Is it worth it to further my nursing career?
Posted On April 22,2019
When it comes to choosing a career, it’s okay to question the career path you’ve begun. After all, you still have time to switch careers early on. If you’ve decided to become a nurse but are beginning to question whether it’s worth it to further your nursing career, then consider the benefits of doing so:
There’s a shortage of nurses
There simply aren’t as many people pursuing a career in nursing as there once was. This is evident by the fact that roughly 50 percent of all nurses currently working are over the age of 50. Because there’s a shortage of nurses, it should be easier for you to pursue a career as a nurse since it shouldn’t be difficult to find a job in the field, especially as those nurses over 50 begin retiring out of the profession.
There’s an increasing demand for nurses
It’s not just the shortage of nurses that has led to an increase in demand for nurses. Even if there was a sudden explosion in the number of new nurses coming into the field, odds are the demand will still be there. The reason? People are living longer, which means the senior population will be larger than its ever been before. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the number of Americans aged 65 and over will be around 83.7 million by 2050. This will directly impact the need for nurses.
You can switch tracks easily
Don’t like the nursing position you currently have? As long as you have a nursing degree and some experience under your belt, it shouldn’t be difficult to change your career path. There are many settings where you can work as a nurse and many different nursing positions available. For example, you can work as a research nurse, a legal consultancy nurse, a school nurse, a physician’s office nurse, and much more.
You can continue your education
You can choose to go back to school for your masters degree or study a nursing niche to improve your career opportunities and income potential. The following are just a few examples of nursing positions that you could go back to school for and the average pay of those positions:
- General nurse practitioner – $97,990
- Certified registered nurse anesthetist – $133,000
- Pain management nurse – $90, 288
- Psychiatric nurse practitioner – $90,376
- Certified nurse midwife – $102,390
As you can see, there are plenty of options when it comes to continuing your nursing education in order to advance your career.
There will be lots of opportunities for advancement
You can certainly advance your nursing career by going back to school, but there will be other opportunities to advance your career even if you don’t. First of all, there are a lot of different nursing certifications that you can obtain that can help bolster your resume and make it easier to get higher paying nursing positions. Secondly, you will be working with many different medical professionals. Medical professionals tend to have strong relationships with one another because of the nature of their work. As a result, people in the medical community tend to build networks of professionals rather quickly. When you have such a network of nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals, you can lean on them for assistance advancing your career, whether it’s by recommending other nursing positions or helping you switch tracks to a different type of nursing job.
If you’re currently a nurse and you’re thinking about what the future holds for you, don’t worry — it’s well worth your time and effort to further your career. For information about our nursing programs, contact us at Athena Career Academy today.
