Registered Nurses in the Nutritional World

A registered nurse is a medical professional in charge of assisting doctors in their day to day activities. Most people assume that all nurses work in hospitals, but that is not always the case. An RN can work under a nutritionist just as easily as he or she could work under a family physician, but the work involved in that career may be a little different. If you like working with nutritional supplements but you do not necessarily want to become a nutritionist, you could still consider becoming a nurse in this field. Let's take a look at what that job may entail so you can determine if it is right for you.

Nutritional Nurse Job Duties

A nutritional nurse usually takes care of the clerical duties for a nutritionist's office, like answering phone calls, organizing patient files or scheduling appointments. A nurse in this profession may also take the vital signs of a patient before he or she sees a nutritionist, depending on what the person is coming to the office for. If a patient needs help getting in and out of a wheelchair or getting up onto an exam table, an RN should be right there to assist with the process. If you like working with patients and can see yourself developing a passion for nutrition, this could be a great profession for you.

Nutritional Nurse Pay Scale

Nutritional nurses make about the same money as traditional RNs, but they can sometimes make a little more because of their specialization. Let's take a look at some of the RN salary statistics you may want to keep in mind so you can determine if this career will pay enough for you.

Salary by Certification

• Advanced Cardiac Life Support: $20.37 - $37.87 per hour
• Basic Life Support: $19.61 - $35.68 per hour
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: $19.79 - $36.48 per hour
• Critical Care: $20.22 - $39.62 per hour
• Neonatal Resuscitation Program: $20.65 - $38.15 per hour
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support: $20.51 - $37.70 per hour
• Registered Nurse: $19.12 - $36.42 per hour

Salary by Degree

• Associate's Degree in Nursing: $19.46 - $35.34 per hour
• Associate of Science in Nursing: $19.29 - $34.97 per hour
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing: $19.88 - $36.52 per hour

Salary by Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year: $15.97 - $29.33 per hour
• 1-4 years: $19.21 - $31.80 per hour
• 5-9 years: $21.16 - $36.82 per hour
• 10-19 years: $22.49 - $40.05 per hour
• 20+ years: $23.12 - $43.13 per hour

The information below shows that there is a lot of money to be made in this field, especially after you have been in it for a while. If you think there is a chance of you enjoying this kind of work, you should strongly consider getting involved with it in the future.

How to Become a Nutritional Nurse

You can work as an RN after an associate's degree or bachelor's degree of science in nursing. You will have to go through a certification process after graduation, but that does not take long. Since you may plan on working in nutrition, it would be wise to take some courses related to that in college. Then you will have all the training you need for this vocation. After that, all you have to do is go out and find a nutritionist in need of your services.