Do nurses in hospitals make good money? Also what is Family medicine and General Surgery? make good money?

Answer:
Of all the places you can work as a nurse, hospitals pay the best BUT it is hard work. Because of the critical nursing shortage the pay has significantly increase over the years. In a major metropolitan area such as Boston, NY or Miami you can expect to earn $55,000 TO START. The problem is you may have to rotate to evenings or nights and usually have to work every other weekend. For a new nursing graduate the ONLY place to get a good learning experience is in the hospital. School will give the book knowlege but you still need to work at least 1 year in the hospital before expanding out to other forms of nursing (Home Care, MD offices or schools). I have been a nurse for 31 years and I can promise you job security if you choose nursing. The average age of an RN is 42 years old so we need new nurses NOW.
If you can afford to go through a 4year BS degree I strongly encourage you to do this as it will give you many more options in the future. If not you can become and RN in as little as 2 years through a Junior College. Getting an RN over an LPN/LVN will mean a BIG difference in pay.
Family Practice is the type of medicine where the practitioner treats people all ages. (the old General Practitioner we knew long ago).
General Surgery is surgeries that do not require advanced training. (A cardiac surgeon would not be a general surgeon)

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Nursing is an excellent occupation. Currently there is a big shortage of full RN's in the country and this is to your advantage as you can use that to bargain a higher starting salary. Family medicine is simply your regular doctor that you go see when you have the flu. Working for a Family Practice does not require a full RN certification, but you will also not get anywhere near as good a pay. You will also not be doing much real nursing work, but more office work like working insurance claims etc. General Surgery is where you would work for a specialist like a heart surgeon. You should specialize in the area the surgeon specializes in to maximize your chances of getting in. Unless your going to work in the OR part of General Surgery for a surgeon, you again may risk ending up doing more paperwork than regular nursing.
If you like the field and can understand the terminology, its not any harder than getting schooling in electronics, math, or computer programming. You'll know soon enough if you have the knack to do the job. You can get away with a two year associates degree plus special training, but many facilities are now requiring a full 4 year degree. Its in your best interests to go all the way and become a fully licensed RN as opposed to a LPN.

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before you think about an RN degree, check to see why there is a nursing shortage. Med/Surg, thats right, nobody wants to work this area because nurses say its too hard.

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