A Nursing Pitch

When I decided to become a nurse, several factors influenced my decision. I will address the philosophical, existential factors at another time. Here I would like to discuss the practical factors.

First, no one will get rich being a nurse, but nurses make very respectable living wages. My full-time job provides me about $45,000 per year, and in this small town, that puts me on-par with teachers, plumbers, and even some university professors. I own my home, I have a Subaru, and I take frequent vacations.

Second, when I decided to give up college teaching, I wanted to remain in my small town. Since the university is the largest employer, however, I would either have to remain there or find another decent job that would allow me to keep my home and support my family. So I did some research.

I discovered that not only was there a nursing shortage in the United States (as well as worldwide) but that rural America was disproportionately affected by this shortage. Apparently, urban and suburban areas with large hospitals and complex health care networks took the lion's share of the available nursing population. Since I wanted to live in Smalltown, America, I was almost guaranteed a job if I became a nurse.

Third, the aforementioned nursing shortage also nearly guarantees me a job wherever I chose to work. Given increases in the "old age" population and the crossover into middle age and beyond of the largest surge in United States population, the baby boomers, more and more people require and demand medical care, including nursing services.

FYI: For a look at statistics and opportunities, check out:

http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm#outlook

Fourth, and this fact near and dear to my heart, I work full-time but I work 12 hour shifts, not uncommon in the nursing profession. As a 12-hour shift employee, full-time is considered 3 shifts per week. What this amounts to is 12 shifts (therefore, 12 days) per month and 144 shifts (144 days) per year if I don't take vacation. The average 8 hour, five day a week worker puts in about 260 days per year. In short, I have over 200 days off per year, whereas the aforementioned average worker has only 105 days off. For someone who loves his work but also loves the variety of other activities in his life, nursing was definitely the way to go for me.

But those are just the practical aspects of choosing nursing as a career. Life is not always or sometimes even primarily about being practical. Stay-tuned for a discussion of the other reasons I became a nurse.