The ongoing pandemic has shown just how valuable and important our nurses are to our nation’s health. Already a well-respected profession, nurses are now regarded as some of the key workers across the whole country, and polling shows they’re amongst the best-regarded citizens in the nation.
As such, the role of a nurse is becoming more and more popular across the US, with hundreds of thousands of searches revealing people’s excitement about carving a career in nursing in the future. Here’s how you’ll do it and how you can qualify to get a job in nursing by 2021.
Your Schooling
Nurses have to have grades and a degree to enter the profession. With so much to learn, and a lot to remember, a nurse needs to be mentally sharp to be able to provide the best level of care to his or her patients. Looking back to your school days, you might not have been the brightest or hardest-working pupil, but that’s fine. You can apply to retake key exams in order to gain the grades you’ll need to apply for a course in nursing at a university near you.
University
So, once you’ve got some of the important grades that the nursing profession is looking for, it’s time to get yourself onto a nursing degree program. This is wonderfully easy, and just takes a little searching online to find the right match for you. Excelsior online nursing degrees, for instance, are a great way to go if you want to learn remotely and keep working your current job while studying for a new one in nursing. These courses vary in price and availability in terms of online learning, so it’s always worth comparing a few before you take the leap of faith into a course that’ll get you into hospitals once you’re qualified.
Graduating
On graduation, you’ll have successfully qualified as a nurse. This is a hugely exciting moment: you’re now eligible to work in any hospital or healthcare center across the US, and, even more excitingly, across the world. Nursing is truly one of those professions which gives you a great deal of freedom in where you live and how you work. There’s also a constant demand for new nurses to join the medical field and to help those less fortunate who are ill or injured. So, now it’s the time to look for those jobs.
Finding Your Role
It’s really a matter of personal preference as to where you take up your first job. Some newly-qualified nurses prefer to work in smaller health centers as they get used to handling patients and getting to grips with their roles and responsibilities. Others want to dive in at the deep end and work at some of the busiest and most energizing hospitals across the states. It’s all up to you, though it’s recommended that you work in the role you choose for at least a year, so that you’re able to apply as an experienced nurse for your next role in your next location.
Becoming a nurse is as simple as following the four steps outlined above. It will help you change career and pursue a truly humbling and exciting new job.