Becoming a Registered Nurse

If you are interested in caring for people and are a high school graduate, you can eventually become a Registered Nurse (RN). There are a number of steps you need to take before you can turn your dream into a career, but they are  straightforward and you’ll find there is plenty of support along the way. If you are interested in becoming a Nurse Practitioner, the steps follow below.

Step #1. You will need a post-secondary education. 

Why? All provincial and territorial nurses’ associations have adopted the goal of having a baccalaureate requirement for entry into nursing. Evidence supports the fact that baccalaureate-prepared nurses are most able to provide safe, ethical, cost-effective and high quality nursing care for Canadians.

The trend toward a university education for Registered Nurses (RNs) is here: with the exception of students in Quebec, students must choose to obtain a baccalaureate degree in nursing in order to prepare for a RN career.

          Check out a complete list of nursing schools and continuing education options.

• Check out where to apply for nursing financial assistance here.

Step #2. You need to apply to the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) directly for assessment.

All nursing graduates who plan to practise in Ontario must be registered with the CNO.

Once you are deemed eligible (after applying), you’ll take the registration exam. Why? This exam is designed to measure the competencies of nurses at the start of your practice.

In addition to the registration exam, you must successfully complete a separate jurisprudence exam by the College designed to evaluate your knowledge and understanding of the laws, regulations, and College by-laws, practice standards and guidelines that govern the nursing profession in Ontario. The RN Jurisprudence Exam is completed online.

Step #3. If you pass, you must meet four other requirements in order to be “registered” by a provincial or territorial nursing regulatory body in Canada.

After completing an eligible education program, showing the College evidence of recent safe nursing practice (usually completing the program) as well as successful completion of the national nursing registration examination; you must then show:

• Evidence of fluency in written and spoken
  English or French.
• Registration or eligibility for registration in the jurisdiction where a nursing program was completed.
• Proof of Canadian Citizenship, Permanent Residency, or authorization under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) to engage in the practice of nursing. *Good character and suitability to practise, as indicated by a Declaration of Registration Requirements and a Canadian Criminal Record Synopsis.

A valid certificate of registration from the College is required of all nurses who wish to practise nursing in Ontario and perform the procedures in theControlled Acts that are authorized to nursing.  Only member of the College are allowed to refer themselves as nurses in Ontario.

• What if I’m an internationally educated nurse?

Step #4. Evolve your competencies.

Because nursing is a self-regulating profession, establishing and maintaining high standards of practice is critical — not only for the safety of patients but also the long-term advancement of the nursing profession. Researching and expanding nursing competencies through best practice development is another important contribution RNs can make after they begin to practice.

Nursing in Canada

Canadian health care employers are facing an ever-growing shortage of health professionals. Driven by a number of factors, principal of which is the aging of the workforce, shortages of nurses are now commonplace in Canadian hospitals and clinics. In an attempt to compensate for enduring staff shortages, employers have had to use the existing health care workforce more intensively by relying on overtime and agency staffing. More recently Canadian health care employers are incorporating a foreign recruitment strategy into their overall staffing plans.

There are more than 300,000 nurses currently practicing in Canada. While no exact number has been established for the actual number of nurses currently required in Canada, there is a consensus that the current shortage is 15,000 - 20,000 nurses. An array of studies analyzing the issues and trends affecting supply and demand for nurses in Canada indicate that the shortage is very likely to increase. 

As a Registered Nurse in the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and current nursing experience in a hospital setting, you have the background and skills, which are currently in great demand by Canadian health care employers.

10 Highest Paying Jobs & Career Paths

1. Surgeon

If you don’t mind spending ten to fifteen years of your life training to perform invasive medical procedures, save lives, and perhaps even lose some, becoming a surgeon is for you. It is best to become specialized in a specific field of surgery (ex. heart surgeon, brain surgeon, etc…) A top surgeon can earn at least $181,850 dollars a year if he or she can afford the liability insurance.

. Anesthesiologist

It makes sense that the number 2 highest paying job works along the surgeon, which hold number one spot. An anesthesiologist administers precise amounts of anesthetics, a pharmacutical agent that causes the patient a local or general loss of sensation. The training required to become an anesthesiologist requires 12 years of nearly perfect grade point averages. The average anesthesiologist earns $174,610 dollars and unlimited availability to surgeons.

3. Obstetrician/Gynocologist

It takes a special kind of person to deliver babies and attend to women’s needs. An obstetrician/gynocologist faces massive liabilities, as the responsibility of assisting women through childbirth, disease, and various malfunctions of their anatomy is a huge undertaking. The training required for such feats is 12 years following high school graduation with the requirement of a grade point average of at least 3.5 and another 3 to 11 years of residency depending upon specialization within the field. The average OB/GYN earns $174,600 dollars.

4. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon

An oral and maxillofacial surgeon operates on the craniomaxillofacial complex or the mouth, jaws, face, and skull. Duties include treating head and neck cancer known as microvascular reconstruction, cosmetic facial surgery, craniofacial surgery, pediatric maxillofacial susrgery, and crainiomadillofacial trauama. To become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, one must complete 12 years of post high school educations with an additional one or two years of specialization. The average yearly income of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon is $169,600 dollars.

5. Internist

An internist is a run of the mill type of physician who diagnoses, manages, and treats unusual, chronic, or serious diseases who does not perform surgery. Internists are essentially primary care providers who assist, inform, and treat male and female patients with preventative medicine, health issues, substance abuse, mental health, and common problems within the ears, eyes, skin, nervous system, or reproductive organs. Training to become an internist varies, requiring 8 years of college with an additional 3-11 years of specialization. An internist can earn at least $156,790 dollars depending upon the field of specialization.

6. Prosthodontist

A prosthodontist is a dentist who specializes in esthetic and reconstructive dentistry through Prosthodontists the specialty of esthetic and reconstructive dentistry. Prosthodontists create dentures, crowns, implants, and recreate missing teeth and maxillofacial tissue with “biocompatible subsitutes.”of braces. Prosthodontist land in the # 6 spot on Forbes lists, earning $153, 710 per year, after completing 9 or so years of study.

7. Orthodontist

An orthodontist straightens crooked smiles and jaws through the use of braces, head gear, retainers, and other torturous devices. Through the use of Xrays, molds, and impressions, an orthodontist studies and treats malocclusion. An orthodontist trains for at least 9 years, depending upon field of specialization and certification requirements. An orthodontist can earn $153,240 dollars.

8. Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist studies disorders of the mind by diagnosing and treating emotional and cognitive dysfunction. A psychiatrist employs a combination of pychology, medicine, biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology. A psychiatrist’s job is perhaps one of the most difficult to do. Psychiatrists must, in order to do their job well, establish a relationship of trust with patients through inpatient and outpatient treatment all while following a strict code of ethics. A psychiatrist’s salary is based upon specialization but cracking the world’s nuts earns the average shrink $151,380 per year.

9. Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

The highest paid head of a business, company or organization is the CEO. He or she is responsible for the management of a company and generally answers only to a board of trustees if one is established. The onus of all business issues generally falls on a CEO but the position does have its perks. A CEO can pass off duties to other employees and depending on the field, a CEO can make as much as $140,880 dollars per year.

10. Engineering Manager

An Engineering Manager requires a well rounded business background with knowledge in accounting, economy, financial management, industrial management, human resources, industrial psychology, mathematical modeling and optimization, quality control, and environmental program management. An Engineering Manager requires at least a bachelor’s degree if not a masters or PhD plus additional training regarding specialization. An Engineering Manager earns a salary of at least $140,210.

Natural Sciences Manager

Highest salary: $97,560

Training time: 6 years

Its really hard to get better paid job in this modern age.  There are enough skill man power all over the world but its difficult to choose better job on their respecitive filed . Natural science managers oversee the work of other scientists, such as agricultural scientists, chemists, biologists, and geologists. Natural science managers are commonly employed in the research and development field and work in pharmaceutical and environmental consulting or municipal organizations. Natural science managers often own their own consulting or testing firms, and can serve as expert witnesses in court hearings.

A bachelor’s degree is absolutely required, and to work your way up the ladder, an MBA or doctorate is strongly encouraged. Fortunately, many employers will pay for educational costs. The best and highest-paid natural science managers have an aptitude for key business functions, such as marketing, sales and finance. This is common, as it often takes a combination of business acumen and specialized knowledge to present and communicate ideas and concepts in a sophisticated sales environment.

Marketing Manager

Highest salary: $100,020                      Training time: 4 to 6 years

Marketing managers, like CEOs, span all sorts of industries and levels of responsibility. A small accounting firm may have a marketing manager to help coordinate Yellow Page advertisements and chamber appearances, while this marketing manager's Fortune 500 peer is responsible for the complete tactical execution of a multimillion-dollar marketing budget that encompasses a plenitude of marketing media. Marketing managers can be expected to handle items such as public relations, brand development, media buying, collateral and promotions development, and even the financial metrics and analytics.

The responsibility scope is a function of the organization’s size and the outward focus of the company. For instance, a marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company serving the consumer audience will have a far larger task than the marketing manager at a small, niche business-to-business consulting firm. Communication skills, marketing prowess, and basic management skills all come into play. In most cases, marketing managers have a four-year degree, and an MBA will definitely help in higher-level executive marketing positions.

The highest paying jobs might have you crashing planes or defending criminals

US economy's latest output: better jobs

The US economy isn't just producing jobs these days, it's also producing good jobs. Alongside the ads for jobs handling a cash register or a spatula are these new opportunities:

• In St. Louis, AFB International is enlisting both technicians, paid $30,000 to $40,000, and PhD scientists, offered $80,000 to $100,000, in its quest for the perfect pet food.

• In Delaware, Honeywell plans to hire people at $40,000 to $100,000 to work in a data-storage center.

• In southern California, some of the latest openings involve working on the railroad, for $35,000 to $70,000 a year. Union Pacific plans to add 2,000 employees altogether.

These reports in the past month symbolize a welcome trend during an economic expansion that at first offered only tepid job gains, both in quantity and quality.

This good news about the breadth of job creation comes against a backdrop of labor-market anxiety that has persisted despite the economy's solid overall footing. Competition from imported goods, the threat of outsourcing services abroad, and a controversial influx of illegal laborers are just some of the forces that make many workers worried about their future.

Creating good jobs - the kinds that can keep American living standards rising - appears likely to remain a challenge. But the current employment picture at least indicates movement in a positive direction.

"We're creating lots of all kinds of jobs, across many industries, occupations, and pay scales," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. But he adds: "If your skill sets are rusty, or at the low end of the skill range, you're going to have a tougher time."

The economy added 211,000 jobs in March, according to a Labor Department report Friday - a solid showing about on par with expectations. The unemployment rate fell a notch, to 4.7 percent.

The new jobs still include plenty at the low end: An analysis by Merrill Lynch finds that some 40 percent of the net gain in March came in two areas known for low pay: retail services and leisure/hospitality, which includes restaurants.

But this is just part of a broader tapestry. Management and professional occupations are employing 1.2 million more people this month than a year ago - or about 1 in 3 new jobs in America. This is the highest-paying of five broad categories tracked by the Labor Department. Not all of them are CEOs or engineers, but the median paycheck for full-time workers in this category is $937 a week, far above the US median of $651.

The construction industry continues to hammer out more than its share of new jobs. It accounts for about 6.4 percent of US jobs, but has provided 14.4 percent of the past year's job growth. The quality of construction jobs is mixed - often offering higher hourly pay than the US median but with lower benefits.

The Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis

Paraprofessional workers--nursing assistants, home health aides and personal care attendants--are the backbone of the formal long-term care system. These workers provide necessary care and support to millions of elderly people as well as younger people with chronic diseases and disabilities.

As policymakers focus more attention on quality outcomes in long-term care, the need for a prepared, committed and sustainable long-term care workforce has become an increasing priority.

Unprecedented vacancies and high turnover among these workers have affected both home and community-based providers and nursing homes, which have reported turnover rates ranging from 40 percent to over 100 percent annually.

In a national survey conducted in 2000, 42 states reported that nurse aide recruitment and retention were major issues. There is increasing evidence that these recruitment and retention problems are affecting both the quantity and the quality of long-term care services received.

The recent softening of the economy might be expected to take pressure off tight labor markets and make direct care jobs more competitive; however, there is little evidence to support such a trend. The latest national survey of state long-term care workforce recruitment and retention practices, conducted in the first half of 2002, found that the vast majority of states continue to report serious concerns about attracting and retaining direct care workers.

Moreover, shortages of qualified, committed paraprofessionals are likely to worsen. In the coming years, the U.S. will experience a tremendous increase in the size of its­ elderly population as baby boomers age. At the same time, the number of middle-aged women who have traditionally filled these jobs is not growing fast enough to meet the increased demand for services. The result of these demographic shifts is an emerging "care gap" that could severely curtail our nation's ability to provide long-term care.

 

Physical Therapist

physical therapy ranked highest in job satisfaction, according to a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. More than three quarters of physical therapists reported being "very satisfied" with their occupation. In a similar survey by the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal, physical therapy rated one of the eight best careers.

And it's easy to understand why:

•You're a one-on-one coach, a role that many people enjoy. It's a bit like a fitness coach but with more skills and you're helping people with more acute problems.

•You usually see real progress. For example, it's touching to see a patient, who came in on a stretcher or in a wheelchair, walk out at the end of treatment.

•Unlike physicians, who often are restricted to 12-minute appointments, you typically see a patient for an hour.

•You have considerable autonomy in how to solve problems, yet, unlike in self-employment, you can get a steady and pretty good paycheck.

•There's variety: Most physical therapists are generalists. You might treat, for example, a brain-injured child, a football player who broke his arm, an Iraq War veteran amputee, and an aged stroke patient.

•You can choose from a wide range of work settings, notably hospitals, physical therapy clinics, schools, physicians' offices, and patients' homes.

•Unlike many other health professionals who must work nights and weekends, you usually have normal work hours.

•Despite increased use of lower-cost physical therapy assistants, the job market for physical therapists is projected to remain strong as the baby boomers are reaching the age where they get more weekend-warrior athlete injuries and more serious problems.

Like all careers, physical therapy has downsides:

•This career is physically demanding. All day, you're moving patients around, demonstrating exercises, and so on. That's a plus for some people and a minus for others who might prefer a desk job. It's not uncommon to leave work with sore muscles.

•Burnout risk. Many of your patients will be newly disabled, in pain, progressing slowly, and/or frustrated by the painful exercises you prescribe. That can take a toll on you.

•Training requirements have been ratcheted up. Not long ago, a bachelor's degree would do. Now, a master's is the minimum, with a three-year doctor of physical therapy increasingly the norm.

Nevertheless, if you're a science- and helping-oriented person, fascinated with the human body, and have an optimistic personality, a physical therapy career may heal your career pains.

Optometrist

Optometrist. Ophthalmologist. Optician. Many people confuse them, but a career as an optometrist offers unmistakable advantages. Optometrists on average earn more than twice as much as opticians (the people who grind lenses and fit you for glasses). And optometrists get to do most of what ophthalmologists do, without the medical degree: diagnose and treat eye diseases, perform minor surgery (in some states), and of course fit people for glasses and contact lenses. Yet the required training is years shorter than it is for an ophthalmologist: a four-year, post-bachelor's program

With so many aging boomers in need of vision care, the job prospects are strong. Laser surgery that corrects vision problems has slightly diminished demand for optometrists, but in the future that's likely to be outweighed by demographic trends and other factors. There's also a lot of satisfaction in this career, since most vision problems can be corrected with lenses or relatively minor surgery.

Because the job is so appealing, it can be tough to land a spot in optometry school. Most optometrists are self-employed, so it helps if you have an entrepreneurial bent and a knack for smart marketing approaches, like conducting free vision screenings in shopping malls.

Smart Specialty

Pediatric optometry. The eye problems of children are generally among the most remediable. And the American Optometric Association projects high growth in this niche.

Occupational Therapist

We take for granted our ability to button a shirt, use a computer, or drive a car. But many people—injured adults, children born with disabilities, elders beset by aging—cannot assume those skills. The occupational therapist helps such people live as fully and independently as possible. Thirty percent of OTs work in schools, helping, for example, autistic kids learn how to interact with other children. The majority of OTs work in hospitals or visit patients in their homes.

Most older adults wish to remain in their homes as long as possible, so OTs often help elders avoid long-term-care facilities. An OT might, for example, recommend a robot that can climb stairs to retrieve needed items, help develop workarounds that enable stroke patients to feed themselves, or suggest memory aids and computer programs to help an Alzheimer's patient. This is a challenging career that's best for creative, practical people who find satisfaction in small successes.

Smart Specialty


OT Consultant. As people age, their reaction time, night vision, and peripheral vision decline. A person might hire an OT consultant to assess an aging parent's driving and perhaps offer training or recommend devices to help keep him safely behind the wheel. Some OT consultants may never see a patient. For example, a real-estate developer might hire an OT to assist in designing a senior housing development.

Registered Nurse

Smart Specialties


Nurse practitioner. Like a physician's assistant, you'll typically provide most of the direct patient care normally handled by a physician. Training is shorter than for physicians, there's less paperwork, and you're likely to work with healthier patients—which means a high success rate.

Nurse anesthetist. With anesthesiologists often earning $300,000 a year, healthcare providers are increasingly looking to nurse anesthetists to lower costs. You're usually the last person to see a patient before surgery and help ensure a pain-free surgery and after-surgery experience. The job can be stressful, but the high demand (especially in rural and inner-city hospitals ), high pay (average is well over $100,000), and high psychological reward make this a smart specialty indeed.

There's great unmet demand for nurses, and you'll have lots of options. If you want to work directly with patients, you can specialize in everything from neonatology to hospice care. You can work in a hospital, a doctor's office, or a patient's home. Outside of patient care, options range from nurse informatics (helping nurses get access to computerized information) to legal nurse consulting (helping lawyers assess a claim's validity.)

On the downside, many registered nurses must work nights and weekends, and burnout is a factor, especially in medical/surgical wards, and in critical-care specialties such as surgery, oncology, and emergency medicine. There are potential hazards, too: exposure to people with communicable diseases and back injuries from moving patients.

Something to think about: Studies report large numbers of errors by healthcare providers that endanger or kill patients. This is a career for people who are both caring and extremely attentive to detail—even when stressed

Engineer

How would you like to design the next-generation iPhone? A more energy-efficient air conditioner? Or software that would more quickly decode a person's genome? If you're an inveterate tinkerer, with enough math and science ability to survive a five-to-six-year engineering or computer science bachelor's degree, engineering could be your calling. Turnover is very low, although twice as many women as men leave the profession. And there's strong demand for engineers, who are among the highest-paid bachelor's-level professionals.

One trend to keep an eye on: Employers are offshoring ever more lower-skill engineering work to low-cost countries like India and China, where thousands of bright engineers are willing to work for a fraction of the going rate in the United States. While the job market for many engineering specialties will be strong in the private sector, as in many fields, the most secure jobs will be in the government.

A Day in the Life. On your computer, you draft a design for a valve for an improved artificial heart, running simulations of how well different materials would work. You then work with a model maker at your medical device company, who will create a prototype of your design. Meanwhile, a fellow engineer is devising a machine to test your prototype. Once the prototype has been tested, you'll meet with your boss and three other engineers—each of whom developed a different prototype valve. You'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, so you can settle on one that incorporates the best features of all three.

Biomedical Equipment Technician

Imagine you're in a hospital bed, hooked up to a heart monitor and a ventilator. Those machines had better be working properly. Fortunately, they almost always are. Whom do you thank? A biomedical equipment tech.

This is one of the few health careers in which you are key to helping patients recover yet there's (usually) no blood or gore. Biomed techs enjoy other pluses, too. You're not limited to repairing stuff: You install, train, calibrate, and perform maintenance. And you're always working on new, ever better equipment such as combined PET/CT scanners and robotic radiosurgery units, which irradiate a tumor but not the surrounding cells. Only a two-year degree is required, and the job market is terrific—you're unlikely to ever hear the word "layoff." This career is resistant to off-shoring, although some state-of-the-art machines allow remote diagnostics, so if a Texas MRI machine breaks down in the middle of the night, a tech in Indiana or India can figure out what's wrong.

This career's main downside is periodic stress. If that heart-lung machine stops working in the middle of a bypass operation, you'd better fix it now. Of course, if you do save the day, you are a true hero. A more significant downside is that biomed techs increasingly need aptitude both for fixing equipment and for tweaking the computers embedded in leading-edge machines, like an automatic infusion pump that can say, "No. That's too big a dose." Ever more knowledge of computer hardware, software, and networking is required.

Another downside is that perhaps one week a month, you'll be on 24-hour call—that patient on the heart-lung machine can't wait until the morning. Fortunately, you're likely to be called in only once or twice a week.

Next time you're visiting someone in the hospital and hear those lifesaving beeps and alarms, think about whether you just want to be grateful to a biomed tech or become one.

Day in the Life. The way the day started, you would never have guessed that this would be one of your most stressful days ever. You arrive at the community hospital that employs you and start on routine maintenance of EKG, ultrasound, and defibrillator machines, and you recalibrate a laser scalpel.

You're interrupted by an emergency page to a patient room—the ventilator isn't working properly. Worse, the hospital's other ventilators are all in use. You race in to check the machine's components: Yes, it's dispensing the oxygen at the proper rate, but you discover that the depth of the "respiration" is too low. Fortunately, the problem is just that a rubber tube came loose. You fix it, and the patient begins breathing normally again.

You're relieved that your next task is to help the manufacturer's field rep install your hospital's second CT scanner. Cool—the new machine is a real improvement over the old one. But the calm doesn't last long. You receive a distress call from a temporary nurse who doesn't understand how to get the new patient monitor to retrieve the needed information. You train her, as a few other nurses look on.

Surgery calls to tell you that the voice-controlled surgical table won't lift the patient's legs up. Lucky again, it's simply a dead battery in the voice-control module.

Finally, you want to give yourself a reward, so, rather than going back to the routine maintenance you started your day with, you tackle repairing the hospital's X-ray film processor. You tinker with it: no luck. You peruse the manual: no luck. But fortunately, there's no rush with this; X-ray film processors aren't used much in today's era of digital radiography. It can wait until tomorrow.

The future of audiology is safe.

Hearing care will never go the route of "entirely implant." Cochlear implants are only a viable option for a very small percentage of persons with hearing loss. Could you imagine having a mild hearing loss and someone telling you that a surgical prosthesis must be implanted into your skull as treatment? Ridiculous.

Also, for the person with a cochlear implant the audiologist plays a vital role in the follow-up and care of. In its rudimentary form, the C.I. is a surgically implanted hearing aid. It still relies on electrical signals and modified settings for the end-user that must be performed by an audiologist.

Audiology survived through the 70's when legislation would not allow practicing audiologists to dispense hearing aids. Regardless of hearing aid technology, hearing aid users will always require management and care, especially among the elderly and those with hearing losses of greater severity. I truly believe that at the present time legislation that allows hearing aid dispensers with no formal education to play a role in hearing management is what really holds the profession back. There are just too many unqualified "professionals" making vital decisions on client care.

They only situation that could truly put the profession of audiology at risk is hair cell regeneration in the cochlea. At the present time this technology looks to be several decades, if even in our lifetimes, away.

The field is dynamic and changing (for the better). There is a good outlook for the career of an audiologist.

Audiologist

Overview. One-on-one helping careers are among the most pleasant. And this one offers the promise that over your career, the tools to help patients will get better and better. Already, today's computer-controlled hearing aids are more effective and enjoyable than traditional ones. America's most famous user: Bill Clinton. Another plus for this profession is that you'll often get out of the office. You might spend part of your day in a hospital clinic, part in a school, and part at a hearing aid store. If you're bright and ambitious, you might even be on a research team developing the next generation of hearing aids.

Yet another advantage is that audiology is an under-the-radar career—few people consider it, so competition isn't as keen as it might be. You'd think demand for audiologists would be rapidly increasing, with all the aging boomers and the increased special-education testing of children. But increasingly, lower-salaried ear technicians do much of what audiologists do. So, job growth in this small profession (13,000 people nationwide) is expected to be just average. The education requirement isn't, however: Now, a doctor of audiology degree is required.

A Day in the Life. Your first patient is a severely deaf child who has just been fitted with a surgically implanted cochlear implant, a device that bypasses the ear and sends signals directly to the auditory nerve. Your job is to optimize the device for the child's needs and train the child how to interpret the sounds—they're different from sounds heard by the ear. Your second patient is an 80-year-old having trouble retaining his balance. You examine him and provide an analysis that will help his physician determine the cause. Most of your patients, though, are children and older adults with limited hearing loss. You counsel them about hearing aids and in some cases deliver the good news that the only treatment required is removing their excess earwax.

5 Things to Know About the Employee Free Choice Act

The heated debate over the merits of the Employee Free Choice Act is particularly poignant for both union leaders and business interests, as it plays out during a recession that has ransacked corporate profits but sharpened the perception of high times that excluded workers in favor of shareholders and executives. Despite being a top priority for unions, the bill seemed to have lost its life last month. But the Senate is considering compromises on the bill and may even bring it up for a vote next month. It's crucial for workers to understand what drives the legislation's supporters and opponents.

The dwindling union ranks: Outsourcing and automation have hit the unions hard. After decades of declining membership, last year was something of a banner year for union growth. Ranks swelled by the biggest chunk in 25 years to hit 16.1 million, largely thanks to gains in government employee membership (government workers are five times as likely as other workers to be in unions). The overall trend is pretty grim for labor. Unions represent a smaller share of the workforce than in 1983, when data were first collected, and their ranks have dwindled in absolute numbers, as well. Indeed, while union membership was above 20 percent of the total U.S. workforce in the '80s, it is now at 12.4 percent. The EFCA would make it easier for workers to unionize, and it would allow unions to build their muscle once again. One study suggests the act would boost union rolls by 5 to 10 percent in the first year after its passage.

The threat of employer antagonism: Supporters of the EFCA argue that the conditions of the National Labor Relations Act have allowed employers to intimidate and threaten employees who attempt to unionize. The current method of unionizing requires at least 30 percent of workers to sign cards indicating that they favor the formation of a union. The petition is sent to the National Labor Relations Board and, if certified, enables the employees to hold an election. A majority of workers then must elect to unionize. A study released by the progressive Economic Policy Institute found that during the election process, "it is standard practice for workers to be subjected to threats, interrogation, harassment, surveillance, and retaliation for union activity." The EFCA would beef up damages against companies that unlawfully fire workers for supporting union organizing.

The threat of pressure from unions: Most of the debate about the Employee Free Choice Act revolves around the fact that it would allow workers to form unions by signing cards instead of holding an election. Union elections use secret ballot voting, in which workers vote in anonymity. Opponents argue that allowing workers to form by signing cards would open employees to greater threat of union coercion. James Sherk and Paul Kersey of the conservative Heritage Foundation argue that "card check" means workers have less free choice than under the current election system, as "a democratic election with private ballots ensures that all workers can express their desires without fear of social stigma or retribution. With a private ballot, no one else knows how any individual worker voted, and workers can express their intentions without outside pressure."

The value of government intervention: Under the terms of the EFCA, government arbitrators could script the terms of the first contract. If union representatives and the employer cannot reach an agreement within 90 days of the start of bargaining, then either side can ask the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help resolve the differences. If, after 30 days working with federal mediators, the two sides have not reached an agreement, government arbitrators will be brought in to render a decision. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce—one of the most ardent opponents of the legislation—argues that the arbitrators could create an agreement that neither party wants, and, "for an employer, you could be stuck with a contract that is completely incompatible with your cost structure and your business model—and you would have to live with that contract for two years."

The value of unions: The debate over expanding the scope of unions is really significant only if unions themselves provide value to workers and yield additional power in negotiating with employers to improve the conditions for workers. Wages are king, and the "union-wage premium," or the amount that union workers make above what nonunion workers make, is sizable, according to some research. The Center for American Progress calculates that over the four-year period from 2004 to 2007, "unionized workers' wages were on average 11.3 percent higher than nonunion workers with similar characteristics." Union workers are also, on average, covered with better benefit packages than comparable nonunion workers. Some economists favor the legislation as the best shot at giving workers leverage at a time when companies have been slashing pay and benefits.

Career

Career is a term defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work (and sometimes also formal education).

The etymology of the term is somewhat ironic in that it comes from the Latin word carrera, which means race (as in "rat race," a pejorative implying the opposite of a useful career).

A career is mostly seen as a course of successive situations that make up a person's occupation. One can have a sporting career or a musical career without being a professional athlete or musician, but most frequently "career" in the 20th century referenced the series of jobs or positions by which one earned one's money. A person's worth is often measured by the career success or failings. It is not until an individual matures and takes possession of their life that the realisation of life balance occurs. Life balance entails separating career activities, achievements and tasks from the rest of a persons life. For example, leaving the job at work and having a home life. Learning that career is necessary to meet the needs of life and also have a life as well