Vault Career Guide to Nursing
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Vault Career Guide to Nursing
Nursing is a broad and exciting science field with tremendous career rewards such as good starting salaries and easy mobility to various specialties and locations. Nurses are problem solvers who enjoy working with people and serving society. The worldwide demand for nurses both in and out of hospitals is currently extremely strong and is expected to grow for the next 15 years or more; at the moment, there are over 2.4 million nurses in the U.S. Because of the great demand, nurses are able to easily change positions to adapt to life changes, and many nurses work in several specialties both inside and outside hospitals in the course of their careers. This new Vault career guide brings you the inside scoop at this hot career.

Pages: 93
Price: 29.95



Read an excerpt from the Vault Career Guide to Nursing


People who choose to become nurses do it often because they want to make a difference in the lives of others. They like a personal connection with other people and to see the effects they have on health and well-being. In contrast to teaching, where the effects of one's work are sometimes slowly building up over years, nursing is very dynamic and can show effects very quickly. The following are some of the benefits, risks and challenges of pursuing a career in nursing.

Benefits

Nurses are satisfied to successfully help other people with their problems. Nurses have the opportunity to change another's life for the better. Nurses work with people, as opposed to working with papers, machines or merchandise. The breadth of the field allows for job changes over time. Many positions are available with part time and flexible schedules to accommodate family responsibilities. Nursing knowledge is valuable for one's personal and family health.

Risks

Education below the bachelor's level is offered for nurses, yet a person with lower level education will have a limited career path and limited income. A separate license is needed for each state. The license application process can be very lengthy and take up to several months. Some states require fingerprints and a criminal background investigation.

Compensation for nurses varies tremendously. Beginning compensation is relatively good but there seems to be a "ceiling" in compensation for advanced careers. Nursing is a traditionally female occupation and vestiges of a male doctor-female nurse power structure remain, though this is changing.

Due to the variety of education and positions for nurses, each nurse may need to clearly describe his/her education and skills. And hospital nursing, in particular, is very demanding with a risk of physical and emotional overload.

According to one researcher, the nursing profession as a whole has made several costly mistakes. The first mistake nurses made was to sell their services to hospitals and other institutions, rather than directly to patients, as doctors do. Because of this, nurses lost control of their working conditions. In addition, they tend to work under doctors' orders, so their autonomy is sometimes compromised. They also allied themselves with orthodox medicine, which tends to promote symptom suppression through pharmaceuticals, as opposed to other kinds of interventions. Because of these decisions, nursing may have remained more static and less dynamic than other medical professions.

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