Nursing is, overall, a sound profession to enter. Job security is not only high, but it’s also something of a given — the demand for nurses in the coming years is set to rocket, which means there’s great potential for a long career and the corresponding high wages. On top of that, job satisfaction is generally high.
There aren’t too many jobs that make such an obvious and direct positive influence on other people’s lives as nursing. However, it would be wrong to suggest that nursing is nothing but good moments. It’s not — there are plenty of downsides too.
We take a look at some of the issues that nurses face below. Make sure you check them out and take them on board if you’re thinking about becoming a nurse yourself.
Long Hours
Nursing is not so much a profession as it is a lifestyle. They work long hours, often twelve hours at a time, and not always at the period each day. Some days, mornings, others afternoon, others night. It’s a twenty-four role, during which you work a set number of hours.
As such, tiredness is common, as is a lack of social life. On the flip side, the intensity of the job means that work colleague bonds are much stronger than the bonds between your average office workers. They can become a family that picks each other up and make the job more enjoyable.
Long-Term Employment Issues
Because of the importance and sensitive nature of the work, nurses are subject to more rules and guidelines than most workers. So while the overall job security for nurses is high, it’s on the condition that they follow the many rules. If they don’t, they run the risk of losing their job. Nursing license suspensions can be given for any number of reasons, including unethical conduct — which means doing things that aren’t illegal, just unsavory in some way. Walking this tightrope can be difficult over multiple years. It is possible to appeal should the license be revoked, however.
Increased Pressure
The standards of medicine are rising all the time. Even over the past couple of decades, we’ve seen giant leaps forward in the world of healthcare. But these strides forward come at a cost, sometimes financially (to the patients) and sometimes in terms of pressure (for the nurses).
The current trend in the medical world is to improve the patient experience, which usually falls on the nurses to provide. While many nurses already treat their patients extremely well, the pressure to do so with every patient brings with it an additional layer of stress. Elsewhere, pressure can be heaped on younger nurses by experienced staff — it’s a baptism of fire, but one that does cause many new nurses to rethink their decision.
Occupational Hazards
Finally, it’s worth remembering the world that nurses live in — it’s one of illness, disease, and other things that most humans don’t have to deal with on a daily basis. If they don’t have a release from this world, they can face burnout.
