A hundred years ago nurses did not always happen into the profession by choice.  The book of medicine as we follow it shows us that 90 years ago, it was expected that most mothers would perform the nursing functions for their entire family. They were expected to have a rudimentary understanding of how to care for their family if they became ill or injured and to care for them long enough until a doctor could arrive.

Professional nurses, did not always enter into the career by choice.  Treated as much as a servant almost as opposed to a medical professional or care giver.

Today, things have changed dramatically.  Nurses often find themselves in very lucrative and respectable careers.  The times have changed a great deal and its no longer uncommon for men to take up careers as nurses.  There are many types of degrees and even more importantly specialties that nurses can track into within school.

With all of the specialties available from nursing anesthesiologists, to nurse mid-wives that can prescribe medicine, to LPN’s and RPN’s and much more, its very important for people considering a future in nursing to look closely at themselves and determine not only if nursing is a good fit, but why nursing might be a good fit and then what area of nursing to study and pursue for a career.

There is a huge demand for nurses all across the country.  Pay scales for different specialties in nursing vary widely.  If money is important its important to understand that the difference in starting pay for nurses with specialties can be as wide as $120,000 per year (that’s the amount of the difference between starting salaries of $150,000 per year versus $30,000 per year!).  Choosing the right path for financial reasons can definitely be important up front.

If the degree of responsibility is important, or if a certain degree of autonomy is desirable then its important to consider certain specialties that might provide the right fit for these types of personalities that are predisposed to responsibility and autonomy.

Then if you are looking to ask yourself where to start, its also important to consider what learning environments work for you and how you learn certain subjects in those environments.  As an example, I can study history online easily, but I took a statistics course online once and was miserably lost for several weeks.  I had to repeat the course in a real class and it was much easier.  I went on to get my master’s online and soon realized that some classes require hands on instruction in a classroom and some are best suited for online study.  The subject matter comes into play, the professor’s styles and organization levels come into play and much more.  Online learning can be a massive relief for people that have inflexible schedules, but it does not mean that you will spend less time working. 

This is a highly demanding career path both physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Some people are naturals and some people are not naturals at all but through perseverance and very hard work become extremely capable and skilled.  You have to ask yourself if this is a fit for you, why its a fit, how its a fit, what you can do to be successful in nursing and what you will need to do to be successful in obtaining your nursing degrees and certifications.

Good luck, based on my own studies online and through my examination of this book, I can tell you that learning to be nurse today is much easier, much more rewarding, and at the same time much more challenging and possibly more dynamic!