Explore a Career in Nursing

This course will help you discover what it takes to become an LPN or RN and all the exciting and rewarding opportunities that await you in the different fields of nursing. You'll also learn about the different types of nursing and specialties and about the benefits of additional education.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Starting May 14, 2025

Offered in partnership with your preferred school

University of Central Florida

Change School

Learning method

Self-Guided

$135

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

Enroll Now

Instructor-Moderated

$135

Confirm your start date in cart

Starting May 14 | June 11

Details + Objectives

Course code: ecn

Are you interested in a career that's meaningful and challenging with a great salary, benefits, and opportunities for advancement? You should think about becoming a nurse! No segment of the economy is growing faster than the healthcare industry, and nurses have more options than ever before.

As you progress through the course, you'll learn about several different fields of nursing—from traditional bedside work to critical care areas, like the OR and ICU, to lesser known branches of the field, like nursing informatics. Basically, there's a nursing specialty for everyone, whether your dream is an adrenaline-fueled job in a fast-paced emergency department or a desk job working for the government. You'll also gain information about what you can do with a graduate degree in nursing, and take a quick peek at some of the other medical positions you might be interested in, like radiology technician or physical therapist. If you've ever thought about nursing, now is the time to find out more!

What you will learn

Learn the skills and prerequisite courses you'll need to qualify for nursing school
Understand licensing exams you will be required to pass
Get a crash course in medical basics: acronyms, medical language, blood tests, and radiology
Explore interviews with actual nurses currently working in the field
Learn about basic clinical skills to put you ahead of the game for nursing school
Gain a foundation of basic medical knowledge to build on

How you will benefit

Experience nursing and discover your passion before committing to the career
Explore all of the opportunities that nursing has available
Get a jumpstart on important medical knowledge and set yourself on the right path for succeeding in nursing school

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

In this first lesson, you'll discover some of the many benefits of becoming a nurse. The lesson will discuss the different pathways to getting a nursing diploma or degree, and then you'll look at the pros and cons of each. It will also talk about some things to think about before you seriously consider nursing school, like prerequisite classes and some of the skills that can help set you up for success. Got math? Are you a good multitasker? Do you like talking to other people? Great! If not, it's never too early to start practicing!

This lesson is a crash course in medical basics. It will discuss some common medical acronyms and how to decode intimidating medical terminology. It will also talk about the different types of doctors, equipment, and tests that nurses encounter and then finish up with an introduction to medical math. These topics may sound scary, but this lesson will serve as a foundation to understanding the ones that follow. The information presented here can be helpful whether you plan to work in the medical field someday or just want to know a little bit more about what's really happening when you go to the doctor.

This lesson is all about nurse training. First, you'll take a look at exactly what happens in nursing school—from the coursework to the clinical rotations to the exams. But school is just the beginning! After graduation, there's the NCLEX licensing exam, where you'll demonstrate that you've learned enough to be a safe and competent nurse. Then, it'll be time for your first nursing position, where you might enroll in a nurse internship or residency, or you might receive additional training in your department. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a good idea of the different types of training you might go through on your path to becoming a nurse.

In this lesson, you'll look at the three most common job settings for new nurses—hospital acute care, outpatient clinics, and long-term care facilities. You'll learn about the different specialties you can pursue in each area, the colleagues you might work with, and what working as a nurse in these three areas is really like.

Many people consider ER, OR, and ICU nursing the most exciting fields of nursing! This lesson will discuss what it's really like to work in these settings—and how this compares to what you see on TV. You'll learn how ERs triage patients, what it means to scrub or circulate in the OR, the different types of ICUs, and a whole lot more.

There are certain fields in nursing that require more care and compassion than others. This lesson will discuss psychiatric nursing, hospice nursing, case management, and health coaching. These positions are less likely to be adrenaline-fueled, but they're rewarding in their own ways. These are careers that focus on the counseling and patient advocacy roles of nursing. The lesson will discuss psychiatric hospitals and substance abuse centers and the people you'll work with there, as well as some of the most common tasks in working with patients who are dying and those who are looking to maintain good health and healthy practices.

This lesson is about careers that focus on the research, education, management, and change agent roles of nursing. You'll look at research nursing, informatics nursing, and legal nurse consulting. Although most nurses working in these fields have at least a year of clinical nursing experience, none of these positions require additional certification or degrees.

What have you heard about community health nursing? This is a specialty that encompasses a variety of positions, from school nurses to prison nurses to Red Cross disaster relief nurses. Community health nurses engage in all six of the nursing roles, with heavy focus on education, patient advocacy, and being a change agent. You'll explore what it really means to be a community health nurse by learning where you'll work and what you might be doing.

This lesson is for wanderers! You'll explore everything from working as a travel nurse in a neighboring town to taking to the high seas as a member of the Navy Nurse Corps. You'll also look at medical mission work like Doctors Without Borders and Mercy Ships. If you want to use your nursing skills while seeing the world, get ready to love this lesson.

No nursing survey course would be complete without touching on pediatric and obstetric nursing. You'll take a look at these specialties and then check out a few other nursing positions that involve working on a team instead of in a department. Finally, you'll take a quick peek at what it means to be a charge nurse or nurse manager.

This lesson is for overachievers and forward thinkers. Maybe you want to be a nurse, but you know that you'll want to do more than basic clinical nursing. You might be thinking about teaching or hospital administration. Or perhaps you want to become a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist. You'll look at all of those options in this lesson!

What if you've gone through this course so far and learned about nursing school and licensing exams and the different fields of nursing, but you still don't know if nursing is right for you? That's okay! This final lesson will recap the highs and lows of nursing and give you some ideas about alternatives to becoming a nurse. You'll also look at some strategies for getting more information so you can be armed with the knowledge you need to make a decision.

Instructors & Support

Hilary Khouri

Hilary Khouri has ten years of experience in the medical field. After college, she began her medical career working in the front office of a group practice handling daily administrative tasks. Her medical experience also includes working at a healthcare consulting firm, where she reviewed electronic health records for completeness and educated providers on documentation improvement in addition to performing risk adjustment coding. She holds a bachelor's in fashion merchandising from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is a Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) through the University of Alabama.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Notes:

Although the education, salary, and licensing information pertains to US nurses only, the skills and specialties described in this course are not specific to the US and therefore it is appropriate for international enrollment. Additionally, the information provided would also be relevant to anyone hoping to study or work in the US.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

I always thought learning online would be tough. Paula made it easy and comfortable for me. I really enjoyed it. Thank you!

I feel even more knowledgeable regarding the nursing field. This course has solidified my decision. Nursing covers every profession that I would enjoy doing.

Your class was excellent! It gave me far more information and insight than I imagined it would. As an instructor you are personable and engaging.

I am about to start my journey to college to become a nurse. This course really helped give me new ideas and perspectives about if this is what I really want to do. Due to this course, I am now enrolled in my University's ROTC Army Nursing program - something I never would have known about if I did not take this course. One lesson really stood out to me and sparked my interest to further research what nursing jobs the military has to offer. Thank you!

I really appreciated the interaction, discussion questions, and how personable Paula was. I liked that she included examples of her own experiences in the nursing field.

I learned more about nursing than I had expected. The way you presented the information was wonderful. Thank you for organizing such a great class!

I have learned so much, by taking this course. I had no idea on how broad the nursing field was, or even how many different fields of nursing you can train for. I am overly excited and eager to move forward in the field of nursing.

I really liked the instructor's writing style. It kept me interested in reading about the subject. I also liked personal stories and comments. It made the course more grounded and realistic than just reading a typical school book. Good work! I'm a male in my late 30s, and thinking about going back to school and becoming a nurse. If I knew Paula Suhr was going to teach there I would not hesitate to enroll.

I liked this course so much that I found myself looking forward to the two days a week that lessons were posted. The lessons themselves led me to do more independent research, prompted questions that I asked and that were wonderfully answered in the discussion section. The instructor is so kind, eager and willing to share her knowledge and experience! I'm so glad that I took this course. It reaffirmed my decision to change careers!

I loved everything about this course-- the videos, the interactive games, the interviews. I also loved how the instructor responded to every post and encouraged discussion.