There are hundreds of reasons that people decide to become nurses each and every year. Some choose the vocation because they want to care for those in need, while others see it as a job where meaning and fulfilment are available in bucket-loads. Whatever your reason for considering a career in nursing, you should continue reading this article to make extra sure it’s for you before laying down your cards and getting yourself onto a college course to qualify as a nurse. Read on to learn all you need to know about a nursing career in 2020.
Long Hours
One of the key parts of the nursing world that we’re mildly aware of, as ordinary citizens, is the superhuman hours that nurses have to put in from time to time. This is not a job to relax and rest in: it’s one you need to throw yourself into at all times, in order to make the most of your position and your ability to help those around you.
From time to time, the hospital will become busier than usual. You may be forced to take overtime to help care for your patients, and to work through the night in order to make sure that those who come into your healthcare institution are given the appropriate level of care. This is all part of the job – and it’s one of the things that makes the job so rewarding. But if you value your evenings and weekends, you may find a career in nursing a daunting invasion of your personal time.
Different Nursing Roles
There are many different roles to choose from when you enter the field of nursing. While the ‘standard’ and stereotypical image of a nurse revolves around those who attend to beds in wards across the nation’s hospitals, there are actually dozens of other popular roles for nurses that don’t fit with this image. For instance, nurses work in the following locations:
- In the field, in other countries that are in need of medical aid
- On the front line of war zones, helping care for combatants and civilians who got caught up in the fighting
- In the surgeries of cosmetic doctors and other types of specialized doctors
- In dental surgeries and those health centers that focus on teeth and dental health
- In care homes and homes for the disabled or those with learning difficulties
All of these roles fall under the broad umbrella of nursing, though they require different levels of expertise, different specializations, and a different approach from job to job. This is exciting for those who newly qualify as a nurse: there are simply so many avenues to explore.
Camaraderie and Belonging
One of the oft-reported benefits of working as a nurse in the modern world is that of feeling a strong connection, or bond, with the healthcare professionals around you. In the tough times, in which your hospital is running at near-capacity, you’ll have to bond together as a tight unit, helping each other across the days and weeks ahead. Doctors, nurses, cleaners and administrators all work to the same high standard, and it’s this camaraderie that can be like electricity within a hospital workforce.
There are also great opportunities for socializing throughout hospitals and health centers – both with your colleagues, and with those that you treat or meet on the job. In a community hospital, especially, you’ll be seen around the community as someone who cares for those in your locale, which is deeply appreciated by all around you.
Variety and Excitement
Even though the nursing vocation is one that’s touched by illness and death by definition, it’s not without its perks. As a role that requires you to provide care to those in need, you have access to a very special side of humanity: one that’s vulnerable and honest. You’ll also be the focal point for family visits to the hospital or health center – and you’ll be admired for your hard work while there.
With all of this comes a certain kind of wisdom that you can only acquire by being around people on a day to day basis. Emotions often run high in hospitals, and you’ll be there, developing your emotional intelligence, to help those who are distressed or unhappy. You’ll also be there for the happy moments, when patients are discharged and treatments are successful. This variety means nursing is a job that never becomes monotonous or boring.
Career Change and Education
For those who have always kept one eye on the nursing vocation, but have instead chosen a different route in life: it’s never too late to convert, and change tack entirely to become a nurse. Indeed, if you have an undergraduate degree in your pocket, you’ll be able to get onto accelerated nursing programs online, which are designed to get you qualified as quickly as possible, with as much of the course given online as possible.
This means that you’ll be able to quit your job and move into full-time education, leaving you qualified as a nurse within a year of starting your degree. This exciting opportunity, and those like it, means that nurses are qualifying for the job at all ages, often in middle-age, and will be able to work for the rest of their lives in the exciting and varied world of healthcare.
Career Progression
Finally, it’s worth highlighting that there are several different levels of nursing expertise, and several levels of seniority, which exist within hospitals. If you’re ambitious to your core, and you want to always be chasing that higher wage or that better promotion, you’ll find that there are plenty of targets for that ambition in the world of nursing. As you progress in your career, you’ll also have the opportunity to teach new recruits who are going through the college course you took – and even to move back from the front lines, where you’ll instead lecture at university, or advise the government on their healthcare strategies for the future.
These key pieces of information all concern what it’s like to become a nurse in the modern era. If you’ve read this with a sense of growing interest and excitement, it might be the perfect time for you to check out university nursing courses, and give yourself the career change you’ve been looking for.
