When it comes to working in healthcare, one of the best career paths you can choose is nursing. Being a nurse allows you to have a hand in helping people who need it, and it also opens you up to many work opportunities, and chances to grow and advance.
There are many different paths you can pursue within the field of nursing, but they all have something in common: They offer a stable, fulfilling professional avenue with a good chance they’ll add something positive and meaningful to your life.
If you are considering pursuing a career in nursing, here are some of the best benefits you can expect to experience.
Nurses Are Paid Well
If you are a registered nurse, you can expect to earn a comfortable living. Studies show that the average registered nurse in America makes $68,450 per year.
This means that if you pursue a career in nursing, you can afford to live a secure, financially stable life. By knowing that you’re pursuing a route that offers you financial stability, you can feel more open to a slew of other life opportunities and experiences, as well.
Nurses Have Plenty of Employment Opportunities
Nurses are extremely sought after. In fact, studies show that there is going to be a severe shortage of registered nurses in the coming years, and that shortage is only going to increase as baby boomers age and require more healthcare. The American Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the nursing workforce will need 1.09 million new nurses by 2024. This means that if you choose to become a nurse, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to find a job when you’re done with your schooling and that you’ll be able to stay employed throughout the duration of your working years.
Nurses Help People
This one may seem obvious — and the initial reason that so many people get involved in the field. However, one of the best perks of working in nursing is that nurses get to help people, which can feel extremely fulfilling. Nurses also provide very necessary support and care to patients and doctors, which means they are contributing to the world and helping to make it a healthier place. Ultimately, the helping nature of a nursing career can make it a very satisfying job choice. Surveys of nurses showed that about 73 percent of nurses were satisfied with their career choice.
Nurses Understand Healthcare and the Body
In order to become a nurse, you have to have an extensive education about healthcare, science, biology, medicine, the body and more. So, if you become a nurse, you’ll be well armed with knowledge about how to take care of people and how to keep yourself healthy. You may also be able to diagnose health problems in yourself and others when you’re feeling unwell — that way you can seek the right course of treatment.
Nurses Can Start Working Sooner Than Doctors
It does take a lot of learning to become a nurse, but the educational and training path to become a nurse is a lot shorter than the one to become a doctor. While your education will depend on what type of nurse you want to become, your schooling will take as little as two to three years. This means that you can start working and making a difference in people’s lives quickly.
Nurses Can Take on a Wide Variety of Roles
When you become a nurse, you don’t have to stick to one simple role. Instead, you can tackle a wide variety of nursing opportunities, from working alongside a doctor at his private practice to working at an emergency room in a public hospital to working in the health office of a college or high school. Nursing opens up doors to a huge range of working options, so it’s a good job to pursue if you want to have a variety of working opportunities in your life if you’re not yet sure exactly how you want to spend your days.
Nurses Can Have the Opportunity to Travel
If you want to see the world and work at the same time, you can become a traveling nurse. Traveling nurses hold short stints at a range of hospitals throughout the country (and beyond). By becoming a travel nurse, you can ensure your life has some adventure in it, and you can also have an opportunity to meet, work with and help people from all over and from all walks of life.
If you are considering pursuing a career in nursing and you want to take advantage of these benefits, you may want to consider enrolling at the American Institute of Alternative Medicine (AIAM). At AIAM, we teach a holistic approach to wellness, so you can work in a wide range of holistic or homeopathic fields, as well as in a traditional nursing role. We have a RN Program, and a PN Program, and you can take advantage of AIAM’s small classes, one-on-one attention and focus on holistic treatments to get a unique and outstanding education in the field.