Top 7 Reasons To Become A Nurse

The top 7 reasons to become a nurse include advanced education, respected profession, job flexibility, job security, patient advocacy, health influencer, and clinical leadership. For instance, nurses are mostly caring individuals who love to educate others about healthy behaviors. The nursing profession is the most trusted profession for eighteen years in a row.

If you enjoy helping and empowering others, you will love the profession. Besides, nursing is about caring for people and educating citizens in the community. Nurses obtain a professional license to provide nursing care during medical emergencies and across all clinical care settings.

Advanced Education

Nurses complete college general courses, science core classes , lecture and clinical as part the nursing degree requirement. They obtain advanced training and knowledge in complex disease management. Thus, when you become a nurse, you obtain credentials as a licensed healthcare professional.

Nurses can educate people about their health because they are registered, nurses. Besides, they learn a lot about the anatomy and physiology of the human body, disease processes, and management. Furthermore, nurses know complex medical cases and associated treatments and outcomes. The acquisition of advanced clinical knowledge is one of the top 7 reasons to become a nurse.

Nursing education enables you to provide first aid during emergency situations. Nurses learn how to manage severe clinical symptoms and patients’ emergencies. Thus, the profession enables nurses to think critically and to save people’s lives.
Nursing is a profession that values lifelong learning and professional development. Whether through formal education programs, conferences, or on-the-job training, nurses have ample opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills throughout their careers.

Becoming A Nurse: A Respected Profession

Nursing is the ” Most Trusted Profession” for eighteen years in a row. The result came from a ” Gallup” survey, and most patients said that they trust nurses and praise the nurses’ integrity. Therefore, becoming a nurse will enable you to receive the highest honor from your community and other citizens that you will impact.

Patients spend more time with the nurses because we monitor them continuously. The nurse-patient relationship often involves mutual trust, respect and honesty. When patients trust us, they will feel comfortable to tell us the truth story about their symptoms.

Most nurses work in the front line and triage patients during an emergency room visit. They nurse must establish a professional and trusting relationship with each patients to obtain the maximum information. The patients should feel comfortable to tell the nurse the truth about their past medical history and current symptoms.

The patients know that we received clinical training to help them improve their health. Therefore, they are willing to share sensitive information with us. They know that we will keep their medical records confidential, and we will only discuss the data with staff who are providing care to the patients.

Job Flexibility

The nursing profession offers nurses job flexibility in many ways. Nurses work around the clock because most healthcare facilities provide twenty hour care to their patients. For example, some nurses work twelve hours per day and three times a week for a total of thirty-six hours. Some nurses work eight hour shifts while others work day, evening or nights only.

Nurses can choose to work on the weekend only because some facilities need weekend alternative staff. Also, some employers offer as needed or PRN schedule for nurses who want to work a few shifts per month or bi-weekly. A PRN nurse often works one to two shifts every two weeks with additional compensation. Some nurses like myself telework because we do not provide direct patient care and can perform our job remotely.

Some nurses work as Travel nurses locally, regionally, or across the country. A travel nurse is often on a term contract under specific conditions. They receive a sign-on bonus sometimes, relocation pay, and additional compensation in comparison with other nurses. Most travel nurses make their schedules and determine their length of employment. Job flexibility is one of the top 7 reasons to become a nurse.

Job Security: Top 7 Reasons To Become A Nurse

Most nurses will admit that they can work across all clinical care settings. Nurses can also decide where they want to work and when to transition out and move up the clinical ladder. For instance, when I graduated from nursing school years ago, many healthcare facilities offered sign-on bonuses to attract new graduate nurses.

Because nursing is one of the best professions, nurses can secure jobs quickly compared to other occupations. There is currently a nursing shortage across the country. Thus, employers are always seeking to hire the best nurses. Moreover, most employers develop retention programs to keep the most talented nurses.

Nurses should develop the skills to obtain the best jobs because the market is always looking to hire them. You should learn how to negotiate employees’ benefits and salaries. Thus, it is acceptable to request additional time off and monetary compensation while negotiating your employment. Did I convince you to become a nurse yet?

Becoming A Nurse To Be A Patient Advocate

As a nurse, you will become one of the patient’s advocates by speaking up and promoting their safety. You have to participate in interdisciplinary team meetings to discuss the patient’s with other team members. The purpose of those meetings are to discuss the patient’s current status and progress while advocating for individual centered care.

As a patient advocate, you are responsible to promote the patient’s involvement in his or her care. You have to understand the disease process and the treatment plan. Therefore, you must review the patient’s response and identify strategies to promote the best outcomes.

You have to communicate discharges plan with case management to ensure that the patient can transition out of the hospital or facilities safely. Nurses learn in school that discharge planning starts on admission because the discharge planning team needs to identify proper placement for each patient. It is our duty to ensure safe patient discharge.

Health Influencer

When I was younger, I thought the profession was about cleaning patients and seeking medical guidance from independent providers. I realized that nurses are very educated and knowledgeable professionals. For instance, nurses educated me about my medical condition during Genetic Counseling many years ago.

The nurses demonstrated professionalism, and I saw them more than the doctors. Following counseling, I immediately developed a passion for health education, and I returned to school to become a nurse. I chose the profession because I love to care for others ,and I enjoy helping and empowering people.

I successfully completed the required classes and was accepted at a community college with free tuition based on grade point average. In return, I had to work in my state for two years, and I did that.

As a health influencer, people trust your knowledge and your clinical judgment. They seek your guidance to improve their well being and to obtain the latest clinical trends. Well, you will be able to impact your community and the lives of many of your patients. I believe influencing others is one of the top 7 reasons to become a nurse.

Clinical Leadership

Nursing has evolved in the past decades and has become one of the fastest-growing professions, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Furthermore, nurses, on average, hold a bachelor’s degree and make about $34.48/hr. or $71,730.00/year. As I mentioned above, I decided to become a nurse for many reasons.

Nurses assume nursing leadership roles and manage the nursing staff. The nurse leaders are responsible for leading the way and embracing changes and supporting innovation in nursing. Nurse leaders represent the voice of nurses in the Board of Directors’ meetings and make recommendations in accordance with the latest evidence based practice.

Some of the clinical leadership characteristics that every nurse should have are.

• Caring for others: caring behaviors require patience and tolerance. I enjoy providing care to my patients and feel gratified when they achieve their health goals.
• Helping others: The profession enables me to help my patients with many activities. For example, I help patients who have difficulty performing their activity of daily living i.e bathing, grooming and toileting independently.
• Empowering others: I love to empower my patients to take control of their health so that they can make better decisions when they return home.
• Servant Leader: I love the principles of servant leadership because I also serve my patients while leading a team of nurses. Servant leadership enables me to empathize with both the nurses and the patients. Lastly, every nurse is a leaders regardless of the positions.

Final Thoughts

I love my profession and have been fortunate to work in Medical-Surgical, Short Stay, Intermediate Care Unit, Progressive Care, and Float Pool. I also became an Adjunct Nurse Faculty, a Clinical Nurse Supervisor, and most recently a Nurse Consultant in Patient Safety and legal nursing.

Nursing is one of the most rewarding careers because I can choose any specialty and work in the clinical settings or in nursing administration. The top 7 reasons to become a nurse are the opportunity for advanced education, respected profession, job flexibility, job security, patient advocacy, health influencer, and clinical leadership.

Nursing students should avoid choosing the nursing profession for financial purposes because the profession is overwhelming. Therefore, nurses should be mentally prepared to care for unstable patients who rely on professional support and empathy.

I love caring for patients and enjoy educating them and their significant others. I hope to write about many trends such as Associate Degree vs. Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bullying in Nursing, Cultural Competence, Conflict Resolution, Clinical Documentation, Scope of Practice, Nursing Management and Leadership, Moving up the Career Ladder, Patient Safety and more.

In conclusion, becoming a nurse offers a fulfilling career with countless opportunities for personal and professional growth. If you’re passionate about making a difference, enjoy helping others, and thrive in a fast-paced environment, nursing could be the perfect fit for you.