Many people who decide on nursing as the right career path for them will make this decision because they are passionate about caring for and helping others. So, is becoming a nurse a good career choice?
If you are interested in working in a role where you can have a direct impact on improving the health and wellbeing of others and want the reward that comes with working in a role where your efforts are able to make a real difference in the lives of people, getting into a nursing career could be the perfect fit for you.
Is Becoming A Nurse A Good Career Choice?
Nursing is not only one of the most rewarding and well-respected career options in the world today, but it also offers a lot of opportunities for career progression and can be very financially rewarding as well.
Once you are qualified as a registered nurse, there are several further study opportunities that you may want to consider to take on more advanced roles such as working as a nurse practitioner or a nurse educator.
And, the high demand for nurses right now due to a worldwide nursing shortage that has hit the US particularly hard means that once you’re qualified and licensed to work in a nursing role, finding a work opportunity won’t be difficult.
If this is a career path that you’re considering, here are some of the top reasons to choose to nurse.
1. High Rewards
If you hate the idea of working in a role where you don’t feel very satisfied or rewarded with the work that you do, nursing is the complete opposite. Working as a nurse is one of the most satisfying career options that you can choose.
In this role, nurses work directly with people who are going through a time in their life where they need support and help, and this career provides you with the opportunity to offer this.
Nurses can return home from work every day knowing that they’ve been there and improved things for patients and their families. This can lead to a sense of satisfaction, reward, and fulfillment that is hard to find in any other type of career.
2. Work with People
Are you a people person who enjoys caring for and helping others? If you can’t imagine a job where you don’t get to interact with other people very often, then nursing could be right for you.
As a nurse, you’ll get the chance to meet, help, and make a difference to hundreds or even thousands of people whose paths you may never have crossed otherwise.
It’s a great way to learn more about the world, and get to know people from a diverse range of backgrounds.
3. Massive Demand
While finding work that you enjoy and brings personal satisfaction is important for many people, another top factor that you’ll likely consider when choosing your future career is how easy it’s going to be to find work. How big is the demand for the skills, qualifications, and knowledge that you can bring to the table?
The good news for those who decide on a career in nursing is that nurses are currently experiencing higher demand than ever. There’s a shortage of nurses around the world, with the World Health Organization reporting that in the next ten years, the world as a whole is going to need around six million more nurses.
Along with this, the rapidly aging population in the US means that nurses are in higher demand than ever. Statistics show that within six months of getting a BSN, nursing graduates are typically in employment.
4. Career Progression
Nursing is an ideal choice of career for anybody who wants the chance to grow and progress with the work that they do. If you don’t find the idea of not being able to move up the career ladder appealing, then you can rest assured that nursing is probably an ideal fit.
Once you have qualified and gained a license as a nurse, you will have countless opportunities to get further education, move up the career ladder, and into more advanced roles. Right now, nurses with a BSN are opting to get a master’s degree in nursing to prepare for a role as a family nurse practitioner.
As a family nurse practitioner, you will enjoy full practice authority in twenty states where these advanced practice nurses are permitted to prescribe medication, diagnose patients, and more without the supervision of a primary care physician.
Further advanced career options that you may consider as a nurse include nurse leadership and management roles, research positions, and nurse education.
5. Specialty Areas
Along with the endless options to move forwards in your career and get into more advanced roles, another great reason to consider getting into a nursing career is that you will be able to spend more time focusing on the specialisms and departments that you are the most interested in. Nurses have the opportunity to focus their interests on a particular area of healthcare.
Whether there is a certain patient population that you want to work with most or want to work with patients that are suffering from certain conditions or illnesses, there are hundreds of different specialty areas within nursing to consider.
Whether you want to work with children as a pediatric nurse, help patients with mental health issues as a psychiatric mental health nurse, work in the operating room, care for premature babies as a neonatal nurse, or deliver babies as a nurse-midwife, these are just some of the popular options that nurses choose to get into a career that suits them best.
6. Work in Different Environments
While the hospital might be the first type of environment that comes to mind when you think about where nurses work, the truth is that once you are qualified and licensed as a registered nurse, there are many more options for you when it comes to working environments.
Nurses are needed to work in a large variety of different workplace environments and in this career, you can apply for roles where you will be working in places such as doctor’s offices, research facilities, outpatient clinics, retail health clinics, schools, prisons, within the community, residential programs and many more.
Nursing is a career where professionals are needed anywhere that people might require care, providing you with the opportunity to work in a role where you are able to interact with and help a wide range of different people.
7. Flexible Work Schedules
Nursing is a career where business hours are not the norm. Once you are working as a nurse, you will quickly find that your services are going to be needed around the clock. Nurses work early mornings, days, overnight, evenings, weekends, and public holidays.
If you need a flexible working schedule that works well for you, nursing is a career path that can certainly provide this for you. Nurses who work in a hospital often have a choice when it comes to the shifts that they take, allowing you to consider working hours that fit best around your family.
On the other hand, there are roles where you can work 9-5 if that is what you prefer, such as nursing roles in a doctor’s office or a research facility.
8. Competitive Salary
The current nursing shortage in the US means that nurses don’t just get great job security and high demand for their services, but there are competitive salaries on offer too. In the US, nurses earn an average of $60k per year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This can be even higher depending on the state where the nurse is based and for nurses who work in certain high-demand specialty areas such as trauma nursing, acute care nursing, and pediatric and neonatal nursing.
In addition, the career progression opportunities that are available to nurses mean that there is always the chance to improve your salary prospects even further by moving up into advanced roles.
9. Enjoy Interesting Work
When working as a nurse, it’s a career path where no two days are going to be the same. In this job, every day is going to involve meeting a wide range of different people from various backgrounds and walks of life. Nurses spend their days at work interacting closely with a wide range of people who are seeking medical care for a variety of different reasons.
If you want a job where you can deal with different situations and challenges every day and work with a wide range of different people, nursing could be the ideal choice for you.
It is certainly not an office job where you’re dealing with the same mundane tasks every day, as working as a nurse means that there is always something new around the corner for you to handle.
10. Training and Advancement
There has never been a better time to become a nurse than right now. If you’re currently working in a different career and are considering changing to nursing, getting the qualifications that you need to work in this career is more accessible than ever before.
With online nursing degree programs, it’s easier for people who would otherwise find getting a traditional campus-based degree difficult. Online nursing degree programs allow you to take lessons from the comfort of your own home with a flexible schedule that you may find easier to fit around any current commitments such as working full-time, making them an ideal choice for career changers who may not have the luxury of being able to give up their current job to retrain as a nurse.
And for nurses who want to get an advanced degree that can fit around their career in healthcare, there are now more advanced online degree programs available that are designed with busy registered nurses in mind.
11. Respected Career Path
When working as a nurse, you’re definitely going to be in a trusted company. Nurses constantly come up in surveys as one of, if not the most trusted set of professionals around the world.
Wherever you go, nursing is a career path that is well-respected with a strong reputation for being made up of professionals that people can rely on to be there and do the right thing for them when they need help and support the most.
A career in nursing will earn you the respect of your family, friends, and even strangers who can’t deny the importance of the work that you do.
12. Find Work Anywhere
Nurses are needed no matter where you go. As long as you are around people, good healthcare professionals, including nurses, need to be easy for the public to access when they are sick or injured and require professional care.
Once you are qualified and licensed to work as a nurse, you can find work no matter where you are. International relocations are easy to work for nurses who don’t have to worry about finding work in a new country as a nurse.
Or, you may want to consider pursuing travel nursing, where you’ll work for an agency that will send you around the country to different locations where nurses are in higher demand than others, giving you the chance to explore more as part of your job.
13. Never Stop Learning
If you are the type of person who has an insatiable desire for learning new things, working as a nurse could be the perfect choice for you. In the healthcare industry, things are always changing and there is always something new for nurses to keep up with.
Even if you are not pursuing targeted learning such as an advanced degree or professional certificates to get into a certain specialty area, nurses are always tasked with learning new things. With technology advancing the healthcare industry at a rapid rate, nurses will often find that their job is quite different just a few years in.
The Final Thoughts
Whether you’re mastering new equipment, getting to grips with new policies and procedures that are required as a result of new research, or tackling the treatment of new diseases like COVID-19, becoming a nurse is a great career choice for people who love learning new things.
With nurses in higher demand than ever before, there has never been a better time to consider this well-respected, exciting and crucial role for your career.
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