Nursing is all about caring for patients and providing a great standard of healthcare. This makes it the perfect choice of career for anybody who is looking for rewarding and fulfilling work that allows them to help others and be there for people on a daily basis. As a nurse, you can save lives, be there for people who need it the most, bring comfort and happiness to your patients and their families, and provide care to those who are sick or injured. Nursing is a career that is needed in all aspects of healthcare from emergency rooms to psychiatric care, rehabilitation, midwifery and senior care. If you are a caring, compassionate people who loves helping others, nursing could be the ideal choice of career for you. While working as a nurse can be challenging, it is also a very highly satisfying role. Here are some of the top reasons to consider a career in nursing.
Location
Qualifying as a nurse means that it will be easy for you to find work no matter where you go. Whether you are considering relocating to a different state or even starting a new life abroad, the good news is that nurses are professionals that will always be needed as long as there are people around. Working as a nurse requires the same knowledge and skills no matter where you go. As a result, training as a nurse allows you to travel the world working in healthcare if you wish. Travel nursing is an ideal career to consider if you want to use your work as a nurse to visit new places.
Flexibility
Since nurses are needed in healthcare 24/7, it offers a flexible career choice where it’s not difficult to find work with hours that suit you. Along with the fact that you can work in almost every location worldwide once you are trained as a nurse, there are various job postings and settings that you can choose from based on which hours you want to work. Some nursing careers offer shift work, full-time, part-time, night shifts, or even 9-5 hours. Shifts can vary in length and cover the days, nights, early mornings, or evenings, making it easy for you to find a career that can be tailored around your current commitments.
Career Mobility
Nurses aren’t just found in roles where they administer patient care in hospitals. As a nurse, you can find work in a wide variety of different settings. From working in the emergency room to be the first point of contact for patients that come in with symptoms of an illness or an injury, to working alongside a doctor in an office to administer treatments and routine checkups, there are plenty of diverse roles to consider when working in direct patient care. Along with this, nurses are also needed in a range of other industries, such as the legal system, which often works with nurse consultants, or the education industry, where nurse educators are in higher demand than ever before to get more nurses into the workforce and reduce the shortage.
Career Progression
A role as a nurse is one with countless opportunities for career advancement and progression. Wherever you want to take your career, there are endless options to consider. Whether you want to continue working directly with patients in an advanced nursing role, become a nurse educator, or manage healthcare facilities and teams of professionals as a nurse executive, manager or leader, today there are more options than ever before available when it comes to getting an advanced degree as a nurse and taking your career further. Acute care nurse practitioner programs are available from Baylor University, providing a flexible option for registered nurses to study for this advanced degree online and fit further education around their career.
High Demand
The current shortage of nursing professionals in the US has led to higher demand than ever before for professionals to get into this career path. As a nurse, you will not find it difficult to find work; the majority of BSN graduates find full-time roles in nursing within six months of graduation. A recent World Health Organization report found that globally, we are in need of at least six million more nurses over the next ten years. The demand for good nurses is rising due to a range of different reasons, including aging populations, which is putting higher demand on the healthcare industry in general.
Learning Opportunities
With healthcare always changing due to new advancements in technology, nurses always have something new to learn. For many nurses who have been in this career for several years, things are very different now compared to what the industry and career looked like when they first started. Once you begin a career as a nurse, one of the first things to know is that things are very unlikely to stay the same. Over time, as new technologies enter the healthcare industry and medical research provides healthcare professionals with more information on diseases and new treatments, the role of a nurse is never finished when it comes to keeping up to date.
Specialties
Finally, nursing is a great career choice for anybody who has a special interest in a certain area of healthcare. Whether you are interested in working with children, seniors, patients with cancer, psychiatric conditions, or women’s health, there is a specialty for everything when it comes to a nursing career. Once you have qualified as a registered nurse and gained a license to work in your state, you will be able to study further to get a professional certification, allowing you to work in a highly specialist area of nursing such as trauma or acute care nursing, neonatal nursing, nurse midwifery, oncology nursing, psychiatric nursing, operating room nursing and many more, depending on your interests and goals for your career.
Whether you’re just starting to think about your future career options or are considering a career change, these are just some of the main reasons why a career in nursing might be an ideal choice for you.