It's no fluke. Nursing is really one of the best careers to be in these days. As with other health care professions, it is deemed to be recession-proof. It is not however, without its set of drawbacks. So are you ready to embrace all that a career in registered nursing has in store for you?
Switching careers to go into registered nursing is all the rage these days. After all,
the demand is high, the pay is great, and a career as a registered nurse comes with excellent benefits and a flexible schedule. It's the perfect career choice, right?
Well, yes. But only for someone who can take the risks along with the benefits. Here is a breakdown of the things you should consider before applying to nursing school:
What's Good
Every day that you go into work, you are helping sick people get better or feel better. You are teaching sick or injured people how to take care of themselves. You are in a job where you are truly, urgently needed. You are also in a field where the job demand is s high that employers are willing to offer a lot in terms of benefits and pay just to get you on board with them.
You also are given some flexibility as to when you want to work and even where. While in the hospital, you can choose from different areas of responsibility whether you prefer to be in the ER, labor and delivery, or surgical ward, etc. You may even opt for assignments outside the hospital such as schools, hospice, clinics, and others. Other benefits include earning additional income for overtime shifts, continued education at your employer's expense, and working three 12-hour shifts, and earning full pay for this.
What's Bad
As a nurse, you will have to be ready to handle emotional stress. Depending on your specific responsibilities, you may get to see patients die before your very eyes. This can be very heartbreaking especially if you've developed some emotional attachment to your patient, and even if you just watch family members cope with the loss.
You also have taken on a job with life and death responsibility, and must be on your toes at all time. You are giving your patients medicine, and monitoring desperately sick people for any change in their condition, and you could cause serious injury or death if you make a mistake.
What's Ugly
The not-so-pleasant aspects of the job include potential lawsuits, handling angry and uncooperative patients, and dealing with hostile families of patients. The odds of being sued are higher for those who work in the health care field. You can minimize that risk by being careful, being competent, being prepared, following all procedures correctly, documenting everything that you do, and refusing to take on work in an unsafe environment where you know you are not able to give adequate care to patients, but you can never make the risk go away completely.
To an extent, you may also reduce the odds by getting your own medical malpractice insurance on top of whatever protection you get from the hospital, but a lawsuit is always going to cause stress.
As for angry and hostile patients - you are dealing with people at the absolute worst time in their life, when they are sick, afraid, and in pain. And they may not react well to being in that situation. And then again, some people are just unpleasant and difficult to deal with even on a good day, but they should still receive the medical attention they need.
So before jumping into the nursing bandwagon, think of all these first. And don't forget that there are many nurses out there who love their jobs, and are paid well for their services. Talk to some of these nurses, think about the pros and cons, and then if it makes sense for you, contact your State Board of Nursing for a list of nursing schools near you.
