Nursing

Many people think being a nurse means being tied down in one place and taking care of the same patients every day—but that’s not the case. Due to the growing and evolving medical field, most nurses can now enjoy the freedom to explore different places to work and offer their services to a wide variety of medical clinics and hospitals. 

The healthcare industry is an evolving profession and one of the fastest-growing fields where employment is always plentiful. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates, careers in the healthcare sector will grow by 16% from 2020 to 2030, representing 2.6 million vacancies. 

Next to doctors, nurses are also well-known professionals in the industry. However, as roles and responsibilities continue to evolve, some new medical careers are emerging, including physician assistants. 

Physician assistants often work full-time and side-by-side with doctors and nurses. The nature of their work can often lead people to confuse them with registered nurses. While they both work closely with doctors in patient care, there are various important differences between the two professions. 

Nurses often find employment in big hospitals and small medical clinics, but those who want to venture into different sectors will discover nursing homes are an industry where they can also achieve success. 

As the healthcare industry evolves, there continues to be challenges in making sure patients have access to healthcare, and to the providers that support them. In rural areas, for example, residents continue to have limited access to basic healthcare, due in large part to a shortage of healthcare providers such as nurses. 

Nurses do everything they can to ensure they provide the best care for their patients. However, sometimes they do face accusations of malpractice. Mistakes can happen, especially during busy times, like the height of the pandemic when there was a demand for nurses to take care of an overwhelming number of patients, and when people are working long hours. Burnout can lead to nurses making errors in patient care. For instance, a nurse taking care of several patients at a time may dispense medications later than the prescribed hour, which may cause serious side effects on the patient’s health. 

Shifting careers is a big deal—but these days, it’s pretty common. 

When you choose your major in college, that effectively dictates your career trajectory. This is a decision you likely make in your teens, and it will have lifelong consequences. We tend to model our dedication to our professions on previous generations, and if you think about your parents or grandparents, you’ll discover that they often stuck to one job or profession from the day they entered the workforce until they retired. 

Before diving into the details of how to get an RN degree, it’s interesting to know how the nursing profession evolved. Seeing the history, we can better understand some of the approaches and attitudes that affected the profession for years.