13 great reasons to get into nursing
Many people choose to get into nursing because they are naturally caring and empathetic people who want to spend their lives being there for and caring for others.
If you care about the health of others and want to make a big difference with your choice of career, getting into nursing could be the best decision for you.
Not only is nursing one of the most well-respected and rewarding careers out there, but it can also be very financially rewarding, and there are so many options for both personal and professional growth for those who want to become a nurse.
Nurses can choose from a wide range of career progression options, and the high demand for good nurses currently means that there is little trouble finding the career pathway that you really want, whether you’d like to specialize in a certain aspect of medicine or move up the ranks into a nurse practitioner or nurse management role.
In. this article, we’ve put together 13 of the best reasons why you might want to consider a career in nursing.
1) It’s extremely rewarding
Nursing is certainly one of the most rewarding career options that you can choose for yourself.
Most nurses will work with people who are really in need of support and care during some of the toughest periods of their lives, and knowing that you are able to be there and make things better for the individual patients that you deal with and their families can bring about a sense of reward, satisfaction, and fulfillment that is second-to-none.
Nurses really are a special kind of person who is there for others in their most desperate times of need, and knowing that you can contribute, even sometimes in a small way, to making the world a better place makes all the tough times in this job most definitely worth it.
2) There’s a high demand for nurses
Today, we’re experiencing a higher demand for nurses than ever before. Wherever you go in the US, you can almost be guaranteed to find work as a nurse since nurses are always needed.
Patients need access to good medical care 24/7 and in every single area. And with current events like the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the country, it’s becoming more and more apparent that we really need more good nurses.
In fact, hundreds of thousands of new nurses are expected to be hired over the next few years. And, the high demand for nurses is not only confined to the USA. Good nurses are in demand all around the world, so if you ever decide to relocate or start a new life somewhere else, work as a nurse should never be difficult to find.
3) You can specialize in different areas
When it comes to nursing, there are so many different specialized areas that you can get into.
Once you have qualified as a registered nurse, there are tons of different training programs, additional degree programs, and on-the-job training programs that you can enroll in, in order to improve your knowledge and skills of a certain medical field or area of nursing.
Nurses might want to focus more heavily on working with children, pregnant and new mothers, older people, people suffering from psychiatric problems, patients undergoing surgery, or patients suffering from certain medical conditions and diseases such as cancer.
There are so many different areas to go into whether you want to be an oncology nurse, nurse anesthesiologist, pediatric nurse, neonatal nurse, gynecology nurse, or something else.
Many nurses go through various different specialties before finding one that they like, while others learn quite early on which they would prefer to specialize in and stick with it for the rest of their careers.
4) There’s plenty of room for career progression
In addition to the options to move sideways and into a wide variety of specialties as a nurse, there are also plenty of opportunities to move upwards and make your way up the career ladder.
Nurses are becoming more and more authoritative in the medical field and roles such as the nurse practitioner are leading the way towards transforming the healthcare system in a variety of different ways.
As a registered nurse, you will have several opportunities to move upwards and work towards career options that offer you more responsibility, more autonomy, authority, and a greater rate of pay.
You can take a BSN to family nurse practitioner degree online while working full-time as a registered nurse, and the growing demand for good nurse practitioners due to the shortage of doctors and the aging population means that many employers are willing to help fund the education of nurses who want to move up the ladder.
5) There are a variety of work environments to choose from
Another great opportunity that you will have as a nurse is the option to choose from a wide range of different work environments.
Nurses work in a wide variety of different healthcare settings from hospitals and doctor’s offices to research facilities, schools, the community, and correctional facilities.
As a nurse, you might decide to work in a wide variety of different environments throughout your career if you would like to have a wide range of different experiences and deal with different people. For example, working in the ER is likely to be very different from working as a nurse in a school or within the community, for example.
Some nurses reach a point where they want a change from working on the front line with patients and turn to more administrative or research roles, for example, where they can still make a huge difference to the lives of their patients without being the first point of contact.
6) You have access to training options
There has never been a better time to become a nurse. Today, anybody who wants to train to become a registered nurse has access to a wide range of high-quality training options.
Online nursing degree programs allow anybody to study to become a nurse whether you are fresh out of high school or want to change your career at a later point in your life.
Nursing degree options are very available and there are several options to choose from whether you’d like to attend traditional, campus-based classes at a university or nursing school or whether it would be easier for you to find a method of learning that would fit around a full-time job or family commitments.
There is a wide range of study options available for nurses at every point of their educational process, whether you are studying for an associate’s degree in nursing or your doctorate of nursing practice.
If you already hold a degree in a non-nursing subject, you can also access accelerated nursing degree options to help you reach your career goals faster.
7) You can have access to a more flexible work schedule
As a nurse, you will have access to a more flexible work schedule compared to many other career options. Nurses are needed 24/7 so when it comes to picking the hours that you would like to work there is much more freedom compared to other professions.
Nurses can choose varying shift options depending on the type of work environment that they are in. For example, nurses working in a doctor’s office can usually enjoy a standard 9-5 work schedule, while those who work in hospitals can choose from a variety of options whether it’s working days, nights, weekdays, weekends, or a combination of them all.
Nursing shift lengths can fluctuate depending on your needs, meaning that if you’re not a morning person you can work evening shifts, or work longer shifts over fewer days if you’d rather have more time off to spend with your family.
8) Nursing is well-respected work
Nurses have a strong and positive reputation of being compassionate healers and consistently rank highly in public opinion polls when it comes to honesty and ethical standards as a profession.
As a nurse, you will certainly be highly respected by all that you come across and most people will be very thankful for you and the work that you do.
9) Nursing can offer competitive salaries
Due to the current shortage of nurses and other healthcare professionals across the US, nurses can expect not only great job security, but also fantastic wages.
Annually, nurses in the US can earn an average of $60,000 or even more dependent on the state. And if you want to improve your career outlook and move up the ranks to positions such as a family nurse practitioner, you can earn even more.
In fact, nurse practitioners consistently earn around $30,000 more per year compared to registered nurses, and double the amount that a licensed practical nurse is paid. You can also expect to earn even more when working as a nurse in highly specialized fields and industries.
10) You can enter the workforce quickly
Whether you simply want to get on the road to your chosen career as soon as possible or are looking for a fast career change into a more caring and rewarding profession, nurses have the opportunity to enter the workforce relatively quickly, and there is always the option to continue learning and improve your career outlook once you are in.
The conventional pathway for nurses is to gain a bachelor of science in nursing which usually takes four years to complete full-time. However, there are shorter and quicker ways available to get into the nursing profession, including taking a diploma or associate’s degree in nursing which takes 2-3 years to complete.
Once you have qualified, you can find accelerated bachelor’s programs that allow you to get your BSN as you work.
11) It’s exciting work
When you work as a nurse, no two days are ever going to be the same. Every day on the job will involve meeting a variety of different patients with various health concerns, and you’ll have a new challenge to face every time you turn up to work.
If the idea of working in a job where all you do is sit at a desk and do the same tasks every day bores the life out of you, you can rest assured that nursing is nothing like this.
Often, the entire workday can feel like one big adrenaline rush, and it’s an awesome choice for anybody who enjoys work where they feel challenged, pushed to their limits, and need to find solutions all the time.
12) You work with people
If you are a people person, love meeting new people, and want to spend your time interacting with others, a job as a nurse could be the perfect option for you.
Nurses certainly do not spend their working day locked away in an office behind a computer and only interacting with the same people day in, day out.
Whatever setting you work in as a nurse, chances are that you will get to meet somebody new every day of the week, whether it’s a colleague from another department or the patients who come through the door.
You will encounter individuals from all backgrounds and walks of life and all different ages with their own unique perspectives on life, which can certainly ensure that your job is very interesting.
13) You never stop learning
Finally, if you want to work in a career where you never have to stop learning and there’s always something around the corner for you to master, nursing could be the best choice for you.
Nurses are often facing various different challenges, whether it’s learning how to deal with a health problem that they have never encountered before or learning how to use new technology to make the patient experience even better.
Nurses are required to keep their knowledge and skills up to date on a regular basis and take regular exams to ensure that you’re keeping up with the often big and regular changes in the medical industry.
And if you have a desire and hunger to constantly learn more and improve yourself over time, the nursing profession has so many different opportunities available for you to go after the knowledge and skills that you want.
If you are interested in venturing into the nursing field, you can now do so quickly by acquiring an online Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) degree. You may apply for online distance nursing programs offered by various universities across the nation. The programs take a year to complete. They are, therefore, a faster and more efficient option than the traditional BSN programs.
There are various reasons why taking a BSN degree is a preferable route for offsetting your nursing career. The dynamic healthcare environment that we have today requires that nurses are knowledgeable and skilled enough to adapt to changes quickly and easily. Most of the renowned hospitals that set high standards for their patients’ healthcare also require that any nurse in a leadership position be a graduate or BSN degree holder.
Nurses with BSN degrees are better positioned to receive leadership roles at the hospital, more responsibilities, and increased pay. They are better equipped with the knowledge and skills to promote positive patient outcomes.
If you’d like an exciting, respected job where you get to do something new every day, nursing could be perfect for you.
