Ive Been The Patient And Came Back To Be A Patient Advocate
Michelle Katz earned her undergraduate degree in public administration, but working various jobs after graduation left her feeling like something was missing from her life. She had a knack for biology and an interest in medicine, but wasnt keen on investing the time and money a typical medical program demanded.
It wasnt until a co-worker suggested nursing that Katz decided to scrape together every penny she had to enroll in a program. She was months away from her degree, when everything changed.
a car accident that flipped my whole world out from under me, and I had no health insurance, Katz says. Her accident resulted in hefty medical bills and a long recovery time where she had trouble completing her rotations. After investigating into her medical bills, she was able to significantly decrease her fee. This experience opened her eyes to a gaping need in medicinehealthcare advocacy.
Katz believes nurses make the best patient advocates they just need to know how to help. She plans to continue education nurses and patients and hopes to eventually advance her education in this area. For more on healthcare advocacy and to find her work, see her website Healthcare Hacker.
Catherine Burger Rn Ms Msol Nea
“What I find to be the most rewarding about being a nurse is the numerous career paths that are available within the profession. For example, in my nearly 30-year career I have been blessed to work in labor and delivery, the Intensive Care Unit, home health, informatics, leadership, clinical practice, and ambulatory care. As a contributing writer for registerednursing.org, I now get to educate my colleagues and future nurses on current events and issues.
“I initially chose a nursing career just out of high school as I wanted to work in the field of medicine, and I knew I could complete the degree within two years. After many years and many advanced degrees, I still love being of help to people at all stages of life. I am very proud of my nursing profession and I love that nurses are still the most trusted profession to the public: a responsibility we should never take for granted.”
Nursing Is An Excellent Career
Both data and stories testify to nursing being an excellent career. In Nursing in the US is a Great Career Choice by Frieda Paton, M.Cur, RN at Nurses Labs, Not only is the average registered nurses salary the best in the world, but job opportunities are set to keep growing. Additionally, nurses tend to stick with their professions long term.
- Positive effects of helping people in need
- Team-oriented work experience
- Promotion opportunities
In an article entitled 7 Reasons why I love being a nurse published by Scrubbing In, Allie Herrera, BSN, RN, CCRN, wrote that she loves the way nursing allows her to meet people from diverse backgrounds. She also cited never being bored at work, developing her critical thinking skills, and certainty that shes making a difference on her list of reasons for loving her nursing career.
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Why Interviewers Ask Why Do You Want To Be A Nurse
Nursing is a wonderful field with many diverse opportunities, yet the great rewards it offers come with many challenges. Its not a career to take lightly. Therefore, the interviewer will want to know how serious you are about the position.
Nursing is a profession with a prerequisite for assisting others in potentially high-stress environments. So by answering this question, you are given the opportunity to highlight not only your skills, but more importantly, your passion for nursing and ability to keep cool under pressure.
Additionally, interviewers hope to learn why you got interested in the field in the first place. Telling a story about an impactful experience with a medical professional or about the sense of satisfaction you feel when helping a patient can help illustrate that youre not only skillful, but also have deep compassion for the people youll be working with.
Challenges To Consider In Nursing
As much as nursing is a rewarding and beneficial profession, it can take a physical and emotional toll. There are anecdotes about nurses giving up lunch breaks, going without bathroom breaks, and losing sleep. But the physical and emotional cost of nursing can lead to more than an empty stomach or a full bladder.
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Common Mistakes When Answering Why Do You Want To Be A Nurse
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Saying anything negative. A negative response will be a red flag for the interviewer. If you are one to complain or see the worse in a situation, this will make you a difficult coworker in an already difficult field.
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Focusing on money or self-serving reasons. Even if the wages are an attractive feature of the profession, mentioning this as a reason will hurt you. The interviewer is looking for an answer that goes beyond your own needs.
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Unrelated anecdotes. Dont get caught up in telling stories about nursing that have nothing to do with you or the job. Remember to keep things relevant and concise.
Nurses Have Solid Earning Potential
Altruism and hero talk aside, any nurse will tell you that your career still needs to pay the bills. The good news is that nursing positions tend to fair well. The BLS reports a 2020 median annual salary of $75,330 for registered nurses.2 For LPNs, the BLS reports a 2020 median annual salary of $48,820not bad, particularly when you consider the fact that both roles do not necessarily require a Bachelors degree.2
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Strong Job Growth And Security
The advancements in medical sciences has increased the lifespan of people. This has resulted in an increase in the number of old age people and thereby increasing the care and treatment requirements. This has created enormous job opportunities for nursing professionals across the globe. The need for nurses worldwide has always remained high due to the lesser number of ratios between nurses and patients. Many global surveys show that by 2025 the demand for nurses will be skyrocketed with an expected growth rate of 15% per year. The statistics clearly show that the demand for nurses is high and the industry requires a large number of registered nurses in coming days.
Today, nursing is not limited to hospitals but they are required in numerous areas like old age homes, orphanage homes, rehabilitation centres, nursing colleges, medical writing companies, etc. The changing medical requirements have widened the job opportunities for nurses to different areas apart from hospitals.
Nursing Offers A High Degree Of Job Satisfaction
Most surveyed nurses reported satisfaction with their career choices, according to a 2019 survey conducted by AMN Healthcare and The Center for Advancement of Healthcare Professionals. According to a 2018 survey of nurses by Medscape, 94% of registered nurses answered yes when asked whether they were glad they became a nurse or advanced practice nurse.
One reason for this high degree of job satisfaction is that we have an opportunity to grow within our skill sets. We can start off as a registered nurse practicing at the bedside evolve into different areas of nursing such as patient care coordination, nursing education, and health care administration and expand to working within the community in public health sectors, Burdi says. So there’s a lot of opportunity for nurses to branch out and deepen their skills and their knowledge, and also a plethora of opportunity to contribute to patient care.
Such opportunity can be expanded to other settings such as ambulatory care and within the community. These options and flexibility are really what contributes to the satisfaction of the profession, Burdi adds.
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Hybrid And Online Nursing Programs Increase Accessibility
With the shift to remote learning and work during the pandemic, more and more schools recognized the value in offering online and hybrid degree programs . These include hands-on healthcare fields like nursing.
With these options, nursing students can enjoy a high degree of flexibility as they pursue a BSN, a master of science in nursing , or even a doctor of nursing practice .
Examples of Hybrid and Online Nursing Programs
University of Texas at Arlington âOnline BSN
George Washington University âOnline DNP in adult-gerontology acute care
Nurses Have Support For Educational Growth
As part of an initiative to increase the overall quality of nursing care, in 2010, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine released a report calling for 80 percent of registered nurses to hold baccalaureate degrees by 2020.3
While it appears the 80 percent goal has not yet been met, theres a clear push from many healthcare providers to increase the overall level of education possessed by their nursing workforceand that may include chipping in with their employees education costs. Nurses who take advantage of options to further their education can potentially open the door to leadership and other specialized roles. Many institutions offer RN to BSN programs that are designed to maximize the nursing experience RNs already have.
Many hospitals will now only hire registered nurses with a Bachelors degree, Dolnick says. When I obtained my license through an ASN program, my employer immediately pushed me to return to school to obtain my BSN.
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Why Become A Nurse In Houston
The list of reasons of why you should become a nurse is long. When you choose nursing as a career path, youre choosing to enter an in-demand, trusted profession with plenty of positions promising high personal satisfaction and scheduling flexibility.
Why else should you become a nurse? Because its a profession thats:
Benefits Of Pursuing Nursing As A Career:
- A faced paced profession:
This profession is more common as it was ever earlier. After doctors these are sole provider of emergency health care and look after minor injury to diagnosis of any illness. In nursing, theres constantly something new to figure out and performing duties as a clinician keeps always keep them on toes. From split-second decisions to quirky patients, none of the days are alike when working as a nurse. This make the career in this field a great choice if an individual tend to thrive under pressure and yearn for new experiences.
- A balanced work-life:
In nursing, flexible working hours is encouraged and it gets easy to manage and maintain your own work schedule. As nursing is 24/7, there is no need to stick to the hours of a standard day. Theres also an option of working in night shifts which are popular and often preferred because of these hours being much quieter.
- An ongoing learning
This profession has a culture of lifelong learning and encourages getting training to develop knowledge and skills. When there is a time for evaluation, professional development is covered also a plan is set up to identify areas where specialized skills can be polished. This field constantly changes, and requires the professionals to keep a track on going changes and then work accordingly.
- Future-proof job
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Elizabeth Mason Rn Msn
“I was not the person that grew up always wanting to be a nurse, I always wanted to be a teacher however, when I found out I was eligible for the nursing program at the college I was attending, I decided to pursue it as a possibility. I never imagined how that spur-of-the-moment decision would change my life. Once I started classes, I fell in love with every aspect of nursing.
“After working for a while, I went back to school and became a nursing instructor in the classroom and clinical. It is the perfect balance of hands-on patient care and teaching the next generation of nurses. I love my students have that ah-ha moment as they put together the big picture of the patient, their diagnosis, medications, and treatment plans. I love seeing the growth of new nursing students to their preceptorship. It is always a blessing to see them in the hospital later as nurses succeeding at their calling.”
Higher Earning Chances With Lots Of Benefits
Are you still confused and not able to make up your mind? If yes, then know that it is one of the highest-paid professions. According to the BLS, the licensed nurses in 2017 were getting salary equaled to $450130. However, anesthetic nurses or midwives were earning $110,000. Despite monthly income, the nursing jobs also provide insurance packages and retirement benefits.
Selecting a degree to make your career in it entirely depends upon one’s interest and passion. At the same time, the love and enthusiasm to serve humanity call to pursue a nursing career. That gives various job opportunities, career advancement chances, a high pay scale, and much more. So, whenever you are going to take the final steps, consider all the above reasons.
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Nurses Can Work In A Variety Of Different Environments
Nurses can work in many different settings based on job availability and their interests and specializations. Many nurses work in physician clinics or public hospitals. They also find employment in nursing homes, residential care facilities, ambulatory healthcare services, or even peoples private homes.
Reasons Why Becoming A Nurse Can Be A Great Career Option
There are several compelling reasons for becoming a nurseheres the short and sweet summary:
Of course, thats just a high-level view of the reasons why nursing could be a great fit for you. Read on for a more detailed explanation of each.
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Reasons Why You Should Choose Nursing
A career in nursing offers a lifetime of opportunities.
The best way to learn more about what a day in the life of a nurse is like is to speak to one. Call the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and ask to speak to a nurse. In the meantime, here are 10 reasons to consider nursing as a profession.
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Why Did You Choose Nursing
Here’s What We’ll Cover
Being a nurse is a noble calling, and if you are thinking of getting into the profession, it is one of the best things you can ever do in your life. Nurses get to spread happiness, save lives, and also bring comfort to those who are suffering. Because of the satisfaction you get by making someones life better, it is considered to be a rewarding career. However, like all other college applications, if you want to study nursing, you will be asked to write an essay on why did you choose to nursing. It is your time to shine and show the nursing school you are the right fit.
Some of the reasons you can put forth in your essay include
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A Nursing Shortage Creates Demand
As the baby boomers age and more and more people have access to insurance, it seems that hospitals are having a hard time keeping up, says Brooke Wallace, co-founder of RegisteredNursing.org. Among those aging and reaching retirement age are thousands of practicing RNs and LPNs that will need to be replaced when they retire.
As a travel nurse, Wallace has experience in many different ICU environments. The one thing they all have in common is too many patients and not enough staffed beds, she says. This massive influx of patients combined with RN retirementswhile a serious issuedoes offer a silver lining for aspiring nurses as demand for services should remain strong. In fact, for 20202030, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 9 percent increase in employment for RNs and a 9 percent increase in employment for licensed practical nurses .2
The lingering impact of COVID-19 has also placed a strain on staffing, as some nurses have opted to retire earlier than they had previously planned or change career paths. Pair this with the already baked-in demographic challenges facing the nursing profession and demand for nurses appears poised to remain strong.
Healthcare Is An Evergreen Profession
Nursing is literally one of the oldest professions in the world. But the interesting fact is that itâll never see a downtrend. People will always need care and comfort in times of ill health.
Thereâs no substitute for human compassion when it comes to healing. And nurses offer just that. This means that as you progress into your career, youâll have more and more opportunities for rewards.
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