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Nursing is helping people of all ages to get well when they are sick. Nursing is also helping people to stay well and healthy by teaching them about healthy behaviors. Nursing will be one of the fastest growing careers until the year 2006 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are over 2.6 million nurses in the United States today. Nursing is one of the largest health care professions. Nursing is both "high-tech" because nurses use a lot of technical equipment in doing their job, and "high-touch" because nurses work very closely with patients.

There are different kinds of nurses. Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). RNs must have at least two years of education in a technical college, but can also go to a four year university program. RNs can get a master’s degree and a doctoral degree. The more education you have, the more you will be able to do in nursing. As an RN you can work with patients one-on-one, or be an administrator, a teacher, a supervisor, a nurse practitioner,or a nurse anesthetist. RNs are the leaders of the nursing team and supervise other health care workers such as the LPN and the nursing assistants.

An LPN has one year of nursing education after high school. As an LPN you can work with an RN or a doctor to give nursing care to patients. You can work in a hospital, a nursing home, a doctor’s office or in other settings where are RNs work. For more information about what nurses with different educations can do, click here.