Planning Your Career Path: Tips for Aspiring Nurses
Nurses really are the backbone of any health system. In hospital and clinical settings, they are responsible for the holistic well-being of their patients. From the medical and treatment side to the personal, it’s a nurse’s job to ensure that a patient is getting exactly the help they need, in the way that makes them feel most comfortable and secure.
Outside of a direct care context, though, nurses are absolutely critical to the health of society at large. They are educators, inoculators, advisors, listeners, guides, and researchers, helping to improve the population’s health in a personable, caring way. It’s a rewarding and massively important career, so how can you get into it? Once you have, how do you decide which of the many avenues available to junior nurses to start off down to get the most rewarding career for you?
While these may be questions best suited for a professional careers advisor, the article below aims to provide some broad answers to these questions and give you an overview of the diverse professional field of nursing.
Becoming a Nurse
There are many ways to get into nursing, which vary in length, requirements, and content – exactly which nursing degree you take as your first step should be something to dedicate a good bit of thought to. The most common first step is to become a Registered Nurse (RN), which can take as little as two years. Another slightly more time-consuming, although generally better thought-out option is to go for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree, although this takes up to four years.
The fastest entry-level option is to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), which only takes one year; however, without further training, your earnings and career progression opportunities might be limited. Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to get into nursing – work out what balance of time training versus level of qualification is going to work best for you.
What Now? Options After Basic Training
Once you’re qualified and practising, there’s good news: all nursing work that you undertake is valuable experience for your career progression. However, if you’re ambitious and are looking to move into higher tier management positions and nurse leadership roles like Director of Nursing, more specialized areas of practice like mental health nursing, geriatric nursing, and oncology nursing, or even advanced generalist roles like being an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) you might need to consider getting some higher qualifications.
The exact nature of the qualification you need will vary, depending on the type of nursing career that you think you’d find most rewarding. For a good all-around degree for career advancement, try looking into DNP programs online. DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) courses cover the systems and policy aspects of nursing, as well as allowing for specialization into midwifery, anesthesia, or a general Nurse Practitioner role.
For other, specialized forms of nursing, especially specific forms of what is known as “bedside” nursing, the best credential is often just experience. While general experience is always good, placements or shadowing people already working in that field might be of particular benefit. If you’re in doubt, try to find a mentor who is working in a field you think you might enjoy, or at least have a chat with someone who is to see if it’s for you and, if so, what they think your best options are for pursuing your goals.
Tips for Career Advancement in Nursing
As was mentioned earlier, it should be clear that there is no one way to pursue a career in nursing: your options are many, and it’s never too late to switch into the nursing workforce. However, there are a few general rules to keep in mind to ensure that you have a rewarding career that is right for you and your personal goals.
The most important thing is to keep thinking about the future in an informed and dynamic way. You should keep track of your goals and plan out a potential career path for yourself. Just remember that it’s perfectly natural for your goals to change over time. You may try something that you won’t like, and that’s okay! Alternatively, your life circumstances might change over time, where you’ll need to rethink your career. Whatever the case, it pays to be prepared.
The other really crucial thing is to keep developing your skills in any way you can. This could be through gaining new qualifications, expanding your professional network through social events, as well as conferences, and exploring your interests by volunteering in fields you might not otherwise explore.
As in any field, really, keep your options open, and keep improving yourself. Build from basics, sure, but don’t be afraid to aim high and to seek help as and when you need it.
What's Your Reaction?
