The field of nursing is expansive, with dozens of job titles, work environments, and specialties.
When you become a nurse, you have stepped into a profession that provides roles inside and outside the hospital, a trusted profession, and opportunities for further education (such as ob taining a master’s in nursing) and career advancement. There are many avenues you can take in furthering your education. For example, you may want to become a family nurse practitioner by getting your MSN FNP degree.
Going into the nursing profession has consistently been a wise career choice over the years, with registered nurses and nurse practitioners being ranked in the top best jobs of 2022.
So, what are the reasons you should consider a career in nursing? You will discover that in this article.
6 Reasons to Consider a Nursing Career
It Is a Trusted Profession
The nursing industry has a strong reputation for integrity, honesty, and ethics, so much so that for about the 20th year in a row, Americans have ranked the honesty and ethics of nurses the highest among the other professions.
This reflects the vital role nurses play in the healthcare field and the degree to which patients and their loved ones depend on nurses. People find themselves trusting nurses not only as caregivers, but also as educators, supporters, listeners, and researchers.
For example, numerous nurses left their homes to boldly face COVID-19, the greatest global healthcare difficulty of our time. For years to come, there is a high probability that the profession will continue to enjoy the top spot in ethics and integrity.
Specialization Opportunities According to Your Interests
From psychiatric floors to emergency rooms, nurses have a plethora of options when it comes to finding a specialty that interests them, which means you will probably never be bored. More over, if you do not immediately find the right one for you, you don’t have to sweat it. With a nurs ing degree, you are qualified for virtually any specialty.
Nurses are an essential part of delivering healthcare in several different settings. You can choose to focus on general healthcare, like gerontological nursing, or expand your role to work as a transplant nurse or flight nurse. You can also go after health policy careers.
Additionally, as a nurse, you can easily switch from one specialty to another. For instance, after practicing as a dialysis nurse, you may choose to try traveling nursing jobs. If you want to switch
to becoming a labor and delivery nurse, it is also possible. You will only need some hands-on experience and continuing education before you find a new position.
Further Education and Advancement Opportunities
No day as a nurse ever remains the same. Every day, you will likely learn something new on the job, with ample on-the-job professional development and training opportunities.
Moreover, the more education you have as a nurse, the more opportunities are available for growth and advancement. Once you earn your BSN degree, you are therefore well-positioned to pursue a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN degree) as well as a post-master’s certificate in advanced practice roles like nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, clini cal nurse manager, etc.
Nurses Have High Earning Potential
A BSN degree does not only open up opportunities for medical marketability, but it also results in higher-paying positions. That is, it gives you a leg up when negotiating your salary, thereby putting you ahead of other candidates with a lower or the same level of experience.
Clinics, hospitals, and doctors’ offices offer fantastic benefits to attract and maintain qualified professionals. Salary is part of the fantastic benefits. A registered nurse’s average salary is about $77,600 annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is well above the av erage annual salary for other occupations, which is about $45,760.
Travel nurses receive added benefits for the inconvenience of working and living in another city. These can include benefits to cover travel expenses with a stipend for meals, housing, and oth er bills.
Other benefits that nurses receive include paid vacation and holidays, health and life insurance, retirement benefits, childcare, paid sick time, subsidized travel, wellness programs, tuition reim bursement, bonuses when understaffed or for working extra shifts, etc.
Stable Industry Growth
The healthcare field is growing rapidly, and the nursing industry is not fading or going away any time soon. As a matter of fact, while advances in robotics may result in automating some nurs ing tasks, empathy and advanced motor skills are essential to nursing jobs.
This means that although machines may replace other professions, with nursing, they will prob ably only offer assistance so that nurses can spend more time being focused on advanced pa tient care.
According to the BLS, nursing is among the top occupations for job growth through 2029, and it is expected to grow by 7%. It is safe to conclude that the job outlook for registered nurses will be bright in years to come.
Furthermore, as Americans age, nurses will be needed to educate and care for older clients in various settings. The BLS, therefore, anticipates job growth in long-term care facilities that will provide care for Alzheimer’s disease and rehabilitation. Residential care, outpatient services, and home health are also expected to be in demand.
Flexible Work Schedule
The nursing career provides job flexibility, a unique privilege that many professional careers do not have. Depending on where qyou work as a nurse, often, you have a say as regards working full-time, part-time, or on-call. Although there are still nursing jobs that fit the typical eight-hour day, five days weekly, the average workday for nurses in long-term health hospitals or facilities is twelve-hour shifts, three days per week.
According to the American Journal of Nursing, flexible scheduling has been shown to benefit nurses, patients, and the organizations which they work for. This does not only promote auton omy among nurses, but it also empowers the staff overall, with the result being that nurses feel like they are more involved in decision-making and committed to teamwork.
The Nursing Career
Nurses are caregivers. If you want to become a nurse, you should be a caring person who loves helping others and wants to make a difference in the world. At the same time, you should be a data-driven person focusing on safety and evidence-based care.
