Considering a Career in Nursing

Considering a Career in NursingThere is a shortage of nurses in the US. The shortterm solution is to hire nurses from othercountries but since this deprives the locals fromworking for the same job, the government and theprivate sector have set up more schools that willencourage students to take this noble profession.If you are seriously considering being a nurse,the first question you have to ask yourself is whyyou want this job? Should your answer be for moneyor for fame, then you better think of anothercareer path.

Nursing is a demanding profession that requiresdedication. It is not a 9 to 5 job becausesometimes, you may be assigned to work thegraveyard shift or extend beyond 8 hours of workespecially when there are a lot of patients toattend to.For those that just graduated from high school andstill don 抰 know what to do, you may sign up asa volunteer in a clinic or hospital so you get tosee first hand what do these individuals do. Someactivities nurses do on a regular basis includecollecting samples from patients, checking theirvital signs, blood pressure and temperature.Should you be able to handle the pressures andfeel good helping patients, then you shouldconsider being a nurse.A career in nursing can take you to places. Forinstance, traveling nurses who work on acontractual basis can be employed in some of the

best medical facilities in the country. That isafter they specialize in something for more thanyear like working in the emergency roomdepartment or the operating room.Critical care nursing could be anotherpossibility where you are assigned to look afterpatients in intensive care. This is perhaps themost challenging since the life of the patient isin the balance. For those that don 抰 want to workin such a stressful environment, you can tryworking in a home healthcare facility, outpatientsurgery center or teaching in a nursing school.Hospitals and clinics have also shifted to thedigital age which is why computers are needed tolink one department to another. You could get ajob as a programmer here and updated theirprograms or write one. Since you built the system,you can train others who will use it in the futureor sell a similar program to other hospitals andwork as a consultant for them.