Placement
| Year |
Program |
Number of Graduates |
Percent Placed |
Average starting salary |
| 2006 |
BS Registered Nursing |
7
|
100% |
42,834 |
| 2007 |
BS Registered Nursing |
7
|
100% |
41,283 |
| 2008 |
BS Registered Nursing |
13
|
100% |
42,302 |
NOTE FROM CAREER SERVICES:
The placement statistics provided here come from annual surveys completed by graduates. This annual survey is conducted for the purpose of facilitating the career decisions of currently enrolled and prospective students. Placement data are based on responses received from the graduates who participated in the Montana Tech annual Graduate Surveys. Each annual class is comprised of Summer, Fall and Spring graduates. A small portion of the survey was provided by secondary sources. A conscientious effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the career information included in this report.
Because of the cyclical nature of the businesses and industries for which Montana Tech trains its students, placement statistics from any one year should not be viewed as representative long-term permanent results. The annual graduate survey should, instead, be viewed only as an informational resource in the career-planning process.
Please contact Career Services if you have any questions about the survey information. For additional information view the entire survey online at: www.mtech.edu/career/surveys |
Careers
• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for RN’s will grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2008 (one of the 10 occupations projected to have the largest numbers of new jobs) and that employment of LPN’s is expected to grow as fast as the average for all occupations through 2008. Additionally, earnings for RN’s are above average, particularly for advanced practice nurses who have additional education or training.
•Nursing students comprise more than half of all health profession students.
• Nurses comprise the largest single component of hospital staff, are the primary providers of hospital patient care, and deliver most of the nation’s long-term care.
• Most health care services involve some form of care by nurses.
• Although 60 percent of all employed RN’s work in hospitals, many are employed in a wide range of other settings, including private practices, public health agencies, primary care clinics, home health care, outpatient surgery centers, health maintenance organizations, nursing school-operated nursing centers, insurance and managed care companies, nursing homes, schools, mental health agencies, hospices, the military, and industry. Other nurses work in careers as college and university educators preparing future nurses or as scientists developing advances in many areas of health care and health promotion.
• Thirty-two percent of LPN’s work in hospitals, 28 percent work in nursing homes, and 14 percent in doctors’ offices and clinics. Others work for temporary help agencies, home health care services, residential care facilities, schools, or government agencies.
• Though often working collaboratively, professional nurses (RN’s) do not “assist” medicine or other fields. Professional nurses function independent of, not auxiliary to, medicine or other fields. Professional nurses’ roles range from direct patient care to case management, establishing nursing practice standards, developing quality assurance procedures, and directing complex nursing care systems.
• Licensed practical nurses (LPN’s), or licensed vocational nurses as they are called in Texas and California, provide direct care for the sick, injured, convalescent, and disabled under the direction of physicians and registered nurses.
• With more than four times as many RN’s in the United States as physicians, professional nursing delivers an extended array of health care services, including primary and preventive care by advanced, independent nurse practitioners in such clinical areas as pediatrics, family health, women’s health, and gerontological care. Nursing’s scope also includes care by certified nurse-midwives and nurse anesthetists, as well as care in cardiac, oncology, neonatal, neurological, and obstetric/gynecological nursing and other advanced clinical specialties.
• There are three major educational paths to professional nursing: Associate degree in nursing (ADN/ASRN/ASN), bachelor of science (or arts) degree in nursing (BSN), and diploma. ADN/ASRN/Nursing Programs, offered by community colleges, junior colleges and traditional 4-year colleges and universities take about 2 or 3 years. About half of all RN programs in 1998 were at the ADN/ASRN/ASN level. BSN programs, offered by colleges and universities, take 4 or 5 years. Diploma programs, given in hospitals, last 2 to 3 years. Only a small number of programs, about 4 percent, offer diploma level degrees. All graduates take the same national licensing exam and generally, graduates of any of the three program types qualify for entry-level positions as staff nurses. In 1998, there were over 2,200 entry-level RN programs in the United States.
• There is an even wider variety of educational paths for practical nursing. Almost 6 out of 10 practical nursing programs are offered at technical or vocational schools, while 3 out of 10 are in community and junior colleges. Others are in high schools, hospitals, and colleges and universities. Educational programs vary in length from 1 to 2 years. In 1998, approximately 1,100 state-approved programs in the United States provided practical nursing training.
Sources:
National Council of State Boards of Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
