If you’ve considered healthcare as a chosen career path, you’ll have many roles and options available to you in various fields. A career in nursing can be very appealing to many people for many reasons. Nurses perform urgent duties every day and are a fundamental part of the healthcare wheel as a whole. Nurses help to support patients and their families, as well as working tirelessly to deliver medicine and care to those who need it.
Nursing is one of the key options for you when looking for a rewarding career choice within healthcare, and here’s why.
What Does a Nurse Do?
Nurses play a crucial part in caring for patients within a healthcare setting. Nurses have many important duties, both independently and as part of a team, by supporting other medical staff. Their primary responsibilities include caring for patients, liaising with doctors, administering medications as needed, and checking on patients.
Any medical facility will always need the role of a nurse to play a part.
More specific responsibilities will depend on your chosen nurse specialty, whether that’s RN, FNP, or a Clinical Nurse.
What are the Different Nurse Specialties?
In deciding whether a career as a nurse is right for you, you might also want to think about the type of nurse you want to be. You may already be aware of the most well-known roles, such as RN, FNP, and Midwife. Chosen roles include the type of care you will administer, as well as the working environment most preferable to you. There might be more nursing fields than you first expected, and some of the main specialties are listed below.
1. Registered Nurse (RN)
A registered nurse can work within a broad range of healthcare settings, including hospitals and residential homes. Registered nurses work to provide patient care and to help patients and the general public with awareness when it comes to health and conditions.
Registered nurses can provide emotional support and advice, as well as direct treatment, and can usually be found working as part of a team in a healthcare setting.
Registered nurses can even take their studies further by then moving on to specialize in a specific field of choice, or may want to move on to become an FNP.
2. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
This role will see the nurse playing a vital part in surgeries and treatment. A trained nurse in this field will be responsible for administering anesthesia during surgeries. This nursing role is vital for successful operations and surgeries.
A CRNA will also be on hand to help patients manage their pain before and after operations or during times of illness.
3. Cardiac Nurse
This role sees nurses focusing on patients affected by heart-related issues. Cardiac nurses will help manage and treat patients with heart disease and also assist with heart-related surgical procedures, such as having a pacemaker fitted or a bypass.
4. Clinical Nurse Specialist
Within this role, nurses would be working directly with patients for their treatment and care. They would usually work within a team dedicated to improving the quality of patient care. This role may also see nurses rising to leadership or management positions due to the specialist criteria and the need to educate or lead other nursing staff.
5. ER Nurse
This nursing role would see you working in an emergency room environment. An ER nurse is responsible for a variety of tasks based in the emergency room, with a focus on stabilizing patients and caring for them or evaluating them under emergency circumstances.
An ER nurse would be responsible for the correct administration of any medicine or treatment of any wounds by reviewing the patient’s needs and medical history.
Working as an ER nurse can be a more highly-pressured role due to the emergency environment.
6. Critical Care Nurse
A critical care nurse is trained in a way similar to a registered nurse but specializes in emergency situations. Critical care nurses will care for and treat patients, but with a higher focus on life-threatening situations, such as monitoring their life support system or treating life-threatening wounds.
A critical care nurse can expect to work with a lot of trauma and stressful situations.
7. Geriatric Nurse
This nursing role focuses on patients of an older age range. Geriatric nurses provide treatment and care for injuries and illnesses which befall older people.
Geriatric nurses may also be responsible for long-term care regarding illnesses that are prevalent among older people.
8. Mental Health Nurse
Mental health nurses are responsible for the treatment and care of patients who require psychological support, rather than physical. Mental health nurses are there to diagnose and treat patients with mental health disorders.
This may also include counseling services to those patients who require it.
9. Nurse Midwife
This specialization focuses on the care of pregnant patients. This care begins during pregnancy and also extends to the actual labor process and aftercare. Nurse midwives are also responsible for assisting new parents with information and support regarding their newborn.
10. Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
An FNP will be trained in primary health treatment for patients of all ages. This primary healthcare includes general illness and health issues. An FNP is responsible for diagnosing and treating a range of issues, and this could involve the FNP conducting exams and tests, as well as prescribing required medication.
An FNP will usually work with the same patients throughout their lifetime and support a family of patients. This provides a more in-depth level of care from the FNP supporting patients throughout their life.
There are many more specializations for a nursing career, but this list shows some of the prominent nursing roles you can attain and demonstrates the diversity within this area of study.
9 Reasons to Consider a Nursing Career
Here are discussed nine reasons why a nursing career should be one you might consider, no matter the chosen specialty.
1. It’s a Fantastic Option for Those Who Want to Learn
If you want to thrive within a career which allows you to learn as much as you can about your field and gain valuable knowledge and expertise, then becoming a nurse is an excellent opportunity for those who have a passion for learning, for healthcare knowledge, and for patient treatments.
So if you have a passion for analytical thinking, for learning, and for delving into the realm of science and medicine, a nursing role can fulfill all of that in a rewarding way.
2. Nurses Will Always Be Needed
There’s no doubt that healthcare roles are vital in any situation. This means that any nursing role will see you always playing a crucial part in society and for your community. Nurses are essential for the running of healthcare services and the support of other healthcare staff.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a career with long-term necessity and a demand that will only keep growing, a nursing role certainly fits the bill.
3. It’s a Vital Role in Caring for Other People
Some individuals want to work every day knowing that they’re helping other people — and what better way than knowing you’re helping to improve the lives of others on a daily basis than by working in healthcare? Depending on your nursing field, you may even be working directly to save a patient’s life in an emergency situation.
Caring for other people in a compassionate way is a key part of a nurse’s role. Becoming a nurse also allows you to meet a variety of different patients from all walks of life, meaning the opportunity to form rewarding relationships with many people in your care.
4. There’s Always Potential for Development
As a nurse, you have the opportunity always to learn more and gain extra experience or qualifications. You can become an FNP, specialize in a different environment, or develop your skills to reach the top of your field. If you want a career option that is always offering the opportunity to learn and do more, then a role within healthcare provides that.
5. A Nurse’s Role Can Truly Make a Difference in the Lives of Others
Not only will you be a key influence in the lives of patients, but also for their loved ones, too. Nurses can provide the support that is desperately needed during a difficult time. Often, patients and their families will never forget the healthcare professionals who treated them and helped them during a difficult period of their life.
Nurses have the power to be a stable presence for many patients and their families when they are at their most vulnerable. Even a few words of support can go a long way. This is especially true of an FNP, whose role is to support patients and families throughout their life in a variety of ways.
6. It’s the Ideal Choice for Those Who Thrive on Hard Work
Some people want to work hard every single day. Career-minded individuals may want a career they can put their heart and soul into and come home exhausted knowing that they’ve worked hard — and then reap the reward through career progression and seeing the positive difference they’ve made.
A nursing role is one example of how hard work can pay off. Nurses will be expected to go through a lot of training and a lot of studying to get to where they want to be, as well as enduring long and strenuous hours and demanding situations. This is where you can genuinely feel fulfilled knowing that you’ve worked your hardest and endured the most stressful situations, and come out of it the other side with a career you love.
7. Nursing Has a Focus on Better Health and Wellbeing
This doesn’t just mean for the lives of a nurse’s patients, either. Everything a nurse is taught and everything they pass on to their patients can apply to their own lives, too. In learning more about caring for the health and wellbeing of others, nurses can put more focus on the importance of health and wellbeing as a whole — including within their own life.
Allow training and knowledge as a nurse to better your understanding of how to lead your own healthiest and happiest life. Feel happier in the knowledge that you’re also helping others on a daily basis to stay healthy and have their overall wellbeing cared for, always.
8. It’s Highly Likely You’ll Have Job Satisfaction
One key component of the right career path is job satisfaction. Without it, you can quickly lose your motivation to work, begin to resent your career, and also start to suffer from low mood or even negative mental health issues.
A role in healthcare can promote a lot of job satisfaction, simply through the knowledge that you’re helping to save lives and improve the lives of your patients. Nurses work hard every day, knowing that they are making a difference; therefore, there’s no risk of worrying about whether your work has meaning or whether it’s worth going to work.
It doesn’t mean that working as a nurse doesn’t come without its challenges, but a stressful day can still be a very satisfying one knowing that you’ve improved the wellbeing of all you have met throughout the day.
9. It’s a Dependable Job with a Steady Income
Anyone looking for the right career needs to know that it’s a stable one, with the right amount of salary. You don’t want to be worrying about losing your job or having no possibility of career progression in the future.
Jobs within healthcare are very much in demand, which means that job security is usually very high. Nurses and doctors will always be needed, and there will always be opportunities no matter your location or country.
In Conclusion
There are many great reasons to consider a career in healthcare and nursing roles specifically. Working hard every day to improve the lives of patients is very rewarding, and nursing roles can come with high job satisfaction. There’s always room for progression, too, such as taking your FNP position to the next level with further study.
When thinking about a career in nursing, think about your desired field and your future goals.
