| By Jazmyne De Witz |
Every time I have ever gone to the hospital, I always remember the nurses. They were the ones who checked in on me, made sure I was doing okay, and truly comforted me. Each time I would leave my dream of becoming a nurse grew stronger. Now here I am today, attending the School of Nursing at UP making my dream come true!
After doing much research on a career in nursing, I would like to say that I know a thing or two about it. Nursing is a wonderful career choice for those who are compassionate. Every day you have a chance to help others and save lives. Does that sound awesome or what?
Personally, I am hoping to work in Labor and Delivery (L&D) because I am really interested in pregnancies and want to be a part of bringing life into the world. L&D nurses take care of mothers in labor and then also their baby or babies once they are born.
There are also so many different paths you can take in nursing based on your interests. If you love psychiatry, then you could become a psychiatrist nurse. Love babies? Than maybe midwifery or neonatal is the way for you to go. Want to help others fight cancer? Oncology nursing does just that. There are so many more paths one could take! Literally just list an interest and I bet you could find a nurse specialty in it!
The job outlook for nursing is also very good. You can read more about expected job growth on the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Also, although this shouldn’t be a main factor in choosing a career, the salaries for nursing are very competitive! It does depend on a lot of factors (experience, location, specialty), but I have heard of salaries ranging from $30,000 to as high as $150,000 a year!
Nursing is an amazing career path for anyone who is compassionate, caring, and would love to take care of people every day. It is definitely something I am looking forward to and if you can see yourself being a nurse then I strongly advise researching it in more depth!