How Do I Become A California Registered Nurse

Becoming an RN in California: RN Career Paths

Registered nurses (RNs) brand up the largest group of healthcare workers in California. 330,000 peopl e hold RN licenses in the state. Is this too many? Far from it! Nurses accept on and so many roles.

Becoming a California RN

RN status depends on instruction and examination. The first step is usually completion of a degree programme (RN Programs in California). However, California allows nurses who already hold credentialing equally Licensed Vocational Nurses to move upwardly to RN condition after completing 30 additional semester hours of nursing. Non-degreed California RNs licensed through this pathway should exist enlightened though, that moving out-of-state could mean their RN license is no longer recognized.

California RNs, similar those in other states, take the NCLEX-RN exam.

Some organizations offer residencies or transition to do programs. These do not impact licensing status. However, they tin have a bearing on whether ane stays on the job!

Task Settings and Roles

The California Board of Registered Nursing surveys a sampling of licensees every 2 years. The 2016 survey found that approximately two-thirds worked in acute care hospital settings. Of, these, a majority were in inpatient care or the emergency department, but there were other settings possible; a substantial minority of hospital RNs served an outpatient population.

Non-infirmary ambulatory settings such as doctor's office and surgical centers comprised 8.i% of work settings. Skilled nursing, extended care, and rehabilitation settings together comprised five.ane%; home health, some other 3.4%. Other settings included schools, drug and alcohol treatment centers, public health departments, and dialysis centers, amidst others.

A piffling over half of the respondents categorized their master role equally staff nurse/direct care provider. More than fifteen% had combined charge nurse and direct intendance responsibilities. More than 9% identified as direction at some level . 4% had made it as far equally nurse practitioner; a smaller percentage were in other graduate level advanced exercise roles: nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist, clinical nurse specialist. 5.5% identified themselves as case managers, care coordinators, or discharge planners. This is a office that has been on an upwards tendency with some increase during each 2-year menstruum since 2006. Amongst the other roles cited were schoolhouse nurse, public health nurse, quality improvement nurse, clinical or service setting nurse, and telenurse.

Hospital wards tend to be specialized, and to some degree, nursing roles in these settings are, as well. The post-obit is a recent sampling of units for which RNs were sought:

Emergency Section
Labor and Delivery
Intensive Intendance Unit of measurement –Coronary
Behavioral Health Inpatient
Pediatrics
Burn Intensive Intendance Unit

Hospitals hire nurses for roles like case management and bed control (patient menses). They fifty-fifty hire RNs to manage employee wellness issues.

Public Wellness Nursing

California certifies public health nurses. This role requires education at at to the lowest degree the bachelor's level. A nurse who possesses a California RN license but whose bachelor's caste is in a field other than nursing can pursue additional qualifying coursework.

Positions in public health settings tin be quite diverse. NBC Bay Area recently called attending to a serious trouble — homeless newborns and significant women — and to those working to amend their lives. Among those quoted: an RN who was responsible for connecting pregnant women who were homeless with needed resources. The article noted that the nurse spent much of her time on the San Francisco streets (https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Number-Homeless-Meaning-Women-Newborns-on-the-Rise-in-San-Francisco-457596843.html). These are, after all, the places her clientele calls domicile.

Placer County has produced a video showing what it's like to be a public wellness nurse (https://world wide web.placer.ca.gov/departments/public-health/public-health-nursing).

Premier California Hospitals

California has a number of premier hospitals, desirable from an employment standpoint also as a patient one.

The American Nurses Credentialing Eye awards magnet status. California boasts fully 33 magnet hospitals. Among them are the following:

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center
MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center (including Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach)
Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa
University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
Valley Children's Hospital in Madera

Indeed.com has placed Stanford Health Care at #10 on its list of all-time U.S. hospitals to piece of work for.

Dignity Wellness, MemorialCare Wellness Organisation, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Scripps Health, Sharp Healthcare, and St. Joseph Health all make the Becker'southward Infirmary Review of best hospitals and medical centers to work for.

Career Outlook and Average RN Bacon in California

The 2016 California Employer Report found at least moderate demand for nurses at almost all hospitals surveyed (https://rnworkforce.ucsf.edu/demand-information). Need for experienced nurses is higher, but need for new nurses has increased over the past several years.

California registered nursing occupational levels take been predicted to increase 17.iii% betwixt 2014 and 2024.

California, with a mean annual wage of $101,750, was the highest paying state in the nation for registered nurses in 2016. In fact, the ten highest paid cities were all in California. The San Francisco metropolitan expanse tops the listing, followed by the Santa Cruz-Watsonville area.

Fortune, meanwhile, reported on the top cities nationwide for nurses to earn money, taking into business relationship both salary and cost of living (https://world wide web.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/03/09/fifteen-great-cities-for-nurses-in-2017/#11fe28ccf47d). The list looks a little different – San Francisco and Santa Cruz no longer make the listing — but California is still very well represented. The top three were all in the San Joaquin Valley area of California: Fresno, Bakersfield, and Modesto. Number 4, Sacramento, was not far away. Riverside, Oxnard, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego also fabricated it into the top fifteen.

And then at that place are the intangibles! The 2016 survey institute overall job satisfaction among California RNs. RNs found their interactions with patients very rewarding and were also quite satisfied with relationships with other health professionals.

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