Nursing Careers for Number Crunchers

Nursing jobs for numbers peopleWhile nursing may require many skills such as attention to detail and good communication, nothing compares to being a good student of math. Many of those who enter the nursing field do so because they have a desire to help people and want to put their proficiency in math to use. While all nursing fields require some measure of mathematics, some specialties are more math-intensive than others. If you’re a nursing student and looking for math-intensive specialties, consider one of the following options. You’ll probably experience some of these specialties during your clinical rotations in the Northeastern University Direct Entry-Hybrid Nursing Program.

Critical Care Nurse

If you choose to be a critical care nurse, you will have to be quick-thinking and reliable. Nurses in this fieldwork with critically ill patients who face life-threatening problems. You will be working closely with patients, assessing their condition throughout their illness, treating their wounds, monitoring medical equipment and administering fluids and medications.

As the primary medical point of contact for your patients, you will be calculating the correct dosages for patients, which are usually based off of a patient’s weight. You will also be converting measurements, all of which are based on the metric system. This means converting ounces to cubic centimeters, Fahrenheit to Celsius and inches to centimeters. Some drugs are titrated, meaning the dosages vary and are based on ever-changing factors, such as glucose levels. Drug titration is typically only done by specially trained nurses, so be sure to pursue this path if you enjoy the math involved.

Nurse Administrator

Some nurses find that after some time spent in their bedside specialties they want to make a change. One of the best aspects of nursing is the many different career paths available to them, regardless of their interests. For those who are interested in more managerial roles, they can become a nursing administrator.

Nurse administrators have quite an array of duties. While you will still care for patients, you’ll have other responsibilities. Nurse administrators are in charge of ensuring successful communication with all of the staff, doing team-building exercises and budgeting and scheduling.

Budgeting is one of the behind-the-scenes aspects that are crucial to the successful running in a hospital, clinic or other medical setting. Nurse administrators are in charge of establishing the budget, controlling costs and reporting any important financial data. Nursing students who also enjoy accounting would be perfect in nursing administrator roles.

NICU Nurses

Someone might see the word NICU and assume it’s simply a miniaturized version of the ICU. While understandable, it’s not accurate. Some of the patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may have serious illnesses similar to the ICU and need special medications or help breathing, while others may come and go in only a few days. Infants in the NICU only leave when they are able to go home, whereas ICU patients may be transferred to different units when their conditions change.

NICU nurses have plenty of duties to keep them busy. They are charged with monitoring the conditions of the infants, recording any changes and administering any medicine the baby may need. Because some babies in the NICU may not even weigh a full pound, calculating the correct dosages of medication is vital. You will be in charge of monitoring every ounce of medication they receive, how much breast milk or formula they drink and any output that is important to their care. Because of the drastic differences in each baby’s weight, your ability to accurately calculate dosages can make a huge difference in a patient’s care.

If math isn’t your strong suit, there’s no need to worry. Your math modules will fully prepare you for the nursing math you will be required to do once you start your career.

If you’re interested in these various career paths, contact us about beginning your journey to a nursing career today.

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