If you want to become a nurse, then you are probably wondering what the best route to take is.
This is a sensible approach because, unlike many other career paths, nursing requires specific qualifications, experience levels and range of abilities for you to find a job in the first place, let alone become successful over the course of your career.
As a result, it is easy to become intimidated by the sheer amount of information you need to take into consideration, as well as the work required to forge a nursing career.
The good news is that once you break down the constituent parts that go into becoming a nurse, you will soon realize that it is not particularly difficult to grasp. Finding the right path for becoming a nurse is as much about common sense as it is about discovering a secret which will unlock the right doors for you.
For example, your choice of qualification will help you specialize in a certain area of nursing – such as whether to take an ADN or BSN course – and will also play a factor in your employability and expected salary.
It is also key to develop your people skills, which will help you excel at your job and ensure your patients always feel comfortable.
Keeping your eyes open to fresh opportunities (and the development of new skills) is also critical because the world is constantly changing and demand for certain types of nursing adapts with it.
On top of this, it is wise to consider your more general life goals, which will help inform the type of nursing you want to get into.
Now it is time to look at these points in more detail. This is the complete guide to becoming a nurse:
Choose the right qualification
Undoubtedly the most crucial step in your journey to becoming a nurse is gaining the necessary qualifications to progress with your career.
Without the right degree in your pocket, you will find it exceedingly difficult to progress in nursing, so be sure to take your time when researching the various degrees on offer.
For instance, you will need to decide whether to gain the Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) vs. Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), two qualifications which offer differing career prospects.
To give a brief insight into why these qualifications differ from one another, an ADN is generally regarded as a more inexpensive and, therefore, attainable qualification, whereas the BSN is thought to open more doors in the future because it is a university-level degree (and might come in handy if you are looking to move up the ranks quickly).
Decide upon the type of nursing you want to do
The approach you take when you are just starting out with your nursing career should depend largely on the type of nursing that you want to do.
Far from being a one-size-fits-all career path, nursing envelopes a huge range of skill sets, job responsibilities and personality types.
Therefore, take time to consider why you want to become a nurse in the first place, the sort of work that will engage you, as well as the types of work environments which will best suit your personality type.
If you enjoy forging deep bonds with people and desire a stable working environment, then becoming a family nurse practitioner might be the route to pursue. Whereas, if you are a thrill seeker who wants to make a difference across the globe, then find a nursing role which allows you to slot into medical facilities all around the world.
Develop your interpersonal abilities
It might be a cliche, but a good bedside manner really is a prerequisite to being effective in your nursing role.
You will only ever be meeting patients when they are in their hour of need. They may feel vulnerable, sad or even frightened about their condition (or the condition of a loved one), so it is incredibly important to reassure them and help them feel as comfortable as possible.
If you don’t think that you are particularly good in social situations, then firstly, don’t worry. Most people feel that they lack skills in this area. You simply need to accept it, and find a method for improving your interpersonal abilities.
Everything from simply practicing holding eye-contact and making small talk with strangers during your daily life to joining a dedicated social skills workshop can help enormously with building your confidence and, most importantly, a reassuring bedside manner.
Keep in mind that you are not supposed to be the star of your own show as a nurse. You are at your best when you quietly but effectively complete your job, providing assurance to your patients and their loved ones, while being clear and composed when interacting with colleagues.
Approaching your work in this manner will also take a significant amount of pressure off your shoulders because you won’t feel the need to constantly perform for everybody around you.
Keep your eyes open to new skills and opportunities
While you might imagine that remaining open to building skills in new areas, keeping your ear to the ground about new career opportunities and thinking outside the box when it comes to your career progression would be reserved for business-related careers, the same is true in nursing.
The world is constantly changing, and with it brings both fresh opportunities and the risk of unemployment. The attitude you have towards bettering your skillset and adapting to change will define whether you use this unpredictability as an advantage or disadvantage.
This is not to say that you must constantly change the path of your nursing career, only that if you keep improving your ability to do your job, you will become more indispensable (therefore shoring up job security), progress through the ranks faster and even experience a variety of different lifestyles if you choose to take your skills to medical facilities around the world.
To give a quick example, if you want to progress to a leadership role but you feel that you lack the necessary skills to lead a team, then working on this will give you a fighting chance of landing the role in the future.
After all, the better you become at your job, the more people you can help (whether directly or indirectly), the smoother your medical establishment can operate, and the more satisfaction you will take from your work daily.
Figure out your wider life goals
It might sound redundant to consider your wider life goals when trying to become a nurse, but it can be enormously helpful for your development and career success.
As you already know, there are a wide variety of nursing careers on offer, which appeal to different people for different reasons. It is only when you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve in life that you can formulate a plan for your career.
Perhaps you aspire to a certain lifestyle – whether it is to live in a particular neighborhood, own your favorite car or to start a family in the foreseeable future, or to live in a certain part of the world.
Given the enormous opportunities presented by remote work, globalization and the widespread sharing of information between countries, it is now possible to work as a nurse across the globe. Therefore, if you have ever dreamt of ambitious life goals, it has never been easier to achieve them through nursing.
Of course, it will take a great deal of planning to help make this happen, which is why you need to consider these plans from the very beginning. The more time you have to work towards your goals, the greater the chance you have of achieving them.
Naturally, not everyone has precise goals like these in mind, especially if you are only just starting out in your career. There is nothing wrong with this, but you can still take a similar approach by reflecting on your personality, your outlook on life and what you might want to do in the future.
It would be a great shame to close off any potential opportunities before you have even given them a second thought, after all.
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Make sure you can cope well under pressure
Lastly, nursing can be an incredibly intense job, and can literally be a matter of life and death at times. It is natural to feel apprehensive or stressed in these situations, but you should endeavor to keep a cool head as much as possible in trying conditions.
It is your job as a nurse to put these worries to one side in your mind and to remain the coolest head in the room. If you can’t manage this, then you may find it challenging or even impossible to do your job properly.
This might sound harsh, but it is reality. When you have the lives of others in your hands, then you need to be realistic with your ability to cope with pressure.
Although it is difficult to know how you will react until you are in the moment, you can help improve your mental strength under pressure by putting yourself in gradually more stressful situations and working your way slowly out of your comfort zone.
Image Credit: complete guide to becoming a nurse by twenty20.com
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