Could someone tell me the following...

[NavyCheerGirl]

I'm going for my BSN and then into the Navy, but I'm unclear about the following jobs and how the jobs are different: clinical nursing, nurse practitioner, nurse recruiter, nurse administrator, and health nurse. Which is better if a nurse wants to be close to his or her patients? Thank you for reading my message!

[KatieBell]

You are describing different levels of nursing, some of which you can not do as a BSN prepared Nurse. Lets see if I can sort it properly.

1.Clinical Nurse, usually a bedside nurse. BSN Diploma or ADN prepared, provides direct care to patients in a variety of situations.

2.Nurse practitioner, has a Masters degree in Nursing, as well as a BSN. Sees patients in a variety of settings- is often called a Mid-level provider, in certain states can write rxs, performs exams and some procedures outside of the scope of a Registered Nurse. They function more as a Physician extender- seeing patients and diagnosing, rather than providing hands on care.

3. A nurse recruiter generally doesnt work with patients. Nurse recruiters are responsible for recruiting nurses to come and work at the facility they represent. Depending on the facility the job can be very stressful and require a lot of travel.

4.Nurse Admin: also not usually taking care of patients. Is responsible for the day to day operations of nursing staff in a facility. Deals with salary issues, practice issues, scheduling, and a variety of other administrative type stuff.

5. The Health nurse: I dont knwo what exactly that is, but it is probably a specific term used by a specific area.

As you go along in your education, you'll find more terms for nurses than you can imagine.