If you’re interested in pursuing nursing career, there are a number of important things you’ll need to keep in mind. For beginners, not all nurses do their jobs in quite the same way. LPNs, RNs, NPs, CNAs and more may seem like interchangeable acronyms to the layman, but in reality they are all used to describe different sections of the nursing community. Even though Licensed Practical Nurses and Clinical Nurse Specialists are still both nurses, they will have wildly different job requirements, for example. There are four 4 Essential Frontline Nursing Roles Worth Considering.

Registered Professional Nurses

Also commonly referred to as an RN, a Registered Professional Nurse performs a large number of responsibilities on a daily basis. They often perform health assessments of individual patients, diagnose and treat patients based on their responses to certain health problems, execute medical regiments that have been carefully laid out by licensed physicians and more. Additionally, these individuals often teach and counsel patients about their health, helping to identify certain habits that may need to be changed or other issues that should be corrected to help maintain the healthiest possible outlook moving forward.

Licensed Practical Nurse

Also commonly referred to as an LPN, a Licensed Practical Nurse is another one of the most common nursing jobs in the state. A Licensed Practical Nurse will be responsible for providing skilled nursing care under the direction of another individual within a medical organization. This can be a Registered Nurse, a Nurse Practitioner, a Clinical Nurse Specialist or some other type of authorized medical professional. It is important to note that in New York State, you must be both licensed and registered by the New York State Education Department (also called the SED) in order to practice in this particular field.

Clinical Nurse Specialists

Also commonly referred to as a CNS, a Clinical Nurse Specialist is essentially an RN 2.0. This is a Registered Professional Nurse that has completed an advanced education in clinical nursing that usually takes the form of a Master’s Degree. These people are certified in the state of New York as a CNS and can be a part of a few different specialties including adult health, oncology, mental health, psychiatry, pediatrics and more.

Nurse Practitioners

Also commonly referred to as an NP, a Nurse Practitioner is someone who has earned a separate license in this particular area and who is certified in New York State. Nurse Practitioners are commonly responsible for diagnosing patients, treating patients and even providing prescriptions for a patient – so long as the specific illness in question falls within the Nurse Practitioner’s area of practice. Many nursing jobs in New York for people who are Nurse Practitioners fall into areas like gerontology, college health, family health, acute care, adult health and more.