by kieryn graham

Created on: November 16, 2008   Last Updated: November 20, 2008

"Long night," Robin Aguilar sighs, watching the sun rise over the east county foothills. Robyn has just finished her "signature" Saturday night shift in the Grossmont Hospital E.R. "Nothin' but routine gunshot wounds, garden variety overdoses, your average assortment of battered girlfriends. Pretty much your usual thrill-a-minute Saturday night here in the E.R." Robin sums-up.

"It's not at all like they show it on T.V.," Robin smiles. "It's a lot more intense."

Nodding ewmphatically, Robin stresses, "And I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Right now, the United States urgently needs approximately 400, 000 nurses like Robin, especially in inner cities and remote rural areas. In the next ten years, as the population ages and grows, and as some form of universal healthcare takes effect, the shortage will grow even more acute.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts job-growth in nursing and allied health professions at 10-to-15% per year for at least the next decade. And it similarly forecasts "steady increases in salaries, wages, and incentives, well ahead of the national averages." In 2008, the average nurse, regardless of her specialty, made approximately $48,000 per year; specialists in neo-natology and occupational therapy made considerably more. Nurse anesthetists made nearly as much as the average primary-care physician, earning up to $150,000 per year.

Meanwhile, experienced nurses like Robin insist, "No profession is nearly as demanding as nursing. But no profession-none!-offers such great rewards."

And no other profession offers similar opportunities for special assignments and advancement.

*During training, a nurse can choose from over forty different specialties and more than a dozen kinds of work environments. Throughout his or her career, a nurse can change specialties or settings as he or she chooses. All prospective employers are offering handsome benefits packages and incentives for continui9ng education.

*Right now, approximately 90% of employers offer signing bonuses to well-qualified RN's. In areas of acute need, the bonuses ranged up to $25,000.

*With less than a year of instruction and practice, a novice can enter the profession as a Licensed Vocational Nurse, going to work in a medical office, long-term care facility, or hospital. Starting salaries for LVN's are about 10% higher than those in professions requiring comparable education and training.

*Nurses' schedules are extremely flexible: mothers can arrange their schedules around their children's needs, continuing-education students can arrange their schedules around their classes, and all nurses have at least half-a-dozen scheduling options. Many part-time positions in nursing pay more than full-time work in other healthcare specialties.

*The profession pays handsomely for continuing education: most employers will provide tuition assistance as nurses earn the Bachelors' Degrees and become RN's, and they will continue the support as RN's become Certified Nurse Practitioners, earning Masters' Degrees.

*Through "traveling nurse' programs, a professional can arrange exchanges or long-term stays in all fifty states and nearly 100 countries around the globe

In her usual no-nonsense way, Robin Aguilar puts her finger on the profession's pulse: "How can you put a price on a patient's taking your hand and saying, dios lo bendigo, mi hija, you saved my life'?"

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