Important Information to Know before Entering Nursing School

Are you considering a career in nursing? Before you enter nursing school, there are a few things you should know. Most of them have to do with getting to know yourself, and a few have to do with understanding the nursing profession. If you are thinking of entering nursing school, here are some of the things you should be considering.

What nursing field do you want to specialize in?

There are many different fields within the nursing profession, and most of them have very specific requirements for education and licensing. If you’re dreaming of being a Public Health nurse, for instance, there are licensing requirements and special courses that you’ll need to take. Knowing those things will make your decision of where to go to nursing school far easier, you can eliminate any nursing school that doesn’t offer the required courses.

If you do not know what kind of nursing you want to do, or even whether you really want to be a nurse, there are many different ways to get some practical experience in nursing before you start nursing school. Volunteer in a hospital or nursing home to see what nurses do first hand. Talk with neighbors and relatives who are nurses and learn more about their jobs. Ask specific questions. Find out what they like about their positions, and what they would like to see improved. Becoming knowledgeable about these aspects, yourself and about the career as a whole will make it easier for you to start planning your education and your career.

What are your short term and long term career goals?

One of the advantages of choosing a career in nursing is that you can often work your way up the career ladder while you gain more advanced degrees. Setting up a plan to do that will make it far easier to take advantage of opportunities like tuition reimbursement. It’s fairly easy these days to get an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, which is your first step on the career ladder. That ADN will be your main requirement for a job in nursing, which will often include tuition reimbursement and other assistance from your employer in pursuing a more advanced degree. That kind of advance planning can help you decide which schools to attend, which ones your company will reimburse, and which courses to take. You may also find that your job experience gives you a leg up on your practicum that’s required to advance in some nursing courses.

Do you intend to get an advanced nursing degree?

If you already know that you intend to get an advanced nursing degree, find out what is exactly required to reach that level before you start your nursing school education. It is far easier to map your education from the end backwards, so to speak, because you will be able to plan your courses and classes to fulfill as many requirements along the way as you can. You can also use that knowledge to try to arrange work in the field where you want to end up. If you know that you’ll need to do a turn on a med-surgery floor as part of your requirements for a degree next year, you can try to arrange that in advance through your work. If you know that a class you want to take in two years has a prerequisite, you can try to take it before you even enroll in nursing school.

The three major nursing degrees are:

LPN – Licensed Practical Nurse - An LPN program is a diploma program that takes about a year. As an LPN you’ll be able to do some patient care under the direction of doctors and registered nurses.

ADN – Associates Degree in Nursing - An ADN typically takes about two years to complete and is generally given at a community college. As an ADN, you will often be able to apply for licensing and registration in your state and will be able to do direct patient care in most settings.

BSN – Bachelor of Science in Nursing - A BSN is a four year program that prepares you to work in most care settings. If you intend to eventually get a Masters in Nursing, or would like to get into nursing management, a BSN is your best choice.

What kind of nursing degree do you need to do the work you want to do?

Find out the requirements for the kind of nursing that you want to do. Will you need a BS in Nursing? Can you learn what you need in a hospital certificate program? Is an LPN course right for you? Once you have figured out which degree you want to get, you can start looking at nursing schools that offer that degree. Some things you might consider when choosing are:

- Am I academically equipped for this program?
- Can I get financial aid for nursing school?
- Can I get tuition reimbursement from my employer for nursing school?
- Is the school you’re considering accredited?
- Do you want to attend nursing school online?

About the Author

Arianna Jordan is a freelance writer who writes about the nursing profession, often writing about specific items used in nursing such as nursing scrubs.

What Is The Best Anti Wrinkle Cream? Wrong Question

Many people look for an answer to this question. "What is the best anti wrinkle cream"? However I'll have to tell you that this is asking the wrong question. Before you ask what is the best wrinkle cream you need to ask yourself what is the safest anti wrinkle cream.

Safest? What does safety have to do with anti wrinkle creams? Sadly it has heaps to do with wrinkle creams. I'll explain.

Unfortunately many of the big brand wrinkle creams on the market, and anti aging skin care products in general, and cosmetics, and beauty and personal body care products contain dangerous ingredients. I'll give you some examples.

Many wrinkle creams contain Parabens. This chemical is a cheap and effective preservative, and so the big brands use it in their skin care products. Problem is that Parabens isn't proven to be safe for human use, and many consider it dangerous. You'll see "Paraben free" on some products because people are now becoming aware that Parabens aren't something you want to find in your cosmetics or skin care products like anti wrinkle creams.

At least one product contains a chemical that is used as a pesticide and others contain chemicals that are "known to cause cancer". The problem is so bad that there are now entire organizations set up to try to clean up cosmetics and skin care products and anti aging products and personal body products. But they are fighting against big business that makes $billions a year, so they're fighting an uphill battle.

If the existence of dangerous ingredients in our cosmetics and skin care products like anti wrinkle creams comes as a shock to you then you may now be thinking "I should be finding the safest anti wrinkle cream", not asking myself "what is the best anti wrinkle cream".

And you'd be right. Because safety comes before effectiveness, any wrinkle cream that has the potential to damage our skin, or our health in general, has to be something to avoid. And avoid them you should.

So what do you do if you're looking for the best wrinkle cream? You should be considering natural skin care products from a range that includes top quality wrinkle creams, and which are made from ingredients that are known to be safe, and effective. Because there are niche skin care companies that recognize this problem with dangerous ingredients in skin care products like wrinkle creams, and make a line of safe skin care products that are made from ingredients known to be safe, and effective.

The best of these niche natural skin care companies actually makes skin care products, including wrinkle creams, that are way more effective than those unsafe wrinkle creams made by the big brand names. In fact this small niche natural skin care company makes the worlds finest skincare and anti-aging products.

They utilise such naturally occurring ingredients as seaweed and extracts from sheeps wool, and the oil from the nuts of the Shea tree, and more. These ingredients are proven by science to be extremely effective for improving skin health, and when used in natural wrinkle creams result in the worlds best anti wrinkle creams.

So if you're asking yourself "what is the best anti wrinkle cream", then you can be confident that there are excellent anti wrinkle creams available. But the best isnt' made by the big brands, and in fact the very safety of their products is in question.

So go safety first when looking for wrinkle creams, and you'll also get the worlds very best, (and safest), anti wrinkle cream.

About the Author

Want to know where to find the best, and safest, Anti Wrinkle Creams? Visit Peter's Website Natural Health-Natural Skin Care and find out more about wrinkle creams at http://naturalskinhealth.com/anti-aging/