by Chelsea Adcock

Created on: December 28, 2007   Last Updated: June 29, 2010

As people grow and age their bodies go through periods of wellness and periods of sickness. Usually good health goes unnoticed, but when things turn from good to bad it becomes apparent that interventions are needed to restore the body's natural balance. There are many key members of the health care team including doctor's, respiratory therapists, technicians, just to name a few, but one of the most important people responsible for the care of an ill loved one is the nurse. Nurses are essential in the healthcare field for many reasons; they are involved in intimate aspects of patient care, they are the patient's advocate, they provide emotional, physical, and psychological support, and on the most basic level they are a friend. There are many reasons to become a nurse. Nursing is not always about the money or the benefits, but the impact your care can have on a patient. My goal today is to list some of the top reasons to consider nursing as a career and why a job in nursing is fulfilling in more ways than one.

1. You will have a guaranteed job. This is a big reason why people go into nursing and rightfully so. Many people graduate from a four year university without the slightest idea about where they will work and if they will even get the job they apply for. Nursing is an excellent career in that there are always places looking to hire nurses. The nursing shortage is a big deal and because of that there are a lot of jobs available for the nurse.

2. You can get your RN in as little as two years. Nursing is a versatile field in that you don't need a four year degree to become a nurse. Though it is optimal to achieve a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing, it is not essential to start a long and fulfilling career in the field of nursing.

3. The pay is great. I mean that. There are not a lot of jobs available in the marketplace that pay the "rookie" at least $50,000 dollars a year, and that is on the lower end of the pay scale. Since there is such a shortage of nurses in the healthcare field, certain measures are taken to entice people to consider a nursing career and one of those measures is a fat paycheck.

4. There is room for growth within the field. Nursing is not specifically about working on a medical/surgical floor taking care of sick people. Nursing has great opportunities for growth and further education which can lead to careers in the operating room as an anesthetist, working with pregnant mothers as a midwife, or leading a team of nurses as a nurse manager.

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