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Extra training that raises pay or opens doors

• Bridge to RN (registered nurse)

  2 to 3 more years of university, often part time. Many colleges and universities run bridging programs for practical nurses.

• Specialty courses

  Palliative care, mental health, dialysis, wound care, foot care.

• Operating room certificate

  A post-grad certificate; hospitals are short of scrub nurses.

• Charge nurse in long-term care

  Practical nurses often run a floor, especially on nights.