There are plenty of healthcare careers to choose from, but none as rewarding as nursing. From elder care to emergency room nurse, the multiple paths a nursing career offers is bountiful.
There is a bit of education and skills you will need to get and develop, often via universities, or even an online school of nursing. But once you have a degree, whether associates or doctorate, you are highly employable with plenty of room for professional development and growth in the health industry.
If you are considering a career in nursing, you are about to embark on an exciting journey. Here are six reasons why nursing careers are amazing!
1. Wide Variety Of Shift Work
One amazing aspect of having a career in nursing is the hours. The hours nurses work vary greatly, from the night shift to part-time office hours at a private doctor practice. This allows you to create the perfect lifestyle, working any hours you want. For example, if you want to have days free, you can work as at night. Or if you want to work four days and be off for three during the week, you can find a way to do that too.
2. You Can Jet Set As A Nurse
Being a nurse allows you to get a job pretty much anywhere you want. This is due to the high demand for nurses of all kinds. Let’s say you graduated with a nursing degree in Boston, but after four years, the cold winters are not that fun anymore. No worries, because you are a nurse.
You can easily launch your nursing career in sunny destinations like California or Florida, get paid to move, and enjoy a new geo-location. Travel nursing is also an option that takes on characteristics of the new generation of career paths. This is a nursing job that places you in different places around the US for three to six months at a time, and the pay for travel nurses is amazing!
3. You Are A Lifelong Learner
Another reason a career in nursing is amazing is the ability to continue learning for pretty much your entire career. This is because medicine changes, technology changes, and the people you will work with also changes. Being a lifelong learner allows you to develop new skills to take your career to the next level.
“The reasons to continue learning are many, and the weight of the evidence would indicate that lifelong learning isn’t simply an economic imperative but a social, emotional, and physical one as well,” John Coleman of Harvard Business Review explained. “Capturing that opportunity — maintaining our curiosity and intellectual humility — can be one of life’s most rewarding pursuits.”
4. Specialties In Nursing Are Wide Ranging
Do you have a friend or family member stuck in the same role for decades? This is common for the average worker, but not in nursing. There are a wide range of specialties nurses can pursue once he or she gets their feet wet after graduation and starting a career.
For example, you can be an oncologist nurse, emergency medicine nurse, intensive care nurse, flight nurse, and much more. This can keep your mind sharp and help you stay motivated and passionate about your chosen healthcare profession. Changing up the type of nurse you are is also an option too. Variety is always an option for nurses.
5. There’s Plenty Of Room For Professional Mobility
Nurses will develop a number of skills after a few short years in a nursing career. This allows you to move up whenever the mood strikes you, because professional mobility in healthcare is definitely an option, especially for nurses. For example, you can start your career as a registered nurse (RN) and move upward to become a nurse practitioner (NP) with a bit more schooling and experience.
6. The Demand For Nurses Is Perpetual
Lastly, a nursing career is awesome because you will always have a career. The demand for nurses is high and this demand will not go anywhere anytime soon. In fact, the demand for nurses will increase 26 percent by 2020. That is a huge increase in just a few short years. Layoffs and obsolete positions simply do not exist in the space of nursing, and that is awesome!
In Conclusion . . .
A career in nursing is definitely awesome. From being mobile geographically to professional career growth, the benefits are pretty clear. If you are considering a career in the healthcare industry, nursing is certainly worth researching a bit more before making your final decision. What’s your favorite part of being a nurse?
