When people think about making a career change, nursing is the first profession many think of transitioning to. While there are certainly many advantages to becoming a nurse, it can also feel intimidating too. This is especially true in a post-pandemic world, where nurses are dealing with particularly high levels of stress and burnout.
If you’re thinking about becoming a nurse, the truth is that there are more good reasons to enter the field than ever before. To give you a clear picture of why someone should become a nurse, we’re happy to share this informative guide.
The Top 8 Reasons to Become a Nurse
While nursing may not be right for everyone, it is still a profession that anyone can enter — as long as it’s for the right reasons. Here are the biggest reasons why many people ultimately become a nurse.
1. Nurses Help People Every Day
For anyone who wants a job that is meaningful and has a positive impact on people, nursing is one of the best choices you can make. Above all, nurses perform a critical role of patient advocacy and communication to help ensure that treatment is performed successfully. In so many care situations, nurses are the frontline caregiver, explaining conditions and treatment, administering medication, and gauging symptoms.
So many nurses find deep satisfaction from having a job where they can help so many people day in and day out.
2. Nurses Can Work Anywhere
Nurses can find an open position anywhere in this country. This gives anyone who is a nurse tremendous options and flexibility about where they can live and work. Want to live in a city or the country? Nurses can do either. Want to travel around the country or even the world? There are many possibilities for travel nurses.
The same is true for workplaces as well. In addition to hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and surgery centers, nurses can work in schools, out of their own homes as case managers, or in other homes as home health nurses.
3. Nurses Can Work Any Time
Whether you want to work a 9-5 Monday through Friday schedule, or three days a week with overnights, it is possible to find the right schedule for your needs as a nurse. Even if you want to work part-time and still make a good living, there are many ways to do this as a nurse.
While you may have less flexibility when you first start out, by gaining experience and entering into a specialty, you can find a schedule that best fits your work-life balance.
4. Nurses Have Options for Career Advancement
No matter how you enter the nursing field, there are always options for growth. Whether you pursue a specialty, such as becoming a surgical nurse, or choose to take on a managerial or administrative role, you can get there as a nurse. Nurses can even become nurse practitioners or nurse anesthetists who take on many duties of physicians.
What’s more, people who enter the field as nursing assistants or licensed practical nurses (LPNs) can easily transition to becoming a registered nurse (RN) with some schooling.
5. Nurses Are Always In Demand
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a nursing shortage. While some of it may have been driven by the pandemic, there’s every reason to believe the worst parts of that are behind us. Older nurses aging out of the population, a growing number of older patients, and increasing rates of health conditions, such as diabetes, that require ongoing care contribute to the nursing shortage.
However, open nursing positions are expected to grow significantly during the next decade. In a world where job security is not always easy to come by, nurses can rest assured that they will always have a job.
6. Nurses Can Make a Great Living
The demand for nurses, combined with the skills and knowledge required of them, means that compensation and benefits for being a nurse are very competitive. Anyone who needs to support themselves on a single income can do so as a nurse. No matter what specialty you choose, it is possible to find a livable income.
Don’t look at salary alone when thinking about a position. When choosing an employer, always take other areas into account, such as benefits packages and organizational culture. This can make just as much of a difference as money in what you consider to be a “great living”.
7. You Can Choose Your Path to Nursing
Whether you are just out of high school and starting college, or you have been in another line of work for decades, there is a way to become a nurse. From four-year bachelor’s degrees at major universities, to nursing certificates from vocational schools, you can complete nursing school as a full time or part time student. Ask any nurse and you will get a different story for why and how they entered the profession.
8. There Are Many Specialties and Niches
There are countless places nurses can work and specialties they can enter into. Nurses can work in mental health and rehab facilities, nurses can be hospital administrators, and nurses can work in emergency rooms and in neonatal care. The list goes on.
Think about what your strengths and skills are, and try to find an area where they can best shine. You can receive additional training on the job, or seek out continuing education and advanced certifications to reach your chosen specialty.
One popular and growing area of nursing is home care services. RNs, LPNs, and nursing assistants can work in a home setting, delivering one-on-one patient care and working independently. Home health agencies can offer flexible schedules, great benefits, and a workplace culture that promotes a healthy work-life balance.
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