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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1982)
Page 8 Section II Portland Observer, August 11, 1982 Career opportunities in the nursing profession There are many employment op p o rtu n itie s available to help meet the needs and interest o f those who wan, to enter the nursing p ro fe s sion. The demand fo r q u a lifie d nurse continues to grow. Education al requirements fo r those who wan, to enter the nursing profession can be earned at two, three, or four-year programs. In general, a d ip lo m a program prepares individuals fo r sta ff nurse positions in hospitals, particularly if you are receiving education and tra in in g in a h o s p ita l program . M Ost h o s p ita l program s take approxim ately three years to com plete. M any students a tte n d in g Junior Colleges, colleges or univer sities can receive training to work in a hospital or fo r other a ffilia tio n s . Junior college s generally have two- year programs and serve as prepara tion fo r basic entry-level positions. A fo u r-y e a r lib e ra l arts degree in nursing is strongly advised for those interested in fu tu re career g row th either in or outside a hospital setting. The positions listed here are repre sentative o f just some o f the many nursing opportun ities available a, hospitals: M e d ic a l/S u rg ic a l S ta ff N urse: T h is general category covers treatment o f most diseases and con d itio n s fo r w h ich people go in to h o sp ita ls. It includes nursing be fore, during and after surgery. Operating Room Nurse: Works with unconscious patients and is respon sible fo r sterilizing and circu la tin g instrum ents to the surgeon during an operation. Gerontological Nursing: Involves specialized health care o f the e l derly. Post-graduate work is usually required to advance in this area o f nursing. N urse A n e s th e tis t: A fte r being licensed, an RN can take a course o f study to become specialized in the giving o f anesthesia. Under the surgeon’ s instructions, this nurse also must follow the pa tie n t’ s color, pulse, respiration, re flexes, flow and color o f blood dur ing surgery. Pharmacy grads pursue hospital careers Hospital careers hold the most at tra c tio n now fo r Oregon State U n ive rsity pharm acy graduates while the number looking to become pharmacy (drugstore) owners is go ing down. A n OSU survey this spring o f g ra duatin g seniors showed 28 looking to careers in hospital phar macy. 20 in d ica tin g they hoped to practice pharm acy in independent pharmacies, and 7 were looking to jo in chain store pharmacies. T h ir teen said they wished some day to become a pharmacy owner; 31 said now , a higher p ro p o rtio n than in earlier years. Most o f the 1982 pharmacy grad uates wanted to find jobs in the W il lamette Valley (20) or Portland (18). "T h a t is a big part o f the problem in fin d in g jo b s ,” observed George C o n sta n tin e , assistant dean and head adviser fo r the school o f phar macy. “ There were more positions available than graduates but some graduates were holding out for par ticular locations. Some o f them may s till be w ith o u t a jo b to o ,” he noted. Between 60 and 70 per cent o f the 1,500 practicing pharmacists in Ore gon now arc Oregon State Universi ty graduates, it was reported. Most are found in community pharmacies th ro u g h o u t the state. “ But an in creasing number o f pharmacists are employed now in hospitals, nursing homes and health care o rg a n iza tio n s." Hospitals allow pharmacists op portunities to broaden their exper iences and to participate more with physicians, nurses and other health professionals in clinical situations and to be more “ patient oriented.” Constantine explained. A breakdown o f the 63 graduates showed 34 males and 29 females, some o f whom com bine p a rt-tim e careers with their homemaker-fam ily responsibilities. OSU has one o f the nation's best records for gradu ating women pharmacists, Constan tine noted. The OSU pharmacy school now adm its 80 students each fa ll to its professional program. The number is tied to Oregon's calculated need for pharmacists and to the school's staff-space resources, Constanting pointed out. Careers in nursing According to most knowledgeable o ffic ia ls there is a serious w o r ld wide shortage o f q u a lifie d nurses. There arc a p p ro x im a te ly 200,000 RN vacancies nationally according to some health experts. For new nurses, this should mean not only excellent prospects fo r im m ediate em ploym ent w ith flexible w orking hours and fo r p o te n tia l advance ment, but also ample w ork o p p o r tunities in any part o f the country and a long career in the health care service. A cco rd in g to the Black Nurses Association, o f the 1.4 m il- lio n Registered Nurses in the c o u n try o n ly 7 per cent are n o n white. It appears from these figures black nursing graduates w ill be in dem and. O f the new ly licensed nurses who graduated in 1980, 6 per cent fo u n d em ploym ent p rio r to g ra d u a tio n and m ore then 16 per cent took jobs one to three months a fte r graduatio n. For more in fo r mation on qualifications and oppor tu n itie s in the nursing profession w rite your local state board o f nursing. Moving blacks into the corporate world Surgical team at work N urse M id w ive s: Involves the management o f prenatal care, labor and delivery, post-partum care, care o f the new born and fa m ily p la n ning. N urse A d m in is tra to r: Includes a d m in is tra tiv e and supervisory duties plus classroom instruction in hospital schools. Besides being in volved w ith patient care, the nurse adm inistrator usually is responsible fo r s ta ffin g , overseeing re p o rts, counseling, ordering supplies, and record keeping. Some employment possibilities include: Private agencies and in s titu tio n s , nursing homes, public health organizations, nursing associations, religious and mission ary associations. Insurance compan ies, regional health care associa tions, public agencies, armed forces, p u b lic health services. Boards o f H ealth, Boards o f E ducation and educational institutions. How many major corporations in the U.S. can say that they have em ployed enough blacks at all levels o f their organization so their numbers are proportionate to the percentage o f blacks in (he population o f the U.S.? The answer is none. Some corpor ations have made progress in in creasing (he numbers o f blacks in certain types o f jobs, and some cor porations have managed to de crease the preponderance o f blacks in service jobs oi unskilled blacks into sem i-skilled, skilled, supervi sory, and middle management jobs. There are a very few blacks who are in the top management o f corpora tions. T y p ica lly, the higher up in a business organization, the fewer blacks and other m in o rity groups arc employed. In a study conducted in 1972, Ted Purcell and Gerald Cavanaugh esti mated that, assuming the current rate o f progress, it w ould take 86 years for blacks to achieve a propor tional representation in managerial, o ffic ia l and profession positions in the U nited States. The 1960s and early 1970s were the days o f rather ambitious and optimistic progress in race relations and equal o p p o rtu n ity; today there is at least a freeze, if not a reversal, o f these gains. Thus, it is clear that there is a long way to go before blacks in the U.S. w ill be fa irly represented at all levels o f business organizations. The basic credentials needed to enter in to managerial ranks o f the business w orld is at least a college degree, i f not a m aster’s degree. Working in the world of health care can be hard work and long hours, but very rewarding. If you like to help people, have an interest in the sciences or find typing and filing the way you want to spend your working hours, consider the many opportunities in health care. Many positions require Ph.D., M.S. or B.S. degrees at the university level; however, many are positions that require past working experience and some positions provide on the job training. If you would like some career counseling about a future in the health care field, we would be happy to assist you. EMANUEL HOSPITAL 2801 N. Gantenbein A\e. Portland, Oregon 97227 / N e a - J V. Donny Adair 280-3963 Faye Meske 280-4164 Evelyn Williams 280-4164 However, many blacks enter college with the belief that getting a college degree w ill almost autom at ically grant them access Io good jobs, high income, and the o p p o r tunity to improve their status in so ciety. Unfortunately, many learn late in their college years or even after graduation that their academic stud ies have no, prepared them fo r the w orld o f w ork and that they lack m arketable skills in the business world. They also learn that the com petition for entry jobs into the busi ness world is no, skewed in their fa vor by EEO and a ffirm a tiv e action pressures on employers; rather, they face problems in obtaining employ ment because o f their skin color and cultural background.
