How to Become a Nurse

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

People who want to work as a nurse have many pathways to receive their credentials.

Unlike many careers, nursing doesn’t have to cost a lot to enter. Many people begin nursing in entry-level work, such as a certified nurse assistant.

Molli Oldenburg, a nurse practitioner, is the global initiatives coordinator and family nurse practitioner program coordinator at UB.

“That’s typically offered as a free program by teaching hospitals and other organizations,” said Molli Oldenburg, doctorate of nurse practitioner and global initiatives coordinator and family nurse practitioner program coordinator at UB.

These programs typically run for four to 12 weeks.

Many organizations offer tuition in part or in full to become a licensed practical nurse, a credential that requires a yearlong program.

“It’s typically a vocation education,” Oldenburg said. “I completed mine while in high school and did half days at BOCES for two years. If you did it full-time, you could do it in a year.”

The next level is a registered nurse, an associate degree program that requires a two-year program, often offered at community colleges, followed by a state exam before receiving licensure.

Since 2017, registered nurses are required to complete a bachelor’s degree (BSN) within 10 years, which is a four-year program (including the two years to complete the registered nurse program).

Healthcare organizations “mostly cover the cost to go back to get your bachelor’s if you’re already working there with your associate,” Oldenburg said.

The next level is the advanced practice registered nurse, or master of science in nursing. This could include a nurse practitioner, clinical nurse leader, clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anesthetist or certified nurse midwife.

“They’re more in a provider role diagnosing, treating and prescribing,” Oldenburg said.

Beyond these levels are the non clinical specialties such as doctor of nurse practitioner, which enables people to serve as a nurse administrator, nursing informaticist, nurse educator, or nurse researcher.

“Most hospitals and unions that nurses join offer some payback for this education, but it’s mostly funded by nurses,” Oldenburg said.

With each level comes a higher level of responsibility, scope of practice and salary.

“The options of what you can do are endless as a nurse practitioner,” Oldenburg said. “You can work in whatever you’re trained to work in as long it’s in your scope of practice. It’s been discussed that they’re require all NPs to be doctorate prepared and eliminate the master’s level. There’s discussion that will happening. Other health sciences like pharmacy and physical therapy have moved to that. It’s something I do believe will happen to keep up and be equal to other healthcare roles. It offers more ability for NPs to bring research and evidence-based care to practice and improve care to in patient and out patient. It improves education in academia.”

Area institutions like UB and Daemen try to stay abreast to needs among healthcare providers to grow existing programs or if needed, begin new ones.

“One of the things we noticed is a need for acute care nurse practitioners,” said Martha Kershaw, who holds a doctorate in education, and is a registered nurse and associate professor of nursing with Daemen University in Amherst. “We’ve had a program for that approved and we started admitting students this semester. They could meet the need in hospitals in any hospital setting for hospitalist, ICU and ER.”

Seeking more education can only help nurses in furthering their careers in the future, especially in management education, or leadership roles. At the master’s level, nurses can specialize in areas of interest so they can command higher wages and practice more independently. But the DNP may not mean greater wages when practicing at the clinical level, but as a steppingstone to teaching or administrative roles.