The profession of nursing has become an essential part of our country’s healthcare system. Registered Nurses help doctors provide the most careful medical services to American patients. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that an RN can earn more than $70,000 each year. On the other hand, dental hygienists earn nearly the same as medical nurses do. Dental nurses work in dental clinics and assist dentists in the same way surgical nurses help out surgeons. The purpose of this article is to study and compare these professions for prospective students. We’ll cover some necessary information regarding registered nurses and dental hygienists.
Medical nurses
An alternative name for this practice is medical-surgical nursing. They look after adult patients in a wide range of settings and situations, and it is also the largest community within the nursing profession. It has a holistic approach to the system of healthcare. Critical thinking capabilities mark the business of medical nursing. They need to remain calm under pressure as the progress of medical procedures partially depends upon them.
What do they do?
There are many responsibilities medical nurses have to take care of including:
- Involvement in preparing the patients for surgery and their post-surgical monitoring
- Treating the patients who are suffering from a chronic ailment
- Caring for the patients who have contracted more than one disease
What degrees do they require?
There are two sorts of basic courses you can go through to become a medical nurse.
- Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN): It takes two years to complete.
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN): It’s a four-year program, but a bachelor of nursing online takes less than two years. The BSN degree is better, favorite, and recommended than the ADN one.
How much do they make?
Medical nurses can make $50-90 thousand annually. RN-BSN-prepared nurses are the most preferred RNs in the market right now. As mentioned before, medical-surgical nursing is the dominant profession in the nursing field. The BSN degree can help you advance in your career more quickly than the ADN degree.
Career opportunities in medical nursing
How does the BSN degree help you in your professional life? Besides medical-surgical nursing, there are multiple career opportunities for you in this department. You can choose between any of the following occupations:
- ER nurse: They work in the emergency room with patients who are in a life-threatening condition.
- Nurse informatics specialist: Specialists in this field coordinate with the nursing and the IT staff at the hospital.
- Nurse manager: A hospital has a team of nurses that needs to be overseen by an effective leader or a manager.
- Oncology nurse: This field belongs to the department of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
- Travel nurse: Whenever there’s a workforce gap, these travel nurse specialties come to the hospital’s rescue.
How is this field relevant?
Have you ever heard of the ’80 % BSN by 2020′ initiative? In 2010, the Institute of Medicine pledged to increase the number of registered nurses with a BSM degree to 80%. They recommended fulfilling this dream in the next ten years. Prospective nurses must perform their best to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing before the end of the year.
Dental hygienists
Have you ever tried searching for ‘dental nurse’ on Google? That’s what the British call this profession. In the United States, a dental nurse goes by the name ‘dental hygienist.’ These nurses are an indispensable part of a dental team. They provide a calm, soothing, and reassuring presence in a dentist’s clinic.
What do they do?
That is how expert dental hygienists help around a dental clinic:
- They assist the dentist or orthodontist in performing the medical procedures on patients.
- They look after the required dental instruments and equipment.
- They also document the patients’ oral health records for future references.
What degrees do they require?
There are two basic methods of becoming a dental nurse in the United States:
- Degree in dental hygiene: You can get an associate’s, bachelor’s, or master’s degree in Dental Hygiene.
- Master of public health: The MPH degree helps you become a public health dental hygienist in the USA.
How much do they make?
Due to the emergence of coronavirus, people are opting for an online degree in public health. The profession of a dental hygienist can help you earn $76,000 every year. More than 200 thousand dental hygienists are working in the country right now. With an 11% expected growth rate, the job outlook (2018-28) of this practice seems promising.
Career opportunities in medical nursing
Dental hygienists don’t always need to stick the word ‘hygiene’ with their profession. They can study dental medicine/surgery and get a DMD/DDS degree to become full-fledged dentists. Alternatively, a qualified dental nurse can seek a career in medical and health services management with an MPH degree. This degree can also pave their way to become epidemiologists or biostatisticians one day.
How is this field relevant?
The working conditions of this job let dental hygienists deal directly with the patients. They get a firsthand experience of the practice of dental science. The job package covers the healthcare of nurses and vacation/personal days. A career in dental hygiene makes it easy for nurses to enter the fields of dental science and orthodontics.
Conclusion Registered nursing and dental hygiene are both lucrative professions for interested folks. But they possess different sorts of charm for people with different mentalities. The medical nursing department provides variety in its work environment. Dental hygiene, on the other hand, is somewhat repetitive in routine. But dental hygienists don’t have to work overnight as much as RNs have to do. Medical nurses also have to create an emotional bond with their patients. But dental nurses don’t need to invest emotionally with the orally unhealthy. Many well-founded universities offer online courses in both fields. It would help if you always judged the pros and cons of a subject before studying it academically.
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