About Nursing Careers

To save one life makes you a hero, but a thousand makes you a nurse…and to compassionately and competently care for others during their weakest and most vulnerable times is the noblest calling anyone can ever hope to heed. Careers in nursing have always been respectable and now according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Outlook growth from 2016 to 2026 for Nurse Practitioners is 31% (see here) and for Registered Nurses it is 15% (see here). In addition to caring for patients in clinical settings, nurses write and publish, actively promote health and wellness education, lobby and influence health care legislation, and use their education and expertise to positively change health care delivery systems.

Although many careers in nursing are still considered to be primarily “by the bedside”, just as many are now taking on lives of their own “beyond the bedside” too. Some of the many nursing professions include acute care practitioners, adult practitioners, advanced practice practitioners, cardiovascular acute car practitioners, clinical educators and patient advocates, clinical leaders, critical care practitioners, family practitioners, geriatric practitioners, legal consultants, mental health practitioners, neonatal practitioners, pediatric practitioners, psychiatric mental health practitioners, registered nurses, research nurses, and even telephone or triage nurses.

These careers in nursing require not only a fortitude and dedication to helping people overcome their darkest and at times, most critical states of being, they also require specialized nursing degrees and certifications specific to their positions. There are hundreds of nursing certifications, too many in fact to list here. However, many certifications require associate’s bachelor’s, master’s and/or doctorate nursing degrees as fundamental, educational foundations. Many of the thousands of online and on campus colleges and universities nationwide offer nursing degrees and certification programs to help jumpstart the various careers in nursing you can pursue. If your calling is helping others overcome their challenges to heed theirs, then embrace the heroic healer inside to pursue a nursing degree, and ultimately a career in nursing today.