Online Nursing Degree: Even if you’re not completely sure what it is a nurse does, you’ll know what a nurse is. You might have needed a nurse’s help for yourself or a family member in the past, or perhaps you know someone who is a nurse. On the other hand, maybe you’re just aware of how important they are and how much they do for people.

However, for those who are truly dedicated and interested in finding out more about this career and perhaps becoming a nurse themselves, it can be a rewarding experience. You’ll start to understand just what kind of job they do and why it’s so crucial. You’ll see how demanding and rewarding it really is. However, You’ll also discover what personality traits and skills are needed to become the very best nurse possible.

It’s only when you actually start training to be a nurse that you’ll get the truest insight, of course. Until then, no matter how much work you do and how much research you put in, you’ll never get to the heart of what a nurse is all about. To do this, you’ll have to have a nursing degree. The good news is that nursing degrees are more readily available today than ever before, and if this is the route of study you want to go down no matter what age you are or stage of life you have reached, you can, mainly thanks to online learning.  With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at exactly why you might want to start studying to become a nurse and what advantages this career path will bring you.

Nursing Is Rewarding And Fulfilling

Think of your own experience with nurses. How do you feel about them? If you’re like most people, you’ll have a deep level of respect for these men and women who work so hard and do so much. This is what it’s like all over the world; people respect and cherish nurses.

A nurse will have a variety of different roles to fill within their job description. Most of these falls under the banner of patient care, and will involve dealing with medication, helping with hygiene, administering treatment, and offering support to both patients and their friends and families should it be needed. At the very least, a nurse will be a friendly face in a potentially upsetting moment in someone’s life.

Because of all of this, there is a definite sense of reward and fulfillment for nurses. When you are a nurse, you will be able to see first-hand and instantly that the work you are doing is worth something, and that it’s helping people. On top of this sense of being able to make a difference in people’s lives, you’ll also be able to learn so much more about yourself and the world in general; you’ll form bonds, you’ll talk, and you’ll get to know everyone’s personal stories. There isn’t a lot that is much more fulfilling than that in terms of a career.

Job Security And Stability

Nurses are needed everywhere. This is an important point for any prospective nurse to note. Once you have obtained your degree, you should be able to find a job without any problems. This is something that hardly any other profession can boast about, but it’s true when it comes to nursing. Nurses are needed in the majority of healthcare settings (and some settings that you might not think of as needed a nurse, such as a prison or a school or sports stadium), and with patient care being such a high priority, there will usually be open positions.

This means that not only will it be relatively easy to find a job once you have qualified as a nurse (bear in mind, of course, that the hospital you were planning to work in might not have any vacancies, and although jobs are plentiful, you may have to compromise when it comes to exactly where you work or in which department – unless you have specialist training, that is), but once you have a job, you are likely to find that it is stable and safe. This means you won’t have to worry about losing your position, losing your salary, and having to start all over again; you can simply concentrate on being the best nurse you can possibly be, and that means you’ll be more dedicated, more loyal, and happier every time you go to work.

Job security is something that can easily be overlooked when you’re thinking about the positives of a career, but when it comes to it, it’s actually hugely important and can make a huge difference in someone’s performance. Nursing is one of the very few careers that can offer this kind of security; after all, the world will always need nurses.

You Can Travel

We’ve mentioned above how you might need to look further afield when it comes to finding a job just because your local hospital might not have any open positions when you’re applying. However, it should be noted that this means you might also want to look at working as a nurse in another country. Nurses are needed everywhere, which means they are needed in pretty much every country around the world.

Once you have your nursing degree, you are free – subject to any travel restrictions and visa requirements, of course – to work anywhere you want to. If you feel your knowledge and talents would be put to better use in a different country, then you can apply for jobs abroad. If you love to travel and want to make a difference in the world, you can even move on every few months or years and go elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that there will be a job for you when you arrive (although it’s best to apply before you go, to be safe).

Travel is something that broadens the mind and is good for the soul, and it’s something that many people want to do. The problem is, because of the career they have, they are unable to travel very much. Nurses don’t have this problem; they can travel as much as they like and continue to work and make money at the same time.

Medical Knowledge Is Useful Outside Of Work

You’ll study hard at school, whether you choose online or offline, and you’ll gain your degree in nursing. Perhaps you’ll go on to specialize and become an ER nurse or a burns unit nurse, or maybe you want to work with children or old people. Whatever the case, you’ll get those qualifications, and then you’ll go on to be a crucial and well-respected part of the medical and healthcare community.

Yet, there is more that can be gained from a nursing degree than this. It may sound obvious, but as well as putting your vast medical knowledge to good use in the workplace, you’ll also be able to use it in your day-to-day life, if necessary. Sometimes things can go wrong, accidents can happen, and having the skills and experience of a good nurse can make all the difference to the outcome of one of these accidents and problems. It’s a great privilege to be the one who knows how to help people in a meaningful way.

Nurses will know how to:

• Perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which can be life-saving
• Help someone who has fainted
• Dress a wound
• Deal with an asthma attack
• Help with a panic attack
• Assist with an epileptic fit

Plus, so much more. Of course, you’ll always hope that you won’t have to put these skills to any use outside of the workplace, as it means that someone is hurt if you do need to do this, but if you can do it and it’s needed, it could save a life, or at least make a painful, frightening situation less terrible. This isn’t necessarily a reason to study for an online nursing degree on its own, but when you add it to the rest of the plus points, it certainly is important to remember.

Every Day Is Different

Some jobs are extremely boring. You have to do the same thing every single day, with little to no chance of any variety of excitement. For some, this is exactly what they want. There is no room in their life for any spontaneity or uncertainty. They like to know exactly what work they’re doing, and they like to know where they will be when they do it.

This is not how everyone thinks, however. Some people prefer life to be a little different, with changes each day and even during each day. They like to have to think quickly, something in emergency situations, and they like not knowing quite what they will be doing when they go into work at the beginning of each shift.

If that sounds like you, then nursing would match your requirements. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict what a nurse’s day is going to be like – from the beginning to the end of each shift, anything can happen. The busiest area of work is the ER, followed by OR and intensive care. However, every department in every healthcare setting has the potential to be fast-paced and bring in its own emergencies, so a nurse must be ready for anything.

Nursing Degrees Are Open To All

In the past, a nursing degree meant having to find a school to attend and traveling to that school. Whether you went every day from home to attend classes or you moved away to be closer to the school itself, this meant that some people were just not able to study for a nursing degree; they couldn’t afford college, or they had responsibilities at home that meant they couldn’t attend classes in a school that was a long way from home, for example.

However, online nursing degrees mean that anyone can study nursing now and do so from the comfort of their own home, wherever they are. Plus, they can graduate relatively quickly if they select the right course. Full-time, intensive online courses, like from Elmhurst University, will mean that in under two years, you can graduate with a nursing degree. There is a short in-person requirement in Illinois, but in comparison to going in every day, being able to learn online in your own home is the perfect solution for those that are unable to travel as frequently.

Top Tip: If you choose a full-time course compared to a part-time one, you will want to take a break from working. Although the course is online, it requires hard work and dedication and does not leave enough time to work. The bonus, of course, is that you graduate quicker.

There are many benefits to learning online, and if you want to be a nurse and you would otherwise not have been able to study – or even if a physical school is possible but you prefer to study by yourself – then looking online is the ideal option.

So Many Options

You might not have considered just how many options are open to you if you choose to study an online degree in nursing and want to get into the healthcare field when you are hunting for the right career. However, when you do start to look at all the different potential avenues you could go down, you’ll realize there are dozens of different branches of nursing to consider.

Some examples include:

• Midwifery
• Anesthesia
• Mental health
• Pediatric
• Adult
• Emergency

As well as this, nurses have a lot of potential progress in their careers. Of course, they will all start at the same level – RN – but as time goes on, if they want to progress, they can achieve this through gaining experience, getting additional qualifications, and showing their superiors that they have what it takes.

If you are ambitious and you also want to help people, then nursing could be ideal for you. Since there are online courses to apply for, you can become a nurse at any stage of your life, whether you’ve only just left high school or you’re about to retire from a career you’ve had for decades.