Aflyer

I will be doing my project on my fiancé’s career field, nursing, since I am male and going into the military which is based on a pay grade system. The top ten things to know about the field of nursing are:

1. There are over 200 different specialties that you can enter under the field of nursing. They are vastly different so make sure you do your own research to see what you are interested in or you might end up caring for the elderly when you wanted to be working in the emergency room (wikipedia.com)

2. For the state of Pennsylvania the average salary for nurses was $53,629 but the level of education and type of specialty will greatly impact your salary. A Nurse Anesthetists will start at an annual salary of $90,000+ (RN.com).

4. The key to getting the higher level pay grades is to be educated in the same specialty (Nurse.org).

5. Also make sure you get certified in your specialty. If your education is not focused you will not see a difference on your paycheck or in your career advancement (RN.com).

6. There is a wage gap in the field of nursing but it is small compared to the general work force (RN.com).

7. Women make an average of $53,900($.92 to a man’s dollar) and men make an average of $59,000 (RN.com).

8. This wage gap can actually be explained in part because more men in the field of nursing have masters and doctorate degrees. Since the wage gap is small in this case the difference in education may be the explanation (RN.com).

9. However, research shows that men also hold more advance positions in the field which could be explained by the general higher level of education in men or there might be some favoritism in putting men in higher positions of power. There is not significant evidence to suggest the latter (Nurse.org).

10. Nursing is an extremely versatile field. Not only are there many different specialties, there are many different ways to have a nursing career. One vastly different way is to be a nurse in the military, which my fiancé is doing. Other paths include: education, research, private practice and nurse midwife (Nurse.org).