An emotionally fulfilling career choice and a highly respectful one, nursing today is a highly preferable option. A sense of pride arises when they share their experiences of helping the sick and bringing people back from death, becoming a nurse today is a much sought after job. 

What are the benefits of a career in nursing?

One must go through the following reasons to go for nursing as a career.

1. High number of nurses required globally

As recorded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), there is a high demand of nurses across the globe today, and the required numbers are likely to rise further. The population is living much longer and will require much more medical assistance, which is one of the prime reasons as to why there is always a need for nurses in hospitals and healthcare camps.

2. Flexible job

You get the opportunity to choose your working shift hours, which is usually not provided in other career options which have rotational shifts. Also, once you have a good experience at practicing, you can choose where you want to work as well! 

3. Job satisfaction

Being one of the most respectable professions amongst all, being a nurse will surely give you extreme satisfaction and pride in your career. Helping others at times when they need you the most, a nurse is often the person a patient discusses or shares most of his time, thus it builds a special bond with him, which further adds on to the pride and joy of helping people.

4. Round the clock demand

With a high requirement for medical assistance all around the world, there is a certainty that you will always be in work. Hence, there is comparatively less fear of job loss, as compared to other professions.

5. Variety of specialties

You can obtain a certificate in a specific stream, which will help you further in specializing in a particular field. This can also help you earn a better salary and let you choose your stream as per your interests.

6. Appropriate as second career choice

What can be better than having a side profession along with your mainstream career! Not only that you can become a nurse in your part-time profession, many people choose to nurse after retiring from their mainstream profession as well.

Nursing careers

A number of options open up within nursing itself, which give you the opportunity to choose as per your own wish. Following are the positions in nursing careers that one can look up for.

1. Aids care
2. Ambulatory care
3. Cardiac rehabilitation
4. Case management
5. Certified life care planner
6. Certified nursing assistant
7. Charge nurse
8. Community care
9. Correctional care
10. Critical care
11. Emergency room
12. Enterostomy therapy
13. Flights
14. Forensic department
15. Gastrogerontology 
16. Genetics
17. Geriatrics 
18. Infection control
19. Legal nurse consultant
20. Long-term care 
21. Managed care
22. Midwife
23. Military 
24. Missionary
25. Nephrology
26. Anesthetist
27. Nurse educator
28. Neuroscience
29. Nurse practitioner
30. Obstetrics
31. Occupational health 
32. Ophthalmic 
33. Otorhinolaryngology
34. Pain management
35. Pediatrics
36. Perianesthesia
37. Psychiatrists
38. Radiology
39. Reconstructive surgery
40. Rehabilitation
41. Research
42. Schools
43. Subacute care
44. Surgical
45. Telephone triage
46. Transport
47. Travel

Directions to follow to become a nurse

1. Make your decision on specialization

Think about the kind of environment you wish to work. Broadly speaking, you can decide your specialization on the basis on medical specialty, travel frequency, requirement in war zones and requirement in military and so on. Such critical factors will help you decide the right path for you.

2.Earn your degree in nursing

The career direction you choose will help you decide what certification or degree you should go for. Following are the types of nursing degrees widely available today:

• Diplomas in nursing
• Associate’s degrees in nursing (ADN) 
• Bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN)
• Master’s degree in nursing (MSN)
• Doctoral degree in nursing (DNP, ND, PhD, DNSc)

3. Get your license

Once you are through with your education, it is required to clear an exam which tests your knowledge and nursing skills. To become a Licensed Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), it is required to clear a state competency examination. To get your license to become a Registered Nurse, one must clear the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN). Also, if you choose to go ahead and be a Nurse Midwife, it is required to clear the required examinations.

Once you become a nurse, you can continue your profession by practicing your nursing skills at your preferred location. Or if you have chosen nursing as a part-time profession, it is quite easy to carry on your studies along with nursing, as it is a flexible career. You can also go further to specialize in a specific field and obtain a certificate in it.

What are the recent updates in nursing?

With the changing times, professions have evolved too, wherein new scope for positions keeps on adding. 

Nursing too is a career where new challenges keep coming. 

Within nursing, there are new opportunities opening up.

1. Teaching

Yes, educating others to become a nurse can also be an option within a career choice. Nurses who hold a master’s or a doctorate in their subjects are eligible to become teachers in nursing.

2. Research

With technology helping in revolutionizing the world around us today, it would not be a bad idea to carry on your research even in the field of nursing. Since it is a branch of the medical sciences itself, hence being a researcher can be highly respectable and useful. Once you obtain a doctorate in nursing philosophy, you are eligible to conduct your own research.