There are nurses and then there are nurses. The private technical schools turn out Licensed Practical Nurses or Licensed Vocational Nurses who do a lot of the bedside care in hospitals. Depending on the state earning a license requires 1–2 years of classroom and on-the job training. These are the people we generally think of as our nurses when we are hospitalized. They dispense meds, take vitals and monitor your condition. (Are you sleeping well. going to the bathroom etc) Since the state sets the standards, these schools will be good. Here in California, some community colleges also offer the same training but they are harder to get into because of the costs.
There are also nurse’s aides who keep things tidy and bring meals and physically help the patient (also assist thr LPN?LVN
There used to be 3 year Regestered Nurse programs. Before the ‘70’s the RN was the bedside nurse. Nurses wanted to professionalize their career so many RN programs xpanded to 4 year BSN programs As salaries for these nurses rose, reflecting their increase education, they became supervisory and now there is only one per shift per ward
Nurses can attend post grad classes and specialize or become nurse-practitioners and function as mant family SDrs used to-minor illnesses, checkups, injections etc