The Best Things About Being a Nurse Explained

As the population continues to grow – and to age – it is clear that more and more nurses will be needed. Even now, there is a nursing shortage, and unless there is a concerted effort to attract more people into nursing degrees and online DNP programs, this shortage is only going to become larger.

Sometimes it is the negative aspects of being a nurse that can cause problems. The idea that you have to work long shifts, work nights and weekends, that you don’t often get to stop for a break, and so on can be off-putting. However, although these things are somewhat true (depending on the type of nursing you go into and where you’re working, among other things), there are many more good things about nursing than bad. Read on to find out what they are before making a final decision about whether or not to start working towards qualifications in this rewarding profession.

High job Security

We live in an ever-changing world, and a job in high demand a few years ago may now be obsolete as technology, and other changes have made working differently. This won’t ever be the case in nursing. Along with teaching, nursing is one of the most secure jobs you can find, and if you want to work somewhere for life, or at least stay in the same profession for life, nursing is a great choice.

Although there are many nurses, and it might feel as though there is a lot of competition for any open jobs, the reality is that there will always be open jobs, so, once you have your qualifications such as your certification from your online DNP programs, you should be able to find just the right position in just the right location to suit you.

Of course, the fact that there are many nursing jobs available doesn’t mean that it is easy to become a nurse, and it doesn’t mean that, without the right attitude and skills (and qualifications), you will still be able to get a job, but it does mean that, once you have gone through the online DNP programs and other programs too, you should be able to find something that works for you, just as you can work for it.

Patient Relationships

There is a lot of learning involved in becoming a nurse. Whether you choose to take the general nursing degree or you most on and take advanced degrees like the online DNP programs, you will have to put a lot of work and study in. Nursing is not an easy career.

Yet one of the benefits of all this hard work is the patient relationships you’ll develop when you start working. Nurses are known for forming exceptionally strong bonds with their patients, much more so that a doctor will. This is because a nurse will spend a lot more time with their patients in a one to one setting than a doctor will. That doesn’t mean doctors aren’t caring people; it simply means the two jobs ask for different skills.

Patients are in hospital because they are sick or have been involved in an accident of some sort. They are often scared and unsure as to what is happening. Nurses are there to comfort them and explain things to them so that they can understand everything going on around them and how it relates to them. It is inevitable, when you think about it, that strong bonds will be formed out of traumatic experiences like this.

Nurses need to be extremely compassionate people, as well as being able to complete online DNP programs, and this is a unique combination of skills and personality traits.

The Most Rewarding Career

There are many rewarding careers in this world, and everyone will have their definition of what rewarding means to them. This is why people choose different jobs in the first place; they see how they can make a difference in that role, and they decide that that is exactly what they are going to do.

Of course, there will always be some debate about how rewarding these careers are. There will be those who can see how important they are and those who don’t understand their importance.

With nursing, it is entirely different. Even if you have no thoughts whatsoever of becoming a nurse and taking online DNP programs or gaining other additional qualifications, everyone will be able to see just how rewarding a career in nursing is. There is no debate on this subject; a nurse’s main job is to help the sickest, most scared people, possibly even saving their lives. Nursing is s career that involves the very worst and very best of humanity, and bringing it all together in a way that helps as many people as possible is as rewarding as it gets.

Transferable Life Skills

You will learn numerous different skills when you are a nurse, and the more you study via online DNP programs and similar degrees, the more skills you will pick up. These skills will be what makes you a great nurse and what sets you apart from anyone else. It is these skills, combined with the knowledge and experience you gain through studying and through nursing itself, that truly make a nurse.

Interestingly, these skills that you will learn can be termed transferable skills since they can be used in other areas of your life, giving you many more opportunities and advances than most other people.

What are these transferable life skills? There are many, and it will depend on the individual, but in general, just some of those skills include:

• Compassion
• Listening
• Communication
• Punctuality
• Hard-working
• Calm in an emergency
• Happy to learn
• Empathy
• Quick thinking

There is no doubt that a nurse can use these skills – and others – in their daily life. Plus, if they decide to try a different career other than nursing, everything they have learned through their online DNP programs and beyond will stand them in good stead. Hiring ex-nurses is something that will help every other industry, no matter what it is.

You Command Respect

The nursing profession is one that always commands respect. It is something that is thought of as special, even noble, and people tend to be somewhat in awe of nurses, knowing how hard they work, what they do on a daily basis to save lives and change lives, and knowing that they must have many different skills as mentioned above.

There are other roles that produce respect. The fire service is one that, and perhaps teachers. However, there aren’t that many of these roles, and a nurse has to be near the top, and very possibly at the top of this rather shortlist.

What’s interesting about nurses is that they give respect as well as command it. After gaining their degrees from online DNP programs, nurses don’t become arrogant and big-headed; instead, they get on with their work as best they can. Nurses respect the rules of the hospitals they are working in (or any other workplace), they respect their colleagues, and they respect their patients.

Flexible Working Arrangements

There is certainly an idea that people seem to have about how difficult it is for nurses to have personal lives because they always have to work. Although there is no standard 9 to 5 when it comes to nursing, that doesn’t mean there is no flexibility. Depending on where the nurse chooses to work after studying for their online DNP programs, they might not have to work nights or weekends (school nurses are one example of this).

Even if shift work is part of your working routine, there are certainly some advantages to this. You can go out when everyone else is working, meaning the stores are less busy, for example. There are also opportunities to take your paid leave if you need a specific day off, or you could speak to your colleagues about switching shifts. In some cases, you can even take paid time off for advancing your studies.

In other words, there are many different ways you can make your nursing work hours work well for you. Although they will be long and the days will always require hard work, you won’t have to work every single day, and you will have plenty of chances to rest. This is crucial since nurses always need to be at their best.

Remuneration

For most nurses, even those who have worked at online DNP programs to advance their careers, their job is not about the money. It is about helping those who need them and making a real difference in people’s lives. It is about having the most rewarding career they can have.

That said, remuneration for nurses is not as low as many might think, although again, this will be something that everyone feels differently about. Their salary is low considering what they do and how hard they work; in relative terms, a nurse’s salary is certainly something that can be lived on. The higher up the career ladder nurses progress, the more they will be paid. Nursing directors, for example, will have a higher salary than an RN. The harder you work and the more qualifications you have, including working for online DNP programs, the more money you can earn.

Career Advancement

We have briefly mentioned nursing career advancement ideas in other areas of this article, so now we’ll look into this idea in much more detail. In fact, there is a lot of potential career advancement for nurses, and it will entirely depend on what they want to do and how they want to work as to how far they advance in the nursing profession. Some will prefer to stay at a lower level, more than happy in their work and responsibilities. Others will prefer to advance much more, taking additional online DNP programs and other qualifications to help them succeed. In this respect, nursing is much like many other careers; you can do as much or as little as you want to.

This might come as a surprise to some who assumed that nursing was just about one level. However, this is far from the case. In fact, not only can nurses work upwards, they can work across too. There are a multitude of different registered nurses careers, so nurses can choose different branches to work in, depending on their own particular feelings and skills. They might want to work with children or perhaps seniors. They might like the idea of the challenge of the ER, or perhaps working outside of a hospital in a prison or mental health facility might suit them better.

Nurses are required at all levels and in all areas, so as long as you have the qualifications and the skills, there will be a job that is just right for you.

An Inspiring Career

It’s good to be inspired in your day to day life. It makes every day interesting and enjoyable, and it keeps you pushing forward, striving to achieve more because you know others have done it before you. Most people don’t see inspiring people or be part of inspirational events every day, but nurses usually do.

Nurses will see patients who completely defied the odds and pulled through even when they were moments from death. They will see those who had to endure many months or years of rehabilitation come out on the other side. They will see those who kept their dignity right up until their last breath.

These people are the ones who make a difference in a nurse’s life, just as nurses make a difference in their patients’ lives.

Conclusion

Being a nurse is undoubtedly hard work, but it is clear that there are many reasons why it is also wonderful work that many people feel a calling to be a part of. With so much choice within the nursing profession and such a reliable network of support all around you, there is nothing like nursing if you are searching for a career that truly makes a difference.