Felicia Said:

How is it that dental hygienists make just as much as a nurse? Also, can you give me info about the career?

We Answered:

"A dental hygienist is a licensed dental auxiliary who specializes in preventive dental care, typically but not limited to focusing on techniques in oral hygiene. Local dental regulations determine the duties hygienists are able to perform. In most jurisdictions, hygienists work for a dentist, and are licensed to administer restricted techniques of local anesthesia. Also radiographs, sealants, scaling, root planing and cleaning are common procedures performed by dental hygienists.

In some areas, the dental regulations include extended duties and exemptions for dental hygienists. Some hygienists are allowed to practice without dentist supervision, use restricted bleaching techniques, and in some areas are even allowed to restore teeth using restricted classes of fillings."

Check the web sites I listed below. As outlined in the passage above, a dental hygienist is entrusted with a high level of care and responsibility for patient care- they don't just show you how to clean your teeth.

As for the pay- in the area that I live in the dental hygienists start out at a higher rate, but they do all of the listed items above; thus the high starting pay. As for nursing, while they start out at a lower starting rate, but they have more opprotunities if they choose to specialized with further education and certifications.

The school for both start out with and associates degree. If you are planing on becoming an instructor, you can opt for going back for a bachelors in Dental Hygiene. For nursing- here, you will not see that much of an increase in your pay unless you obtain the masters.

Check your local community colleges web sites they should list the requirements for both of these options. If these programs are as in demand as they are in my local area, you will find that there is either a long waiting list, or the requirements are so high that most individuals will not qualify and have to reapply.

We have 2 Dental Hygiene programs in a 50 mile radius compaired to 6 nursing programs in the same area (all 6 of the community college have a nursing program).

Good Luck.

Eduardo Said:

career info on being a registered nurse?

We Answered:

I will try to answer your questions as you asked them.

Nursing school is academically harder than many fields of study, but it is certainly not the hardest. The most difficult thing about nursing school is the volume of material and the amount of time the school takes. If you can devote most of your time to school, then it is not unreasonable, but for many people, who try to work while going to school, or who try to go to school and manage a family, the school can be too much stress.

The worst thing about being a nurse is of course the fact that people do not get sick on a schedule. Unlike most occupations, where you can say, come back Monday, nursing is a 24 hour a day 7 day a week 365 day a year job. Someone has to be avilable for the patients at all times. In some areas of the hospital, this requires a person at the unit full time, other areas, the nurses can take call from home, but it still has an impact on your life.

There are on occasion some things which occur during any health care provider's life that are not pleasing. Anyone, from a nursing assistant to a physician can have a patient vomit on them or bleed on them, it comes with the territory. However, the overall duties of an RN, are in management and planning of the patient care, and the hands-on care is performed in a large part by the LVN/LPNs and nursing assistants. This is not to say RNs do not do hands-on care, but that there is a lot of management to the position, and often, the routine tasks are delegated, and the RNs occupy themselves with the more critical tasks. It is more vital for the RN to access the admission, and the patient returning from the OR than to give a bedbath or clean up a patient who is nauseous and vomiting. In critical care settings where RNs often give one on one care, they will often handle more of the unpleasing situations, but they also have many stimulating activities to their days also.

Remember, there are many areas of health care where RNs work, and these have more or less "gross" things. OR nurses deal with blood and body fluids constantly, as do ER nurses, Psychiatric nurses have much less of the medical issues, but are often not spared the patients human bodily waste (which might be spread down the hallway wall).

When a student is in the RN program, they are exposed to many clinical experiences, and that is when they decide, the level of "gross" things they are comfortable with.

Incidentally, maybe by luck (or just avoidance) in over 30 years I have never had to clean up feces or vomit, so each RNs experience is different.

EDIT: Anita, I just happened to note Jessie's answer... She is probably giving you an answer that applies to Great Britain where nurses are generally hospital trained. This was also the common method in the US a few decades ago, and there are a few diploma programs left. Some of the Diploma programs in the US will excuse your tuition if you agree to work for the hospital for a set period of time after graduation, I'm not aware of any in the US that pay the nursing students or give free room and board like in the past. The greatest number of RNs in the US are educated in associate degree programs, followed in number by BSN programs. There are hospitals who will provide tuition assistance if you work for them in some capacity, and there are some methods to get your student loans repaid after graduation. An example is the military will repay student loans for those entering active duty after completion of a BSN program.

Good Luck with whatever you choose! JD

Yolanda Said:

How is it that dental heigenists make just as much as a nurse or more? also can you give me info on the career

We Answered:

I'm a dentist.

Hygienists are grossly overpaid for their level of education and level of responsibility for patient care. Despite this, however, they are extremely useful to have in a dental practice, as they perform the tasks we doctors absolutely hate doing ourselves.

I would imagine, though, that a hygienist's income has a lower ceiling than a nurse's, though. On the other hand, a hygienist will never have the same level of responsibility as a nurse, nor will they ever work as many hours. So in that regard, hygienists receive better compensation per hour than most nurses.

Hygiene education is organized much like nursing. the RDH degree can be acquired either as part of a four-year bachelor program, or from a two-year program after receiving your bachelors degree.

Kim Said:

Info on the career of Nursing, how to get into it etc etc?

We Answered:

Just a tip on your grades.... you cannot count on English and Sciences to have higher grades.... concentrate on your math. Its easy and will bring up your grades much higher.

All it takes is practice. over and over and everyday! really everyday!
you will find math easier than you thought.

Start with community college... then University after.
Would you like to tell you a secret? Nurses do more work and are smarter than doctors and for a lot less pay. Let me advice you to become a physician instead.

After you become a physician, dont get lost in your career by woking yourself to death, like most who dont see daylight after age 58! Sad

Lewis Said:

Adult Nurse Career/ Help and Info Please :)?

We Answered:

5 GCSE's for Diploma Nursing or 5 GCSE's plus 2 or 3 A-levels for Degree Nursing. (Depends on the uni, you need to check with the ones you're interested in.) If you are a mature student like me who didn't do A-levels at school an Access course will do for diploma or degree. Access courses take a year & are done at local colleges.

Both degree & diploma are 3 years long, 50% practical & 50% theory.

I am studying for my degree now so that's undergraduate study. If I continue to study after I graduate then that will be postgraduate study.

There's no apprenticeship as such but I did read some time ago about nurse cadets so that may be worth investigating. It was for 16-19 year olds who lack the required GCSE's I believe. The aim of it was to get you your NVQ's so you can then go onto the diploma. Not 100% sure so look into it.

Whether you do diploma or degree, your uni fees are paid for by the NHS & you receive a bursary for living expenses.

You may be interested in the forum on this site. http://www.studentnurse.org.uk/

Johnnie Said:

RN Nurse Job info Good career choice?

We Answered:

My mom just went back to school to get her RN. She got it.
I think its a good career.
She has easy hours. and gets paid plenty.
She had to do a bunch of essays.
But they were easy essays.
You need to be nice, to be able to control your temper, because people WILL get on your nerves.