J&J celebrating nurses' contributions

Nearly everyone has been touched by a nurse - literally. They work in hospitals and nursing homes, and they also care for terminally ill patients in their homes, keep kids well in our schools and prevent infections from spreading in our communities.

Because nurses do so much for so many, there are thousands of unfilled nursing jobs each year. And Johnson & Johnson plans to honor nurses and help fill some of those jobs. It's even encouraging Americans to nominate special nurses for recognition in a nationwide contest.

"Nurses play an incredibly important role in our communities, and we're committed to supporting this profession and highlighting their important and life-saving work," says Andrea Higham, director of the company's Campaign for Nursing's Future.

The campaign asks that anyone who has had a nurse make a significant impact on his or her life - or the life of a loved one - nominate the nurse for its "Amazing Nurses" contest. The winning nurse and a guest will travel to Los Angeles to attend a tribute in December and be featured in a TV commercial.

The campaign is an ongoing effort to promote opportunities in nursing and raise awareness of the profession. Its discovernursing.com website projects that by 2020, the U.S. will have a shortage of about 800,000 nurses.

An increasingly aging population means more medical care. And some nurses, such as those who work as faculty at nursing schools, are nearing retirement. This opens up jobs down the line as nurses rise in the ranks to fill senior positions. Most of the demand is in doctors' offices, where practitioners in nearly every specialty need nurses or even nurse practitioners.

There are different educational paths to becoming a registered nurse, depending on college or university programs in local areas. Most take four years to complete. Requirements may vary for someone who chooses nursing as a second career.

There are some great emerging specialties in nurses for people who want nursing but have other interests, too. Consider nursing informatics, tele-health or forensic nursing, for example.

One of the advantages to a nursing career is the variety. A nurse can choose a field of interest, change specialties or advance with some specialized education.

For example, one nurse may start out in the operating room, then work with patients in the post-surgical recovery room, then choose a medical-surgical unit, caring for patients who must stay in the hospital for a few days after surgeries.

Eventually, he or she may become a transplant nurse, assisting on or coordinating kidney, heart or other organ transplants; may work in critical care or intensive care; and even receive advanced training to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist, or CRNA, providing anesthesia to women giving birth or for patients in other surgical procedures.

Some registered nurses also work on call or as "travelers," working in many different facilities as needed. Some become managers or move into consulting or legal or policy roles within health care.

Many simply love to stick with day-to-day patient care, which often is the reason they chose to enter nursing from the start. These most likely are the nurses Johnson & Johnson is looking to honor.

For information on nursing careers and to nominate an amazing nurse, visit www.discovernursing.com. Nominations close Sunday.