Nursing is a well-paid, highly stable job. It has an incredible amount of flexibility, stability and career opportunity. Emotionally, nursing can have tough days and demanding tasks. But, it is a career that is constantly positioned to provide valued, meaningful care. Regardless, thinking about starting or changing a career is a difficult decision. You look at the educational commitments, workplace requirements, and probably think on the really hard days built into health care. You ask, “Really, should I be a nurse?”

Nursing can be demanding, but the financial and psychological rewards are indisputable.

Nursing care is so integral to patient wellness that nurses' skills and personality have to align with their work. Yet, there are not enough nursing schools to keep pace with the growing demand for nurses. Nonetheless, quality and fit are essential. So, the right person with the right skills is highly valued. The primary qualification is mental. Do you have the right disposition, fortitude and ambition to be a great nurse in your specialty? 

Don't feel overwhelmed. Realize that answering the question, “Should I be a nurse,” is finding the right kind of nursing that best suits your talents. There are distinct types of nurses, from neonatal nursing to travel nursing. What kind of nurse are you? For people with a lot of fortitude and compassion, ICU, geriatric and hospice nursing are rewarding careers. Patients in these areas are often emotionally in need of a great deal of empathy and care. If you are someone who thrives in high-adrenaline environments and can step up where others fall back, the ER may be a perfect fit. 

The Best Nursing Qualities

You don’t have to decide what kind of nurse you want to be right away. However, across the board there are personality traits that are vital across nursing fields:

• Patience – As a nurse, you are constantly in the crosscurrents of emotions. Doctors and staff may be stressed. Patients may be anxious. Families may be demanding as they struggle through concern or grief. Nurses must be able to keep calm, be understanding and communicate clearly through it all. Being able to patiently and logically step back and not take these emotional tides personally is key. This helps you fulfill your duties and ease situations and people relying on you.
  
  
• Kindness – Do you have a good bedside manner? Alongside patience, kindness is a helpful trait for nurses. You need to have strong working relationships with staff and longer-term patients. While compassion is a great start, kindness influences the way we act on that compassion.
  
  
• Listening – Paying attention on the job is crucial. If you are a telemetry nurse, that may mean that listening to machines and diagnostics takes up the bulk of your listening skills. However, with any patient care, listening to doctors, staff and patients is crucial. Not all patients can or know how to accurately communicate their symptoms or conditions. In addition to observing them closely, listening to patients and their families helps everyone. It allows doctors, who rarely have as much time with patients as you, and staff to accurately diagnose and treat patients.
  
  
• Communicating – Being able to clearly communicate detailed medical information and patient status is essential to fulfilling daily duties. A strong ability with language is also helpful in understanding and explaining complex medical terminologies and situations.
  
  
• Detail Driven – If you are one to skim over large sections or read the final chapter of a book first, you may want to reconsider nursing. A patient’s life could be in the details. You are required to thoroughly read and understand charts, reports, patient files, et cetera. And, you have to pay attention to details in the fulfillment of your duties. If you’re a perioperative nurse, for example, you will need to be sure that nothing is overlooked in equipping and checking an operating room.
  
  
• Reliability – Unlike numerous desk jobs, not showing up or being present at work can have lasting consequences to the people who rely on you. Your contributions are meaningful. With that comes a lot of responsibility. Even with short-term patients, like in an emergency room, your coworkers rely on you being there to help. Nursing can be rigorous, but that means you also get a huge amount of pride of ownership. At the end of the day, you made a contribution helping people. 

Finding the right patient group and field can be key to happiness in a nursing career.

Should I be a Nurse? Here Are the Benefits of Nursing Careers

Workplace Flexibility in Nursing

Nursing allows an enormous variety of workplace flexibility. You may prefer a bustling hospital, a colorful pediatric ward, intimate home environment, or familiarity of a general practice office full of regular patients. Hours and environments vary widely. Many nurses, like travelling nurses and ER nurses, work schedules that allow more time off. They may work a few long days and then have several days off. The patient group also changes with specialization.

• Scheduling – Time off and varying shifts
  Hours and shifts vary in nursing. Depending on the nursing field and workplace, you may have late, early, normal work shifts. In surgeries, scheduling depends on what is on the calendar. In an office, normal 9-5 hours are more likely, In hospitals, you may even work several long days in exchange for more overall whole days off.
  
  
• Work environment – Home, medical offices, care-giving facilities, hospitals, schools
  What your workday looks like depends on both your field and the type of facility. Working as a school nurse means you will have normal school hours and summers off. Hospitals wards each have their own unique characteristics. Or, you may choose to be a personal care nurse, working in the homes of patients.
  
  
• Location - Travel and job mobility
  Travel nurses travel between cities and states working interim contracts or traveling with patients. You may even want to be a cruise ship nurse. Moreover, nursing degrees and credentials can often apply across states. (Check with your program and testing.) Your resume grows wherever you go.
  
  
• Patient groups
  There are general patient groups, especially in hospitals. This exposes you to a wide variety of patients. However, certain wards, workplace locations, and specialties can treat specific types of patients. For example, if you have that paternal soothing quality, the pediatric ICU may be a rewarding way to serve children. Soft spot for the elderly? Nursing homes provide essential care to seniors.
  
  
• Specialization 
  Nursing has a number of fields and within each field are layers of specialization. As healthcare technology advances, so do nursing specializations and career opportunities. For example, robotic surgery has led to specialized robotic surgery nurses. Within oncology nursing, there is a Bone & Marrow Transplant Certified Nurse (BMTCN) exam.

Nursing specializations are evolving with healthcare technology.

Nursing Job Security and Stability

• Job security in the United States
  Nursing is a field that is continuing to grow. There simply are not enough nurses—and will not be. Unemployed nurses are an anomaly. According to a survey by the American Association of Colleges and Nurses (AACN), nursing graduates with at least a BSN have a job offer 57% of the time by the time they graduate. For students who have been out of school for six months, the job offer rate is 88%
  Moreover, as you advance in your career, your value increases with specialization and experience.
  
  
• Secure job places
  Unlike jobs that fluctuate in staffing needs, medical practices rely on nurses. As long as there are people to keep healthy, nurses are needed. In many places, RNs take on many of the duties that used to be handled by doctors. That makes them even more invaluable to medical practices.
  
  
• Skilled labor
  Whether you are a nursing assistant, licensed nurse practitioner, or registered nurse you’ve received training. Not only does that mean replacing you is difficult, but it means that your pay is proportionate to the education and experience you have. Your income and job security are more stable than many jobs with similar education levels.

Continual Growth Opportunities 

• Job growth
  Registered nurses positions are expected to grow 15% by 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  
  
• Career options
  There are endless fields and specializations to tailor your career to your best skills and personality traits.
  
  
• Upward mobility
  There are endless career opportunities for upward mobility. Continuing specializations and experience increases your rank. Ongoing education opens up new managerial and administrative levels. And, there are a number of job opportunities for nurses outside of medical practices, like working with government agencies in social work, policy or public health.
  
  
• Continuing education.
  As an impacted industry, many employers support or fund the continued education of well-performing nurses. There are a number of RN to BSN degree programs that allow hospitals, for example, to help foster the development of their trusted staff.
  Independent of the employer, nurses can independently increase their desirability. 
  • Online nursing programs
  • Accelerated nursing programs
  • Starting as a nursing assistant or LPN and becoming an RN
  • Continued education towards certifications
  • Internships

The Non-monetary Rewards of Nursing 

• Caregiving 
• Faith-reinforcing 
• Relationship fostering
• Everyday accomplishments
• Strength building as you learn to handle emotional situations
• Valued

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10