Becoming A Nurse
If you are interested in joining the nursing profession, a little research and understanding are necessary to help you on your path. The American Nursing Association website has tools to help guide you in your quest. It discusses nursing prerequisites as well as gives other information necessary to understand how to become a nurse.
But becoming a nurse is not just about the path. To become a nurse, one should have a passion about the field. I teach at a college that has a high-quality nursing program. Students who get into this program will receive an Associate’s degree in Nursing and will be a Registered Nurse (RN). This program is one that students flock to from all over the state even over some of the Bachelor’s degree programs.
I have had many of the soon-to-be nursing students in my classes and have been allowed to see their passion. These individuals want to be nurses to help people. This, I think, should be the first step in anyone’s path to becoming a nurse. One should not want to do study nursing just because there is a shortage of nurses thus an abundance of job opportunities, nor should one want to become a nurse just because the pay is good. The most important of the prerequisites for nursing is the desire to help.
Becoming a nurse does offer a variety of options to help including midwifery. Midwives provide primary care to women throughout their entire lives. The American College of Nurse-Midwives describes the profession and provides information about the education programs for those interested in midwifery. This branch of nursing provides another option for those interested in the nursing profession.
A third option is to become a nurse practitioner. A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has additional education and training in a specified field such as family health, women’s health, geriatric health, et cetera. A nurse practitioner typically has a Master’s degree in the field as well as further board certification. Nurse practitioners can perform many of the same tasks as doctors, but with less schooling. They cannot do everything a doctor can, but they can do much of it.
For nurses who want to continue their experiences, become a midwife or a nurse practitioner provides ample opportunities for advancement. The passion that drove them to become a nurse can further their career in these two ways.
Becoming a nurse opens one’s life up to many experiences. It allows individuals to help and heal. To become a nurse, one must have passion, love, and kindness. One must want to help others.
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About Rayshell Clapper
Rayshell E. Clapper is an Associate Professor of English at a rural college in Oklahoma where she teaches Creative Writing, Literature, and Composition classes. She has presented her original fiction and non-fiction at several conferences and events including: Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Howlers and Yawpers Creativity Symposium, Southwest/Texas Pop Culture Association/American Culture Association Regional Conference, and Pop Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference. Her publications include Cybersoleil Journal, Sugar Mule Literary Magazine, Red Dirt Anthology, Originals, and Oklahoma English Journal. Beyond her written works, she successfully created a writer's group in rural Oklahoma to support burgeoning writers. The written word is her passion, and all she experiences inspires that passion. She hopes to help inspire others through her words.