NURSING

This degree prepares students to provide recovery oriented and preventive health care services to people in a variety of settings. The professional registered nurse plans, gives and supervises bedside nursing care; teaches nursing personnel and assists in teaching patients and their families; plans for community health services; and administers various programs inside and outside of a hospital or institutional setting.

Within nursing there are separate specialties of registered nurses. These include: hospital nurses who provide care to patients in hospitals, infirmaries and medical institutions; private duty nurses who negotiate contracts to provide nursing care for patients in the patient's home or patient care institutions; community health nurses who work for town and city government and instruct families on good health techniques; physician's office nurses who help doctors with the examination and treatment of patients in an office setting; and school nurses who plan the objectives and practices for a school's health program in cooperation with medical authorities and school administrators.

Some other specialties in the registered nurse area include the nurse anesthetist who receives special training to administer anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery; nurse midwife who practices the independent management and care of normal newborns and women; nurse practitioner who functions in an expanding nursing role, usually in the ambulatory patient care setting, working closely with physicians.

Department websites: http://nursing.rutgers.edu/

*=Additional Education/Training Required