Public Health Nurse – Career and Education Profile
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Public health nurses take on a unique role in the medical field. Rather than working with patients, public health nurses opt to educate and provide screening to prevent and study diseases.
Job Responsibilities
Public health nurses work with the community to promote health through education and research. In this role, you could complete tasks such as offering classes on health-related topics, taking part in campaigns to promote diet and exercise, teaching holistic health, and more. You could also work in a clinic to provide health screenings, offer advice to individuals hopping to prevent disease, immunize children, and otherwise encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, some public health nurses assess risk, helping to prevent injuries by making an environment safer. Nurses working in public health also have the option of going into research, where you’ll work to study population.
Salary and Career Options
Public health nurses earn an average of $53,207 annually, according to reports by Payscale.com. You can earn more in this field by becoming an advanced practice nurse. If you choose this option, you’ll typically want to take the clinical nurse specialist route, which allows you to receive education in not just clinical work (as is the case with nurse practitioners), but also consulting, research, education, and administration.
Educational Requirements
In other to start working as a public health nurse as quickly as possible, consider becoming an LPN, which takes less than a year in many cases. If you want to open more job doors and make more money, however, going back to school to get certified as an RN or advanced practice nurse makes sense. Although not mandatory, you can seek certification in this field from the American Public Health Association after you become a licensed nurse and gain experience in public health.
LPN to RN College Programs
While several schools have online nursing degrees available, few offer LPN to RN programs. What's the good news? We have listed some accredited schools below that do offer the program in addition to schools with other bridge programs available. Find out more information and contact each school by using any of the links below.
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Indiana State University—Indiana State University offers a robust online program designed for LPNs wanting to become registered nurses and earn their BSN degree. Since ISU's credits transfer to over 80 campus majors, this is an ideal program for people wanting to open opportunities for their career down the road. |
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The College Network—The College Network is a partnership with several universities and organizations like the National League for Nursing that focuses on online education and programs, with several courses for nurses or those interested in a nursing career. Specifically, TCN helps students prepare for their PN and RN licensures and move on to earn graduate degrees. |
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Select a subject and degree level, then click "Find My Degree" to browse 100+ online nursing schools offering relevant accredited programs. |
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Walden University—Walden University is typically a graduate school with several masters and doctoral programs available, but they do have BSN and RN to MSN bridge programs available. Walden is based out of Minneapolis and offers several options in transferring your previously earned credits to and from (or even within) the school. |
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Kaplan University—Kaplan University is one of the nation's largest and leading online educators and offers several bridge programs for registered nurses to earn their BSN or MSN degree. If you have previously earned credits, Kaplan makes it easy for you to transfer to any one of their undergraduate or graduate programs. |
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Herzing University—While Herzing University does not offer an undergraduate nursing degree, it is a great choice for working nurses wanting to pursue leadership positions in Nurse Education or Management. With over 10 campuses and 45 online programs available, Herzing has a massive network that makes it easy to transfer to or from the school. |
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