Some people will take a job or embark on a career just because they want to earn a certain amount of money. They might not mind what job that is – they might not think about the benefits it will bring them; they just need an income and they like the one that whatever career they have chosen will give them.
For others, this idea seems like the worst thing they could think of. They would much rather have a career that was rewarding and offered them a good feeling than one that offered them a large salary. Of course, if a rewarding career came with a high salary that’s even better, but it’s certainly not the first thing that would come to their minds.
Nursing is a career that many feel is highly rewarding. Although traditionally not known for being highly paid, the truth is that the salaries are average to begin with rather than low, and once you start climbing the career ladder, they can be very comfortable indeed. Could nursing, then, be one of these rare careers that offers everything? Is this why so many are choosing to take on nursing as a career? Whatever the reasons, the fact is that nursing is rewarding, and there are many reasons for this. Read on to find out what some of them are.
Nurses Improve People’s Lives
If you have to go to the hospital because you’re sick or you need a procedure or tests, you’re going to be concerned. No one enjoys being unwell, and even though it often can’t be helped, it’s still not an experience anyone would choose to have. Fear, anxiety, stress, pain, and many other physical and emotional feelings will all combine to mean the patient, no matter how independent they are, might be in their normal day-to-day lives, need some extra help.
That extra help will come in the form of a nurse. Nurses can be there for patients in hospitals – or clinics and other healthcare settings – when they need that kind of companionship. Just be being there, holding a hand or answering questions or just listening to the concerns the patient has, a nurse will make quite the difference in the sick person’s life.
Nurses don’t just help the patient in terms of their company either. A nurse will understand how to administer pain relief, and they will be able to speak to the patient’s family and loved ones, explaining just what the issue is and what is to be done. They will effectively be the bridge between the doctor and those who need to know what the situation is, including the patient themselves. A nurse will, through all of this, improve many different people’s lives.
Nurses Is a Career for Life
When you complete your nursing training and you start work, you will have a career for the rest of your life. This is not something that happens very often in this modern age, where people change their jobs and entire careers reasonably regularly. They do this because there is so much choice, and so many opportunities, and while this is a positive thing in a general way, it does mean that they often can’t work out what it is that suits them, and they’ll always think there is something else out there that would work better for them, only to find that they’re just not happy no matter what they do.
When you train to be a nurse, you won’t have to worry about this. Assuming you enjoy the work – which is massively important, of course – then you can stay being a nurse until you choose to retire. You can stay at the level you are, you can plan to be promoted and reach other levels, and you can effectively just do whatever it is that makes you happiest and ensures you have a career that is rewarding. It’s fantastic to know you have job security, and it can make being a nurse even more rewarding when you can concentrate on the job itself rather than worrying that you might have to find a new position at any moment.
There Is Plenty of Career Progression
If you want to become a nurse and stay in that entry level position until you leave the profession, even if that is many decades later, that’s exactly what you can do. If that’s the place you feel happiest and know you’re making the best and most difference, then stick with it and love your job.
However, if you want to progress and reach other, higher levels, you can do that, too. In fact, in nursing there are dozens of different options when it comes to moving forward with your career, and that means there is sure to be something that works for you. You can continue to be a nurse, especially as you will have done a lot of training in that regard and hold specific qualifications, but you can essentially take your career in any direction you want to.
The most important part of progression in nursing, or with any career, is to show dedication and to continue to learn so that you are always as up to date as possible with new ideas and ways of working. You might not think this is something a nurse can do since they are known to work long hours and if you have a family to take care of as well, it can seem very difficult. That’s where online degrees and qualifications come in. You can take an online degree in the discipline or level of nursing you are most interested in and if you learn online you can do it at your own pace, fitting it in with everything else. Expert online FNP programs, for example, will allow you to work up to the level of family nurse practitioner while you’re still doing your regular job.
You Can Work With Different People
There are many different rewarding aspects of working as a nurse, and one of these is that you can work with lots of different people. Starting with your nursing colleagues, you are sure to find some that are exactly like you, with the same hopes and dreams and the same reasons for becoming a nurse. You’ll have a lot in common. Yet conversely, you’ll also find many people who are polar opposites to you and the people you know. They will have different backgrounds, different reasons for training as a nurse, perhaps they’ll even come from different countries. The point is, when you’re a nurse you can meet anyone and everyone, and that’s exciting. It will also give you a wide world view, and allow you to learn so much more that you wouldn’t necessarily learn without these different opinions, ideas, and cultures around you.
As well as your colleagues, your patients will all be different, too. Understanding how to communicate well with everyone – not just in terms of language, but in terms of culture and general discussions – is something a nurse has to do as soon as possible, and it ensures that they can have the most rewarding career as they will be able to help everyone in exactly the way they need to be helped.
You Will Have Support
As a nurse, you will never be on your own. There might be times when you are working as an individual, but you will still always have the most amazing team behind you, willing to step up and help when needed, and always there to answer questions and ensure you are confident and happy. In return, you can do the same, helping your colleagues to become the best nurses and help their patients in every way they can.
Nursing is not an easy career despite the fact that it’s incredibly rewarding, so any extra help that you can give or receive will always be appreciated.
Not all careers will offer this level of support, whether you are working as a sole trader and you’re self-employed or you are working with a lot of other people who are not as giving and caring as nurses are. This can lead to burnout and unhappiness. Yet nursing, with the amount of support you’ll have, is very different.
Nursing Offers Challenges
Not everyone is the same and not everyone is looking for the same things in life. That’s what makes the world such a wonderful place and why it’s so interesting. If everyone wanted to do the same job there would be lots of problems and in the end, nothing at all would get done. So of course, not everyone is going to enjoy nursing, want to think about nursing, or even have nursing as the remotest of career choices.
However, for those who love to engage in challenges, nursing could be perfect. Every day is a challenge, and there will always be something new to think about and some new problem to solve. Whether it’s the diagnosis of a patient, how to calm someone who is anxious, or even how to arrange the staff shifts so that everyone is happy and no one is over or underworked, there is always something to think about.
A challenging career will make you tired and it will cause frustration, but it will always be rewarding, and in nursing, those challenges are what makes so many people love what they do.
