There’s a Shortage of Registered Nurses
Wherever in world you might live you’ll find nurses, and hospitals only account for about half the positions available. The nursing job outlook has never looked more interesting or diverse and indeed, these days nursing as a profession can be the doorway to the world.
Once you’ve completed your basic training and have been granted a license, you’ll be able to literally look anywhere you want for the perfect position for you. You’ll be able to choose from professions such as health educators, school nurses, first aid providers, consultants and clinicians. Nurses are employed in schools, offices, industry, travel resorts, hospitals, nursing homes, and refugee camps. The lists of opportunities are endless
Perhaps you’d like to travel. You won’t be limited to the United States – as a licensed nurse, you can work in many different places–countries throughout the world are all experiencing nursing shortages. The first step after choosing where you would like to work is to contact the Nurses Board in the state or country you would like to work in. Every Nurses Board has its own criteria for licensing. If you want to travel to another country, there may be special visa requirements that you may have to adhere to. The Nurses Board in your area will be able to advise and help you to gather the required paperwork and understand the requirements.
Searching for work is made easy because of the hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in the USA and overseas. International recruiting agencies are very active in many parts of the world, attempting to encourage nurses to consider overseas hospitals. They often run seminars and workshops that explain the processes involved in receiving licensing in the country they are representing. Many offer special recruitment packages to encourage nurses to move to their country and they include things like free accommodations and attractive tax free salary packages with return air fares to the country of origin.
If hospital based work is not where you see your future in nursing, you can be sure that there will be something available that will suit you. Cruise ships and hotels and resorts employ nurses to provide first aid and industry requires first aid trained nurses. More and more nurses are finding that they can practice in their own businesses as independent nurse consultants in such practices as legal, medical and midwifery consultations.
Current forecasts are suggesting that the worldwide nursing shortage will increase as the older nurses of the “baby boomer” years begin to move closer to retirement. With the aged population growing in numbers, more and more nurses will be required in the aged care sector as well as the acute care nursing sector.
This will create vacancies that are beyond the current ability of nursing schools ability to meet demand. Governments around the world are offering incentives to ex nurses and students and nursing schools to consider entering nursing and re training or changing to nursing degrees to try and meet this predicted shortage.
New nurses sometimes express concern about the limited number of placements available for them and you may wonder about the jobs that are available to new nurses with limited post graduate experience. Experienced nurses often remind new graduates that nursing is only learned by experience, and the jobs that they take after they first graduate will not be the jobs they will stay with throughout their career. Each job is a stepping stone and a learning opportunity for skill development.
New nurses who are willing to take entry level jobs will find their careers advancing and their skill sets developing, and then one job will lead to another. Specialization opportunities will evolve as the new graduate learns the art of nursing, which truly develops once they are out of the training environment and working independently as a member of a health team.
The Nursing job outlook is truly excellent for nurses everywhere. Experienced nurses, new graduates and ex nurses who are reentering the work force all face a future filled with endless potential and job security.