Nursing An Exciting, Fulfilling Career

November 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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A career choice is certainly one of the most important decisions a person will ever make in their lifetime. Not only will they spend most of their waking hours doing the job they’ve chosen to do, but it will also affect the income they have and the lifestyle that results from that income. With this in mind, a career in nursing is certainly something that men and women starting out should seriously consider.

Nursing is now and will continue to be one of the most in-demand of any job on the market, and the starting pay is getting better all the time. Even more importantly, it is a profession in which someone can truly make a remarkable difference in the lives of others. Below are just a few of the many reasons to put nursing on your “careers -to-consider” list:

o    Obviously, becoming a nurse is a choice to spend your career in the care of others. The fulfillment and job satisfaction that many people derive from this aspect alone is compensation for the well-known challenges associated with nursing. Seeing someone’s face when something you’ve done has improved or even preserved their life is a reward that no salary can equal.

o    Nursing is a very high-skill profession. The kind of person that chooses to become a nurse is generally the kind of person that is goal-oriented and driven to excel. Our society could certainly use more of this kind of person.

o    Nurses are known and admired for their dedication to and their passion for their profession. Becoming a nurse is a choice to work long and hard, day after day and week after week. It is not a job for the squeamish or the lazy. It’s not a profession that lends itself to an active social or family life, at least not without a careful balance.

Nursing is all about making a difference. In your own life, and in the lives of others.

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Nursing a Great Career Choice For the Compassionate

November 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Nursing is one of those careers that people often assume to be far too difficult and stressful for them to consider. No doubt it does take a certain type of individual who is willing to commit their lives to the work of nursing. But as for it being a hard profession to prepare for and to break into, the opposite in fact is true. Nursing is a career that could be considered incremental in nature.

After the initial investment of time and resources for training (which can vary in length depending on the type of training you choose to pursue,) the payoff for that effort comes quickly and often. Whether it is in the form of compensation, which for a first-year student out of nursing school can easily top $50,000+, to the equally immediate payoff of seeing your work make a difference in the lives of other people virtually every day, nursing is without a doubt a high reward profession.

For someone thinking of becoming a nurse, here are a few of the many reasons that it is such a great choice. Each one has to do with the great flexibility that nursing offers, although there are many other benefits in addition to the ones listed below.

First of all, there is the benefit of a flexible schedule. Nurses have a wide variety of part and full-time schedules to choose from, all based around what they are able to commit to on a weekly basis. Some nurses are only able to work a part-time, four hours per day schedule. Some work a 12-hour, four days per week schedule. For some, a weekend graveyard shift is the only one they can handle due to other personal responsibilities. Nursing accommodates all these and many other demands on a nurse’s time.

You also have the flexibility of location.  There are an ever-increasing number of options to choose from for the work of a nurse. All are very flexible.

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Field Clinic Nursing at the Front Lines of Adventure

November 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Working as a nurse in a field clinic can be some of the most exciting and rewarding opportunities in a nursing career. Field nursing often involves traveling to a third world country or to the site of a major disaster to assist victims. It is demanding and exhausting work. But those who chose to accept the challenge, it can also be deeply satisfying.

Here are just a few of the many things you might find yourself doing as a member of a field clinic:

Helping with pre-natal checkups for expectant mothers.
Assisting with pap smears and other preventative medical procedures.
Performing physical exams and assessments on a wide variety of patients.
Provide vaccines to children (both oral and injected) in conjunction with Public Health officials.
Assisting in wound care and dressing changes for injured victims.
Interviewing patients to determine what medical attention and assistance they might need.
Traveling to remote locations to assist seriously injured patients and then assisting them as they are transported to medical facilities.

These are just a very small sample of the literally numberless opportunities available in a medical field clinic. These are essentially modern-day versions of the famous MASH units made popular by the long-running television program. They can be found in a wide variety of settings, including schools, community centers, churches, homes, and locally-based residences.

They may have only latrines, no electricity except what is available on-hand, little or no running water, and exposure to the elements, heat, and dirt.

Field clinics can even present significant risks, since they are often located in areas close to a recent major disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane. For example, during the earthquakes in Haiti, nurses were right on the front lines, helping the tens of thousands affected by this horrific disaster.
Although field nursing is fraught with risks and challenges, it is also one of the most rewarding adventures available to nurses today.

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Military Nursing Career A Tremendous Opportunity to Contribute

November 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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A military nursing career isn’t for everyone. If you are a person who doesn’t like adventure, great pay, unlimited career opportunities, not to mention the chance to improve the lives of other people, then indeed, being a military nurse isn’t something you should consider. Additionally, you also get the chance to help your country defend its freedoms and principles. Again, not for everyone. But if you are the person who is attracted to all of the above, then you should be knocking on the door of your local military recruiter or nursing school first thing tomorrow.

Although it has been over 150 years since Florence Nightingale first began walking from bed to bed during the Crimean War, her famous lantern held high as she tended to wounded soldiers, many of the same principles at work in 1854 are still in place today. The central and most critical work of a nurse is still the care and "nursing" of patients. Nursing is still a people-centered work, just as it was for Nightingale. And although the technology used by nurses to care for patients is radically advanced from the crude tools at hand in the 1800′s, military nurses still must make use of a blend of common-sense and compassion in order to meet the needs of those they care for.

Military nursing offers the skilled and motivated professional ample opportunity to pursue their passion for nursing while also making a tremendous income. You’ll also have the unique opportunity to travel the world, something not afforded non-military nurses.

The benefits of a military nursing career are also unique within the nursing industry. These include education benefits, which can be quite lucrative. For example, a military nurse can continue on to receive a master’s degree in nursing, with as much as 75% of the cost being paid for by the military. This degree is required in order to be considered for promotion to the rank of major or higher.

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Becoming a Military Nurse has lifelong benefits

October 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Ok, you’ve decided to enter the field of Nursing, now what?  Where do you continue your education?  How much is that going to cost?  What kind of job or will I get a job when I graduate?
If Nursing is your field of choice, becoming a Military Nurse might be a great way to achieve your professional goals while traveling the world and avoiding messy school loans.
For those that become a Nurse while working in the military, the advantages are many and may be a benefit throughout your working career.
The military tends to train their people in a fashion that is methodical with a hint of perfection.  Becoming a Military Nurse means that you will be given the best tutelage, by instructors that are vested in your long-term success.   With many ‘casualty’ scenarios in place, those training and working as a Military Nurse will be well equipped to enter any surgical trauma center upon completion of their military service.
While many young people go to college and earn their degree, they often spend years paying off student loans and living at or near poverty until they reach their 30′s.  Young people that are thinking of becoming a Military Nurse are likely to see parts of the world they never dreamt they would see.  While many Military Nurses are working and living overseas, even basic training offers cadets and trainees the opportunity to experience a different part of their country.
And then there are the long-term advantages.  For many that become a Military Nurse and make a commitment to several decades of service, they are able to retire by the age of 40.  For those that spend just a few years as a Military Nurse before entering the regular workforce, there are no student loans to pay, and many hospitals are eager to hire these health-care professionals who have a wealth of experience.

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Nursing, the career that gives you flexibility and job security

October 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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When it comes time to deciding what you want to do with the rest of your work life, quality of life, money earnings capability and flexibility in schedule should be near the top of your list.       In most of these instances, Nursing provides an opportunity that will meet or exceed all of your expectations.
There is nothing worse than coming home from a long day at work doing something that you don’t love.  If you like helping people, making a difference and are not turned off my sick and cranky patients, then perhaps Nursing is for you. Nursing provides a career that is rewarding in so many ways.  When your day is done after a long day of helping people, you can go home knowing that you made a difference in someone’s life.
For those that enter the field of Nursing, earning a steady and sometimes good living is a distinct possibility.  While those in the financial world are experiencing volatility and loss of jobs, Nursing and other working in the health care field are wanted and needed as people continue to get sick.  Many nurses make well over $40k per year, and have the ability to make much more with additional and specialized training.  Having a career that pays well, will help you get your first house faster and earn money for those vacation and family items you’ve always dreamed of.
While those in the Nursing field may have to work long hours, many are working 12 hours per day for three days per week.  Imagine a week where you only have to work three days, and are able to run errands, go to your kid’s athletic events and spend quality time with your family four days a week.
For all of these reasons, Nursing continues to be a solid career choice.

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Variety a Big Plus for the Nursing Profession

September 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Many Exciting Choices Available in the Nursing Field

Unlike a medical doctor, who can expect to spend a minimum of six years or more in medical school before he or she even begins their residency, the career professional that chooses nursing as a vocation can be in their chosen field and earning a significant income in as few as two years. Instead of adding to their student loans for endless years to come, a nurse can actually begin to pay them off. Even better, many hospitals offer some degree of loan payoff assistance to those who commit to long-term contracts, allowing a nurse to have that burden lifted even sooner. This is especially true of military hospitals and clinics. Nursing professionals also have the advantage of getting substantial on-the-job training immediately upon entering the work force. The demand on nurses is greater than it has ever been, especially with the critical shortage now in place in this important field. Now is the time to act.

Variety a Big Plus for the Nursing Profession

There are also innumerable opportunities to diversify your nursing career. These range from such things as choosing the hours and days of the week that you work, to focusing on an enormous range of specialties, including such fields as the military, research, consulting, OB/GYN, cancer recovery, hospice, and being a nurse midwife. These and many other sub-fields within nursing allow for ample freedom to choose a path that will be both financially and personally satisfying.

Military Nurse Information and Education Easily Available

Pursuing a nursing career in the military can be especially rewarding. Not only are the financial opportunities significant, but there are also a wide range of avenues to pursue that are not available in traditional nursing fields. These include such things as teaching, education, consulting, and research. Many who initially pursue a position as a military nurse as a bridge to ultimately becoming a nurse in a private or state hospital often end up choosing to stay in the military. There they have discovered the way of life is invigorating, demanding, and uniquely rewarding.

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Unique Challenges, Unique Rewards in Military Nursing

September 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Whenever something like the “War on Terror” is discussed, most people generally think of soldiers in harms way, fighting a distant war in countries thousands of miles away. Not nearly as often is there thought given to the fact that a significant support team is required to make sure that those soldiers are properly cared for as they go about their duties. Among the many who so nobly support these men and women warriors are those serving as military nurses. This profession is truly vital to the health of a nation’s fighting forces. Without their talented and compassionate care, it would literally be impossible for these soldiers to successfully fulfill their assigned missions. On a daily basis, military nurses face challenges and tests of their skills that a traditional nurse might not ever experience in their entire career.

Military Nurses Are There Both During and After Battle

Another vital role that military nurses fill is that of support during a soldier’s recovery and rehabilitation. The road to this can be long and often painful. In some cases, a soldier has lost a limb or has suffered some other permanent disability, putting them at the mercy of a skilled and caring professional who will be there for the long haul, not just during medical procedures. This is where a military nurse can shine. They have the unique perspective of also serving as a soldier, which endows them with an empathy for the predicament the injured soldier has been placed into.

Access to New Research and Technology Unique to Military Nursing

In addition to the invaluable contributions made by virtually everyone in the nursing profession, a military nurse has the unique opportunity to assist in the latest and greatest research in the medical field, as well as cutting-edge technology. This can become a significant advantage to someone in later stages of their career, as they can call upon this experience when competing for nursing positions outside of the military. Any one advantage can often be the one that makes all the difference.

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