Though programs can be difficult and time-consuming, thousands of young people enter nursing schools every year.
Nursing is a popular field, and people choose to enroll in nursing programs for a variety of reasons. Young people may choose it because they have an interest in science and medicine or because, though many professions have suffered during the economic downturn, the medical industry has stayed relatively stable and profitable. Adults looking to change careers may choose nursing because the hours allow them to spend time with their families or because they love working and interacting with different people every day. Regardless, hundreds of thousands of people at all stages of life choose to enter nursing schools across the country every year.
Job Security
One reason nursing is such a desirable field, especially after the economic recession of 2008, is that it is a relatively stable career. The medical field in general is less prone to collapse or influence from unstable economic conditions because people will always need healthcare. And because nurses are so in demand, students have more and greater opportunities upon graduation than they would if entering a more competitive field. Being in demand also allows nurses greater freedom to negotiate things like salaries and benefits, or to move on to other jobs if dissatisfied with a particular situation.
Desire to Do Good
Nursing, like other medical professions, requires students and practitioners who wish to do good in the world. Nursing students must possess a strong desire to help others in times of crisis, even though their shifts might be long and their day-to-day jobs incredibly difficult. They are most in contact with patients in most situations and spend their time not only assisting doctors, distributing medications and writing up care plans, but also reassuring, consoling and calming their patients. Truly excellent nurses must be adept at mastering the technical aspects of their job while remembering the human beings and families whose care is their focus.
Variety of Education and Career Paths
Nursing students have the opportunity to pursue a variety of career paths. They can study for only a few years to do more general nursing work or continue on and learn a specialty. Nurses are needed in every area of the medical field, so students have the option to try working everywhere, from the emergency room in a busy city hospital to a pediatric clinic to a nursing home.
Nurses also have the opportunity to enter the profession after completing an associate's degree (two-year program), a bachelor's degree (four-year program) and/or with continued schooling in a specialty area.
Flexibility and Travel
Many people choose to go to nursing school because they are interested in the medical profession and want a stable career and good salary but do not wish to go through the many years of schooling required of doctors or wish to work the often unmanageable hours required by many doctors as well. Nurses often work three 12-hour shifts per week, leaving them time to devote to a family or other interests but also allowing them to receive a dependable salary and benefits and work one-on-one with patients in medicine.
There are also many work programs that allow nurses to travel. In these programs, they are often given a position for one year, then move on to work somewhere entirely different in a new region of the country the next year. Young nurses just out of school sometimes choose to enter a program like this for a few years to gain varied work experience.
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