Top 7 reasons to become a registered nurse

Nursing as a career is a rewarding profession. If you want to help the injured and sick, you get to do so by being a nurse. It will be interesting to know that nursing has been one of the most preferred career choices over the years. Additionally, you also get to become a role model for people around you. Today, however, with several job opportunities , great work environment and plenty of specialities to choose from has made it easier to become a registered nurse .

Here, we give you top 7 reasons to become a registered nurse today and reap its benefits.

1. Dearth of good nurses in healthcare industry

With a great influx of sick and injured people there is a shortage of nurses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) nursing industry will grow by 16% through 2024 which is considered to be much faster than any other profession. Also, according to News & World report, nursing job stood fourth in ranking of top 25 jobs of 2017 in the US. Additionally, there is a growing demand for nurses with advanced degrees. All these are reasons enough to become registered nurse .

1. Increasing number of senior citizens

According to a report by American Nurses Association, America is seeing an increase in the number of its senior citizens. This is putting a strain on the health system as more and more people today have access to insurance and therefore hospitals are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand. This is causing a severe shortage of registered nurses in hospitals.

1. Aging nurses

According to ANA, 50% of the current workforce of nurses is close to their retirement and by 2020 most of them would retire. This will create several job openings. Thus ANA has already asked the authorities to get the nurses ready to prepare for the big changes ahead. If you want to become a registered nurse, it is the right time. Give it a thought and begin your preparations right away.

1. Inclusion of new technology

With advances in technology the health care industry is undergoing several changes. This is also helping the nurses to take up newer opportunities. One such field is –informatics. It involves dealing with measuring data that the nurses can diagnose and convert to simple, understandable information. This information can be later used for patient care and treatment. If you become a registered nurse and earn a specialization in data analysis, you could probably forge this new boundary.

1. Wider choices

Unlike yesteryears where nurses had only a specific role in the healthcare system, there is an array of opportunities for them today. Nurses can become professors, researchers, bloggers, entrepreneurs, policy makers , administrators and even doctors of nursing. In fact nursing students are advised to take up classes other than just patient care.

With so many choices available today, nurses are becoming extremely important and are gaining more influence to change the industry. In case a nurse faces burn-out on the floor, she may consider switching to another line without quitting nursing.

1. Better support for educational growth

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine released a report asking 80% of the nurses to hold Baccalaureate degrees by 2020 in a bid to improve the overall quality of nursing care. Today, many hospitals are hiring nurses with a bachelor’s degree and this is only widening their opportunities.

Nurses who wish to opt for higher studies in their field will get a better access to improved and advanced in-demand jobs. Several institutions also offer RN to BSN programs that allow registered nurses to have better nursing experience than what they would have otherwise.

1. Increased flexibility

Today nurses have flexibility in not just their schedule but also in terms of location. A registered nurse can work in hospitals, schools, flight nurse (in air as an emergency ) or home health care. Travel nurses are also very much in demand as they can move from one hospital to another and fill up the staffing needs. They are paid well and also have their travel expenses covered.

So, you can see that if you become a registered nurse today, you will enjoy far more benefits than the earlier times. Make use of the opportunity wisely.