Before knowing how to become a Nurse Researcher lets find out what a Nurse is. A nurse is someone who works in the medical field, in hospitals, medical clinics, and laboratories dedicated to research work in the medical field. They are the ones who attend patients in the medical premises at very first, even before the doctors. They are the first to provide any kind of first-aid to the patient. Apart from that, they keep the records of the illness and about the treatment that one is going through. They keep all the data recorded for the doctor and provide them with all the records about the patient and about the treatment they are undergoing. These data contains all the important information about the patient which can be used to save the patient’s life if required.
The Different Education Pathways
To become Nurse one can study any of the following course:-
1.) Diploma:-One can study diploma to become a Nurse but many states don’t approve of diploma holders as the certified nurse.
2.) Associate Degree:- This degree is a two-year degree and can be used in the journey to become the nurse and can be done after a bridge program is done from RN to BSN and they can become a certified nurse once they completed the NCLEX- RN licensure examination.
3.) Undergraduate Degree:- It’s a four-year university course. To become nurse researchers one should pursue the Bachelors of Nursing degree. This is a widely accepted base course in the need to be become, nurse or nurse researchers.
4.) Graduate Degree:- This is done after completing your undergraduate degree. This comes as a specialized course. Apart from the undergraduate course, the other requirements for the same are 1000 hours of experience as a registered nurse minimum. The extra work and training always counted as a benefit for the same.
5.) Doctorate Degree:- If one is going to pursue further education in the same field than comes the doctorate degree. The doctorate degree or a Ph.D. degree can be obtained after completion of undergraduate degree and graduate degree, this degree is the final step of the education of nurse researchers. This course takes 1-3 years additional to complete it.
Online Course or Option
Apart the above-mentioned courses, there are some online options available. There is a certain institution who provide online options for the students to pursue the course at the undergraduate level. But other institutions are stricter for this, they don’t accept the online course students. Their perception is nurse researchers may not perform any task as compared to the doctor but they need to have a background of the registered nurse, which means they need to complete some kind of education or have some kind of experience related to the same career path, so that they are aware of the work they have to perform.
Getting License
The NCLEX-RN national licensure examination is the qualifying exam to become a certified nurse in the United States, while to work in any other state or the country they have their own requirements. So it is basically where you want to work, then you have to have the required education and exams to become a certified nurse.
Prerequisites for study
A prerequisite of about 2.0 GPA is required for the high school students to take admission into an undergraduate course. While for graduate level and higher studies one requires a minimum of 3.0 GPA.
Program Accreditation
Accreditation is an important factor in choosing the nursing course, and to know whether your education is accredited or not one can look into The United States Department of Education, The Accreditation Commission for the Education of Nurses, The American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Getting Certified as a Nurse Researchers
The NCLEX-RN is the must to be cleared exam if one wants to work with the medical premises as nurse researchers. Apart from that if one wants to work in different states that they have to have the education and exam cleared according to their requirements. The points or measures used to determine whether a nurse meets the qualifications to work or is not eligible to work within the research field are decided nationwide and have the following requirements:-
1. The environment, where a patient will be kept, should be safe and sound for the patient as well as others.
2. The psychological condition or integrity should be adjusting and coping with other .
3. Injuries and illness prevention should be taught with embedding the knowledge of health maintenance and with the help of promotional methods on a regular basis.
4. Care and comfort of the patient should be the foremost priority as the psychological integrity.
While for more information one can always go through the following sites.
a.) NCLEX
b.) NIH Clinical Centre
The Cost of Becoming a Nurse Researcher
The cost for the course differs from their importance and also the cost, of course, differs from state to state, education system to the education system. So, there is a definite amount to quote for the courses they differ in the state, level of the course and other factors. So, in case to know the exact amount one should contact the University of the college directly to have the same and correct knowledge about the same.
Scholarships for Nurse Researchers
Financial help is provided to students through the grants, student loans, and scholarships. The most promising scholarship that can help students to pursue the professional nursing courses is After College AACN Scholarship Funds which provides the help of more than $9000 to the students pursuing professional nursing.
Working as a Nurse Researcher
Training and Care: Nurse Researchers learn the special way of collecting the data, information about the patients, reading and use of researches, usage of medical and research equipment. They are more professionally trained and taught in the field of medical, like they will know the use of medical terminologies and the medical information more than any other.
Job Outlook: With the 19% of expected growth by 2022 as predicted by BLS, The United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, nurse researchers become as a specialized form of registered nursing. This is faster than the average rate of growth in comparison to the other industries present in the market across the states.
Rate of Pay: The earnings of nurse researchers depend upon the type of education they have, also where they are working as well as on their experience of work. While Educational Portal reports the annual earnings of nurse researchers as being around $60,000.