Nursing is a flexible, exciting, interesting and also prudent career option. You can have a career in healthcare with a reliable income and the chance to make a difference, without spending your life in medical school. As a nurse, you can work directly with the patients and have an impact on people’s lives.
What a Nurse Does
In the UK, there are different branches of nursing, including adult, child, mental health, and learning disabilities. Each of these requires certain special skills and capacities, so when you train you will have to think about the area where you want to focus. Choosing the adult branch means taking on the most general, as it involves adults of all ages whose ailments are primarily physical. To focus on child nursing means you would work with children of all ages, and be most knowledgeable about the needs of paediatric patients. The mental health branch specializes in psychological issues, and a nurse who works in learning disabilities will be focused on cognitive and developmental concerns.
There are also other components of a career as a nurse that can be particular to your path, such as working with the disabled, imprisoned, or homebound. Such aspects are not classified as separate branches of nursing but rather are understood as a special skill you can offer.
Qualifying As a Nurse
Becoming a nurse is possible in a few different ways. If you want to get your feet wet first, one option is to become involved with the NHS through different types of work, like being a healthcare assistant or carer. These kinds of support roles will not pay as well, but can provide a sense of the everyday experience of being part of a medical staff. Certain components of the work can be learned on the job, and if it’s clear that nursing is the direction you want to go, additional courses can fill in the rest.
However, the other route is to qualify straight out of university via nursing courses since the necessary classes can be taken before you join a team at all. If you are already sure you are committed to the career of nursing, you can gain the higher medical knowledge necessary first, and feel out the day-to-day aspects of the job with your nursing degree in hand. Either way, you can earn the nursing degree focused toward any of the specialties.
What Does A Nurse Earn?
A career in nursing is not only very rewarding, but it is work that promises a comfortable income with a lot of room for growth. Nursing jobs are paid Band 5 through Band 8, so there is a fairly wide range of possibilities. The opening salary is about £21,000, and from there a nurse can go on to earn as much as three or four times as much. Nursing is an active, engaging career with broad possibilities, as well as a sensible choice.
Jonathan is a keen health industry blogger, who has written about subjects including nusing courses, professional development and other industry news.
