Are you an empathic person? Do you like to help other people who cannot help themselves? Are you conflicted on the topic of choosing career paths? If your answer to these questions is yes, you should consider a career in nursing as a viable option.
In the olden days, nursing was a lowly and menial job for people who belonged to poor financial backgrounds. Then came Florence Nightingale. She revolutionized the world of medicine by suggesting that nurses need not know about diseases and how to treat them like a doctor. Nurses should know how to care for patients and help them through symptoms and changes during the treatment. Nightingale changed the way people saw nurses, and people from all walks of life started considering a career in nursing. Nursing is now one of the most respected professions in the world. Through this article, we would like to educate you about the scope and benefits of a career in nursing.
Why Choose a Career In Nursing?
Choosing a career after high school can be a daunting task, and knowing your interests and options is vital here. Here are some reasons why you should consider a career in nursing:
- You Can Make A difference- As a nurse, you can positively impact someone’s life in a meaningful way. Nurses help ease the pain of patients, they help them in handling bad news, celebrate with them when there is good news, and patients commonly confide in nurses as a sign of trust.
- Job Availability- There is no need for you to go job hunting after your nursing course as nurses are always in demand, and it is easy for you to get a job soon after.
- Respected Profession- Modern nursing is a highly-respected profession, and the respect you command is at par with that of a police officer.
- Exciting Work- Unlike many other jobs, you can beat monotony and boredom by choosing a career in nursing.
- Options- Nurses have many options for specialization like a registered nurse, nurse anesthetist, nurse educator, and psychiatric nurse.
Things To Know About A Career in Nursing
We would not want you to pursue a career in nursing without proper knowledge about the subject. Here are some things that you need to know before you start a career in nursing:
1. Qualities Required For A Career In Nursing
A career in nursing is not for everyone, and the job of nursing people back to health requires certain qualities. When you wish to write your resumé as a nurse, you should emphasize these qualities along with your qualifications:
- Empathy- Feeling for your patients will help you care for them better and improve your rapport with them, making their time in the hospital more bearable because of you.
- Friendliness- Occasionally, the patients do not admit their lifestyle choices, making the diagnosis harder. Being a friendly nurse allows them to confide in you, which helps the doctors treat them more efficiently.
- Integrity- Integrity is a highly valued quality amongst healthcare workers as you need to have strong moral principles to be a healthcare worker.
- Teamwork- Nurses work as part of a large team, and the ability to co-operate and communicate with them is vital.
- Kindness- A lot of the patients that you encounter could be frightened, in pain, or even angry. Being kind to them during their time of need can go a long way if you choose a career in nursing.
2. It Is Not Just A Woman’s Job
Usually, when people talk about nurses, they picture a woman in a uniform who tends to sick people. This type of ideology is now obsolete as the number of men in the nursing industry is growing at a rapid rate. Men of today are starting to realize the potential of the nursing industry as the salaries have also been increasing after the Nightingale era. There is absolutely no reason why men cannot be nurses as they are equally capable of being empathic and helpful to patients, helping the healing process. We believe that a career in nursing is 1 of the 5 unconventional careers that break gender stereotypes.
It is a great time to join the nurse workforce as a male member as various surveys have shown that male nurses earn slightly more than female nurses because they are fewer in numbers, and the demand for nurses is always high!
3. How To Start Your Career In Nursing?
There are many ways to become a nurse in today’s world. The best way to begin your career in nursing is by appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and applying to medical colleges for a B.Sc. in nursing. The undergraduate degree course is four years long, and you can get a job right after graduating.
A commonly searched term online happens to be “Career options if not qualified in NEET“. If you are facing this problem as well, fret not! We have got you covered.
You can still pursue your passion for medicine by being a nursing student as it has a myriad of options for people from all walks of life. To become a professional nurse, you do not even need a science background in high school as you can enroll for Auxiliary Nursing Midwife (ANM) or General Nursing Midwife (GNM) diploma courses which allow students from commerce and arts backgrounds as well.
Conclusion
Not being able to crack the NEET can be disheartening if you want to become a doctor, but you should realize that it is not the end of the world. Thanks to modern technology, you can easily avail career counseling online as the world of allied medicines is still a great option for you!
If you are someone who likes to help people in need and is looking for a job that is satisfying, stimulating, exciting, respected, and highly impactful to the world, you should consider a career in nursing as there are few jobs other jobs that give you as much satisfaction as helping a soul in need. The only thing you need to remember to be the best nurse you can be is to care, and there is no stopping you from being the next Florence Nightingale.
