Nursing Degrees in New Mexico
When it comes to choosing a career that utilizes your people skills, allows you to benefit from an in-demand job market, and puts you in a position to affect real change, there are few fields that offer as much as nursing. As a New Mexico nurse, you may be able to serve patients of carrying backgrounds, age groups, ethnicities, and medical needs.
Find out more about nursing programs in New Mexico by contacting those listed below to find the right nursing degree for you.
As a registered nurse (RN) or LPN, you may be able to contribute to exciting studies and protocols that test out new nursing theories. In New Mexico, some nursing homes are helping patients battle dementia with familiar music on iPods.
Furthermore, you may be able to work in a variety of health care specialties and subfields. Some New Mexico health care organizations are starting to focus on adolescent mental health, an important part of the industry as a whole. Learn more about nursing degrees to start an exciting career in this field.
Nursing Schools in New Mexico
The first step to an exciting nursing career is choosing which type of nursing career you want to begin. Do you want to become a licensed practical nurse and work underneath registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and medical doctors? If so, you may be able to complete your education in slightly less than one year. If you’d rather become a registered nurse, you may be interested in a two-year Associate’s degree program or a four-year bachelor’s degree option.
When you first start studying nursing, you may take a set of core courses that prepare you for high-level health care classes. Classes that may be part of your early curriculum include Philosophy of Science in Nursing, Substantive Nursing Knowledge, Nursing Knowledge Development, Quantitative Methods in Nursing Research, and Qualitative Methods in Nursing Research.
As you progress through your curriculum, you may take courses like Clinical Nursing Therapeutics and Outcomes, Nursing Care for Adults, and Nursing Care for Children. These courses may involve a variety of clinical experiences that total more than 600 clinical hours.
No matter where you live in New Mexico, you may have the opportunity to apply for different nursing scholarships. The New Mexico Nurses Foundation funds scholarships for BSN students. Loan repayment options and scholarships are also available through the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence. The Nursing Loan for Service Program is a government-funded program that is based on financial need.
Nursing Degree Programs in New Mexico
A list of links to specific nursing degree options in New Mexico is below.
Transition programs for nurses:
Graduate programs for nurses:
- All Masters in Nursing Programs in NM
- All DNP and PhD in Nursing Programs in NM
- All Nurse Practitioner Programs in NM
Entry level nursing programs:
- All LPN/LVN Programs in NM
- All Associate Degree Nursing Programs in NM
- All Four-Year Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs in NM
- All Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs in NM
- Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing Programs in NM
Working as a Nurse in New Mexico
Upon completing your education, you must begin the licensure process. You can take the NCLEX-RN or the NCLEX-PN and have your scores sent to the New Mexico Board of Nursing.
The growing demand for nurses may make New Mexico an excellent place to get established in your career. By 2022, O*Net anticipates a 13% increase in LPN jobs. Registered nurses may see a 14% increase in jobs in this same time frame (O*Net, 2012).
Salaries in New Mexico tend to be fairly competitive. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that LPNs earn an average salary of $47,770 per year, while registered nurses claim a median income of $68,670 per year (2016).
Some of the top employers of Registered Nurses in New Mexico include Presbyterian Hospital, University of New Mexico Hospital, Memorial Medical Center, and CHRISTUS Saint Vincent Regional Medical Center.
