Everyone has a picture of a nurse in his or her minds eye. Sometimes this nurse is someone who cared for us or for a family member. It may be a nurse in the hospital or nursing home or at the school offering solace and a band-aid to the wounded after gym. It may mean offering a cooling cloth to a feverish brow, backrub to one confined to bed, or administering an injection in a clinic. You may still even picture a nurse in a nursing cap. But the variety of roles for nurses can actually be quite surprising. It's a field that seems to offer almost limitless opportunities.

Much has changed in the 150 years since Florence Nightingale ushered in modern nursing. The ethic of care for those in need, wherever they may be located, has resulted in an enormous choice of work settings. Nurses are employed in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes, of course. But they can also work in industries, the military, churches, hospices, neighborhood health centers, group homes, government agencies (like public health agencies), all levels of schools, professional organizations, colleges and universities, and insurance and pharmaceutical companies. In fact, one of my greatest pleasures is to surprise students or the public with descriptions of the unexpected roles of the nurse.

There are more nurses in the nation than any other health care profession. Sometimes the many types of nurses confuse us though. Educational levels among Registered Nurses, the RN, are as varied as the settings in which they practice: from the 2-year associate degree, or a 3-year diploma, or the 4-year bachelors degree. And now, nurses with Master's and Doctoral degrees are in great demand across the nation. There are also Licensed Practical Nurses - the LPNs. With their 1 - 2 year training, these nurses are skilled in delivering care under the supervision of the Registered Nurse. They typically are employed in acute and long-term care settings. Nursing has been, and still is, predominately a female profession. The profession has kept a vision of offering a career that allows flexibility, career advancement and satisfaction, and yet blends the art of nursing with rigorous science. In fact, most nurses remain in the profession, but change jobs frequently over the course of their career.

In this study module, you will see descriptions of nurses that may match the profile of the nurses you will encounter during your Rural Health School experience. The nursing students will often be preparing themselves for advanced practice as they study in their masters degree programs. The practicing nurses you will meet in the community are often the nursing leaders in a variety of fields: for example public health, clinical practice, or administration. As you have a chance to talk with them, feel free to ask them about their career journey. Each have a unique story to tell of how and why they became nurses, and most enjoy sharing their story. Nursing caps have been slowly disappearing, but the ethic of caring for those in need, wherever they may be, continues on. I hope you enjoy this opportunity to learn more about nursing.