4 answers
grace
Student
Grafton, Ohio
4
Questions
Asked
606 views
what are the pros and con on becoming a nurse
im a juinor in high school and i still am not to sure on what i want to go to college for but i do know i want to do something in the medical field #high-school #technology
Login to comment
4 answers
Sheila Jordan
Lead Network Proj/Prog Manager
712
Answers
Atlanta, Georgia
Updated
Sheila’s Answer
Hello Grace:
Thank you for your question. Although I'm not a nurse, I researched your question and hope you find this information useful.
There are certainly things to consider for anyone thinking about being a nurse. Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of being a nurse carefully to ensure you can physically and emotionally handle whatever is thrown at you.
PROS - - -
1) Caring for others. You will be caring for others and saving lives.
2) Learning something new. As a nurse you are constantly working with and meeting new people. When you are caring for others, it’s important you continue to learn new things.
3) Traveling the country. As a nurse, you can work all over the country. As a travel nurse, one of your additional benefits is the ability to work in a new place every 13-weeks.
4) Make good money. While you aren’t a nurse for the money, the fact is you do make good money as a nurse. If you are motivated by money, head west. According to US News, the state that pays the most for nurses is California.
5) Over Time (OT) pay. If money is something that drives you, many nurses have opportunities to pick up extra shifts and work overtime.
6) Job demand. It’s no shock that society needs nurses. As the population ages, the demand for nurses will continue.
7) Job growth. It’s great to that job demand and growth are on the rise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for nurses is projected to grow “much faster” than average.
8) Choose your specialty. The nursing industry is vast. You can take a career as a nurse in several directions. Whether you want to work with adults or children, in the Operating Room or the ER. The choice is yours.
9) Plenty of opportunity for advancement. Most nurses start in a specific unit. But after a few years you can become a shift leader and then in floor management. Once a nurse has made the leap to upper management, opportunities are endless. You can become a director, a VP, or as high up as you want.
10) Get your license reimbursed. As a travel nurse, you can get your licensed reimbursed.
CONS - - -
1) Being undervalued. While most believe nurses are trusted, some patients believe physicians are needed to help them.
2) Difficult patients. There are certainly easy to work with patients, the fact is there are also difficult patients. Just something to be aware of.
3) Difficult co-workers. Just like working with patients, working with co-workers is no different. You will work with some amazing individuals, but you can also work with some difficult co-workers too.
4) Stress. Most careers are stressful. While this isn’t an article to weigh what is the most stressful career, it’s to call out that as a nurse you will certainly deal with stressful situations.
5) Working long days. As previously outlined, nurses can pick up extra shifts. While picking up extra shifts results in getting more money, there is a trade-off. And that is working long days.
6) Difficult conditions. Depending on where you are working and the specialty, you could find yourself working in challenging conditions.
7) Physical demands. Most nurses are constantly lifting things or people; all while being on your feet all day. Make sure you get yourself a pair of comfortable shoes.
8) Emotional strain. The sad part about being a nurse is you see people who are in not doing well. That means it’s a very real possibility you might lose a patient.
9) Exposed to germs. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are full of sick people. As a nurse, you are exposed to a lot of these germs. Make sure you constantly wash your hands during and after your shifts.
10) Working holidays. Illness doesn’t take a day off. As a nurse, you might find yourself working on several holidays.
Best of luck to you!
~ Sheila
https://www.hosthealthcare.com/blog/top-20-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-being-a-nurse/
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-4
Thank you for your question. Although I'm not a nurse, I researched your question and hope you find this information useful.
There are certainly things to consider for anyone thinking about being a nurse. Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of being a nurse carefully to ensure you can physically and emotionally handle whatever is thrown at you.
PROS - - -
1) Caring for others. You will be caring for others and saving lives.
2) Learning something new. As a nurse you are constantly working with and meeting new people. When you are caring for others, it’s important you continue to learn new things.
3) Traveling the country. As a nurse, you can work all over the country. As a travel nurse, one of your additional benefits is the ability to work in a new place every 13-weeks.
4) Make good money. While you aren’t a nurse for the money, the fact is you do make good money as a nurse. If you are motivated by money, head west. According to US News, the state that pays the most for nurses is California.
5) Over Time (OT) pay. If money is something that drives you, many nurses have opportunities to pick up extra shifts and work overtime.
6) Job demand. It’s no shock that society needs nurses. As the population ages, the demand for nurses will continue.
7) Job growth. It’s great to that job demand and growth are on the rise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for nurses is projected to grow “much faster” than average.
8) Choose your specialty. The nursing industry is vast. You can take a career as a nurse in several directions. Whether you want to work with adults or children, in the Operating Room or the ER. The choice is yours.
9) Plenty of opportunity for advancement. Most nurses start in a specific unit. But after a few years you can become a shift leader and then in floor management. Once a nurse has made the leap to upper management, opportunities are endless. You can become a director, a VP, or as high up as you want.
10) Get your license reimbursed. As a travel nurse, you can get your licensed reimbursed.
CONS - - -
1) Being undervalued. While most believe nurses are trusted, some patients believe physicians are needed to help them.
2) Difficult patients. There are certainly easy to work with patients, the fact is there are also difficult patients. Just something to be aware of.
3) Difficult co-workers. Just like working with patients, working with co-workers is no different. You will work with some amazing individuals, but you can also work with some difficult co-workers too.
4) Stress. Most careers are stressful. While this isn’t an article to weigh what is the most stressful career, it’s to call out that as a nurse you will certainly deal with stressful situations.
5) Working long days. As previously outlined, nurses can pick up extra shifts. While picking up extra shifts results in getting more money, there is a trade-off. And that is working long days.
6) Difficult conditions. Depending on where you are working and the specialty, you could find yourself working in challenging conditions.
7) Physical demands. Most nurses are constantly lifting things or people; all while being on your feet all day. Make sure you get yourself a pair of comfortable shoes.
8) Emotional strain. The sad part about being a nurse is you see people who are in not doing well. That means it’s a very real possibility you might lose a patient.
9) Exposed to germs. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are full of sick people. As a nurse, you are exposed to a lot of these germs. Make sure you constantly wash your hands during and after your shifts.
10) Working holidays. Illness doesn’t take a day off. As a nurse, you might find yourself working on several holidays.
Best of luck to you!
~ Sheila
Sheila recommends the following next steps:
Rashid Hussain
data analyst
2
Answers
Gurugram, Haryana, India
Updated
Rashid’s Answer
Hi grace, hope you are doing well. First of all, that is an awesome thought, just like any other job this has a lot of opportunities and it just not restricted to one thing. You could be a nurse and so much more. I believe you should reasearch more and have live experiences and then you can decide what do you really want to become and just purse it. Every job has pros and cons, I mean sometimes when I look at mine, if feels complete to have both. Most importantly if you will love at what you do or going to do, you are going to find pros mostly 🙂
Hope this helps, wish you all the best for your future!!
Hope this helps, wish you all the best for your future!!
Aaron Chun
42
Answers
Honolulu, Hawaii
Updated
Aaron’s Answer
Hi Grace,
The pros of becoming a Registered Nurse (RN) there are so many opportunities available in the healthcare field you can work in because this field is very large. In this field you can work in areas such as the Emergency room caring for people who are brought to the hospital on the ambulance. You get to learn and perform different skills as a nurse such as giving injections similar to flu shots with a needle and syringe, and doing wound care by changing bandages and cleaning wounds on people.
The cons of becoming an RN is you have to really make sure you are giving the right accurate amount of medication to the people you are caring for because if you don’t you can accidentally kill or injure the patient. You have to make sure that you document accurately the patient’s health status in areas like are they eating well because if you don’t other people part of the health care team like the doctor might not be aware of something and not know then something bad happens where the person gets sick or dies.
Every job has a pro and con but you can’t be afraid to pursue any type of career. Hope this helps.
-Thank you,
Aaron
The pros of becoming a Registered Nurse (RN) there are so many opportunities available in the healthcare field you can work in because this field is very large. In this field you can work in areas such as the Emergency room caring for people who are brought to the hospital on the ambulance. You get to learn and perform different skills as a nurse such as giving injections similar to flu shots with a needle and syringe, and doing wound care by changing bandages and cleaning wounds on people.
The cons of becoming an RN is you have to really make sure you are giving the right accurate amount of medication to the people you are caring for because if you don’t you can accidentally kill or injure the patient. You have to make sure that you document accurately the patient’s health status in areas like are they eating well because if you don’t other people part of the health care team like the doctor might not be aware of something and not know then something bad happens where the person gets sick or dies.
Every job has a pro and con but you can’t be afraid to pursue any type of career. Hope this helps.
-Thank you,
Aaron
Rafael Vazquez
tech support tier 2
7
Answers
Mesa, Arizona
Updated
Rafael’s Answer
coming from a family that are working as a RN there are a lot of different aspects in that field you can go for, it all depends on what you want to do. since there are many as in specializing in being an oncology nurse to geriatric nurse there can be pros and cons to any of them. i myself am not a registered nurse but growing up with many siblings in that career has taught me that in the end depending on what type of RN you want to be placed as what matters is how you engage in that. there is definitely a lot of information you would need to know in any RN specialty but it definitely is rewarding from what I've seen . so as far as having pros and cons any job or field can have that but in the end is how you pursue it.