10 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Career in Nursing

Nursing is all about the patient. It’s a career that helps you save lives, bring happiness to individuals and their families, and comfort to those in need. From mental health and aged care to rehabilitation and midwifery, there are many areas where you can make a positive impact.

If you’re a compassionate, strong-valued person with an urge to help others, studying nursing is a great career move. While caring for patients fighting for their life can be a challenging experience, nurses still report a high level of job satisfaction.

1. A flexible career : Not only is work available in a variety of geographic locations and different sectors, nursing is adaptable so it works with your lifestyle. Nursing can be full-time or part-time and shifts can vary from 4 to 12 hours during days, evenings, nights and weekends.

2. Location: Moving? Nursing skills are transferable, which means you can travel the world and work in a range of sectors.

3. Specialties: Nursing offers dozens of specialty areas, which means you can practise in more than one during your career. It’s also possible to switch to another field mid-way through your career or earn an advanced degree and take on a new challenge.

4. Career mobility: Nurses can work in a wide variety of places. You could be on the front lines in trauma care, in public health, or in a community health setting. If you are interested in the legal system, you could be a nurse consultant. If teaching is more your style, you could be an educator. The list is endless.

5. Learning opportunities: Most nurses will tell you that no day is ever the same, and each day offers a variety of challenges that keeps you excited about the profession. Nurses never need to stop learning and growing, as healthcare is ever changing. There’s always an opportunity to study further and elevate your career. With more than 90 nursing specialties, you’ll have choices, challenges, and so many opportunities to take on bigger responsibilities and potentially a salary to match.

6. Collaborative partnerships: Nurses often work with a team of health-care professionals. Sometimes nurses will lead the team by managing and coordinating the care of people or planning, implementing, and evaluating programmes. It’s a profession that offer a great deal of autonomy and yet involves collaboration with others and leadership opportunities.

7. Leadership opportunities: Nursing leadership is an important component in the delivery of patient care. Examples include an educator helping to develop future leaders, or a researcher mentoring new researchers. An administrator providing support and guidance to staff. A point-of-care nurse providing client care and sharing professional knowledge, or someone who provides direction and advocacy in the development of healthy policies.

8. Nurses will always be needed: Employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 16% from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. Nurses play an essential role in optimal health outcomes in a host of settings. For patients with chronic care conditions, nurses have been shown to reduce the need for health services, improve patient satisfaction and enhance the quality of life. In addition to better health outcomes and higher standards of care, nurses provide a sense of emotional well-being to patients that no research adequately documents.

9. Nursing can be an exciting second career: It doesn’t matter what your background is, it’s never too late to become a nurse. In fact, many employers value previous work experience in nurses new to the profession. Don’t let how old you are hold you back from making a career switch.

10. Diverse Opportunities: Hospitals and medical offices? Of course. But also airplanes, schools, television studios, legal courts, racetracks, resorts, corporations, and more. The places you can work as a nurse are almost unlimited.