological Services Bureau, Critical Thinking Entrance Exam and Test of Essential Academic Skills.
The deserving and qualified students are also offered various types of scholarships, fellowships, grants, loans and loan reimbursement schemes to ease the financial burden of the tuition fess and program cost. The shortages of Nurse Educators have also led to offering special financial assistance to encourage experienced RNs to become nurse educators and nurse administrators.
Further, you must also understand that enrolling for any specific program depends on your own career choices because different programs offer you different degrees. You also have the option of attending day, evening, full time or Online nursing classes for your degree programs.
Vocational Nursing Programs or Associate degrees of 2 years offer you opportunities for entry level nursing positions.
Bachelor in Nursing or 2-4 years Baccalaureate programs assist you in becoming a Registered Nurse or to enroll for further masters and advanced specialty programs. There are many specialty programs that demand minimum BSN degree for the enrollment.
Similarly, Accelerated Degrees can make you complete BSN, ASN and Masters in shortest possible time of 1-4 years as per degree requirements.
Masters, Post Masters, Doctoral or Specialties programs assist a student to further their nursing qualification for practicing in advance levels, specialty areas, in an administrative level, as a nurse educator, school nurse, independent individual practice or practice in supervisory roles.
Most of the entry level to higher degrees can be completed within 2-6 years as per the degree requirements.
But, the most important points that must be remembered before short listing or enrolling in any nursing school include:
- Your nursing career priorities and selection of the program that meets your aspirations.
- Nursing School or College Location.
- Size and Reputation of the school.
- Size of the classes and teacher to student’s ratio.
- Clinical hands-on experience facility offered by the school.
- Pass-Rates in NCLEX Examination
- Approval and Accreditation of Nursing Schools and their programs.
- Program cost
Once, you decide and research these facts, you can narrow down your search to best Louisiana Nursing Degree and school that can meet all your nursing aspirations and goals.