Why become a nurse? The main reasons are that you like helping people, you want a respected career, you’re looking for job security, and you seek a career that offers advancement and higher education opportunities. Nursing is an in-demand career where you’ll spend your time helping others.
If you’re looking for reasons why you should become a nurse, you’ve come to the right place. Nursing is in high demand, and that’s expected to continue. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2031, with 203,200 positions opening over the next 10 years.
Madonna University’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program can help you earn a BSN in as few as 16 months. Through a hybrid learning approach that combines online coursework with hands-on labs and clinical placements at top healthcare facilities in the Metro Detroit area, our ABSN program prepares kind, capable, and confident nurses.
So, why become a nurse? Read on for our list of seven reasons to become a nurse.
1. Nursing Offers Job Satisfaction
U.S. News and World Report ranks nursing No. 8 on its list of best healthcare jobs and No. 17 on its list of 100 best jobs. Nursing offers flexibility that allows nurses to manage a work-life balance. Nursing also involves lots of physical activity and utilizes creative problem-solving. Your days as a nurse will never look the same, and sometimes you’ll encounter situations that keep you on your toes. One thing is sure: you’ll never get bored as a nurse.
2. Nursing Is a Trusted and Respected Career
For the 20th consecutive year, nursing has been voted the top spot among careers with honesty and a high standard of ethics on Gallup’s annual poll. It’s safe to say that nursing is a highly regarded profession. Registered nurses hold a title that comes with high responsibility but also garners a level of respect that few other careers have.
Learn more about these five top nursing specialties.
3. Good Job Security
Why become a nurse? If job security is important to you, being a BSN-prepared nurse is a great way to attain it. Because of many factors, healthcare employers are starting to view a BSN as a minimum requirement to apply for open nursing positions, and 71.7% of healthcare employers strongly prefer hiring new nurses with a BSN.
With about 57% of nurses currently holding a BSN, earning a BSN will provide more job security, especially over your peers who have an associate degree.
4. Educational Pathways
Remember that list of U.S. News and World Report’s best healthcare jobs? The No. 1 job on that list is nurse practitioner (NP). A BSN can be the first step toward your higher educational goals, including becoming an NP. If you’re interested in becoming an advanced practice nurse, a BSN and experience as a working RN are needed to reach that goal, as you’d need both of those to apply to a program to earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. With an MSN, you become eligible to enter an advanced nursing career.
Here’s how to become a nurse practitioner in seven steps.
5. Alternative Nursing Careers
A nursing career can take on many different forms. While you may follow a traditional path and seek a bedside position in a hospital, earning your BSN opens the door to many alternative nursing careers.
With your BSN in hand, you may be eligible to become a:
- Flight nurse
- School nurse
- Aesthetic nurse
- Emergency care nurse
- Travel nurse
- Legal nurse consultant
- Forensic nurse
While you may need to gain a couple of years of experience in a hospital as an RN before pursuing these careers, earning your BSN empowers you to use your unique skill set and interests to get the most out of your nursing career and find a fit that’s perfect for you.
6. Valuable Skillset
BSN-prepared nurses use the specialized skills they learned during nursing school daily when caring for patients and outside of work. Some of the things you’ll learn as a Madonna nurse include:
- Community-based advocacy for population health
- Genuine caring behavior
- Communication skills
- Performance of safe therapeutic interventions
- Ethical perspectives
These are amazing skills to have in many different situations. They’re transferable to higher-level jobs in nursing and can help you better understand those around you. Of course, you’ll also learn patient care skills such as wound care, catheter insertion, and assessment. This technical knowledge is essential for your career and could also come in handy in your day-to-day life. Imagine having the ability to help a loved one with your skills.
7. Helping Others and Fulfillment
If you enjoy helping others, nursing is a wonderful fit. You’ll spend your time providing life-changing care to those who really need it. While nursing can be challenging because of the urgent and stressful situations you may encounter, it’s a career that offers great fulfillment. It can be rewarding to make someone feel safe during what may be the scariest time of their life or help a child get the healthcare they need. You’ll leave work each day knowing you made a difference.
Begin Your Accelerated Nursing Education Today!
Start today by connecting with one of our admissions representatives. In addition to answering any questions you may have about the program, they will determine your eligibility and identify any prerequisite courses you need to complete.