10 Benefits to Pursuing a Career in Nursing
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For many, nursing is a challenging, fulfilling, reliable career option. The profession offers many benefits to people who enjoy helping others, although like other careers there are advantages and disadvantages.
Nurse burnout and similar challenges are part of reality for many nursing professionals. But for most, the pros of a career in nursing outweigh the cons.
Here we outline 10 key benefits to a career in nursing. While they may not be for everybody, nursing careers offer a raft of potential advantages for people with the right goals and skills.
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Benefits to Pursuing a Career in Nursing
1. Excellent Security, Salary, and Benefits
Nurses are always in demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 6% growth rate among registered nurses (RN) between 2022-2032 — about twice the national average.
Further, the nation is experiencing an extended nursing shortage. While this poses ongoing challenges for patients and providers alike, one silver lining is that nursing jobs are relatively plentiful.
Nurses also receive a competitive salary. According to the most recent BLS data, the average annual salary for RNs is $94,480, which surpasses the median annual salary for all occupations.
Additionally, nurses — particularly the most qualified — are sometimes offered significant benefits packages and other incentives. Benefits can include:
- Paid sick time
- Paid vacation and holidays
- Health and life insurance
- Tuition reimbursement
- Wellness programs
- Paid family leave
- Retirement benefits
- Reimbursement for certification fees
- Childcare
2. Flexible Schedule
Nursing positions often have flexible hours and scheduling. This can be an added benefit for parents and guardians. A nurse may have the option of 8-, 10-, or 12-hour shifts depending on the employer. Working 10- or 12-hour shifts typically decreases the number of days you work each week.
Nurses can also work side gigs for extra income and experience. A few other examples include:
- School nurses often have two months off each summer, which coincides with the school schedule.
- Travel nurses can pick assignments based on location and the shift offered.
- Homecare nurses normally work during business hours and only some weekends.
- Community health nurses work weekdays during business hours.
Flexibility is key in the healthcare field. Although nurses may need to be flexible on occasion to work overtime or float to another floor, the job also offers flexible scheduling opportunities.
Some small hospital units also offer self-scheduling. This gives the nurse a greater sense of autonomy and control, improving a nurse’s sense of well-being.
3. Rewarding Career Path
Another reason to choose a nursing career is it can provide a great deal of personal fulfillment. Nurses make a difference in the lives of their patients every day. Your knowledge and education also make a difference in the lives of your friends and family.
In a 2023 Gallup poll, nurses retained the top ethics rating among a long list of professions, with 79% of U.S. adults giving nurses “very high” or “high” ratings on honesty and ethics.
4. Opportunity for Advancement
A career in nursing offers many opportunities for advancement and the option to work in different fields. Armed with your nursing degree and advanced education, you can move into a managerial or an advanced-practice position.
Some nurses progress in their careers by earning specialized nurse certifications, making them more attractive to employers and raising their potential salaries. Others choose to move out of the clinical field into administrative positions where they can make an impact on the profession or the institution.
The opportunity to advance offers nurses new challenges, higher salaries, and greater job satisfaction. In pursuit of new job roles, nurses have the option of moving to new areas of the U.S. or even other countries.
5. Several Ways to Become a Nurse
One of the pros of nursing is the many ways you can enter the workforce. There are three common routes you can take to become an RN.
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Although it does not qualify graduates to beocome RNs, the LPN degree is the quickest way to enter the nursing field. The degree takes one year to complete, including up to 750 clinical hours. According to the BLS, LPNs earn an average annual wage of $60,790 and can work in various kinds of healthcare facilities. Many employers, however, prefer nurses with more extensive training, such as the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree.
Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN)
Typically, the fastest option for becoming an RN is to complete an ADN, which takes about two years on average. Have an LPN or ADN and looking to advance your education? Bridge programs make it easy, helping you move your career and skillset forward.
ADN-to-MSN Bridge Program
An ADN nurse may also bypass completing their BSN and earn their master of science in nursing (MSN) degree through an ADN-to-MSN bridge program. These programs allow you to complete the education needed for an advanced practice RN role or move into nurse leader or administrative role.
Bridge programs help you apply your existing education and skills to a new educational program. Many programs are fully online, which may help candidates continue to work while completing their education.
6. Learn Transferable Career Skills
Nurses pick up a host of clinical and “soft” skills that they can transfer to different professions, including as part of a nurse career change.
For example, nurses are experienced in calming agitated patients. This level of communication is rare and valued by many employers.
Nurses must also be excellent time managers and know how to work effectively in teams. This is a necessary skill for employees in large companies and beyond.
Finally, nurses must have strong critical-thinking skills. They must consider recommendations or evaluate orders written by physicians for their patients. Asking “what if” questions and analyzing the possible outcomes help nurses reach informed decisions.
7. Freedom to Pursue Your Specialty
Tthere is a need for nurses across the care delivery system, including in labor and delivery, geriatrics, and emergency care, to name a few. Nurse administrators and nurse educators also are in short supply.
Simply put, no matter which speciality interests you, there is a good chance that specialty may be in need of nurses.
It doesn’t happen overnight, of course. Nursing students learn foundational skills, which are enhanced by on-the-job training and experience. If a given specialty no longer feels like a fit, nurses are typically able to change specialties without going back to school.
Do your research on the specialty and get some hands-on experience. Ask to shadow a nurse, or try networking with nurses in your field or workplace.
If the switch you are making is a drastic change, such as public health to cardiology, you may need additional education. This can involve a day-long workshop or a more in-depth nursing certification course.
Learn More About Herzing University’s Nursing Programs
8. Travel Opportunities
Becoming an RN gives you a unique opportunity to travel. Travel nurses are in demand as they help fill gaps in nursing shortage areas. As a result, travel nurses earn competitive salaries.
Travel nurses often live away from home for weeks or months at a time. On the other hand, they may gain fulfilling life experiences as a result of traveling.
The best choice for you will depend on your unique goals and situation.
9. Change Your Job but Not Your Career
Nurses can work in a variety of settings outside the familiar hospital or doctor’s office setting. This may be one way to address burnout or pursue a new professional calling.
Just a few of the possibilities include:
- School Nurse: Nurses are needed in school systems, colleges, and universities.
- Correctional Nurse: If you are interested in criminal justice, prisons and jails also have nurses to help care for inmates.
- Home Health Nurse: Since there is a growing aging population who want to stay home, the need for homecare nurses who can ensure that people are safe in their homes is rising.
- Forensic Nurse: Forensic nurses work with the court system to collect evidence.
- Holistic Nurse: Holistic nurses generally take a “whole body” approach to health care, which takes into account considering the mind and spirit as well as the body, , as well as their social environment and spiritual beliefs, often incorporating complementary and alternative therapies.
Other possibilities include nurse researcher, informatics nurse, and legal nurse consultant, among many others.
10. Simple Wardrobe
It may not be the first benefit on anyone’s list, and it may not be glamorous, but the tried-and-true nursing work uniform provides a deceptive benefit. You don’t have to think about what you’re wearing to work. You don’t spend hundreds of dollars on new clothes every season, and your profession demands that you wear comfortable shoes.
You can wear the same color scrubs every day, and no one will make fun of you. In fact, everyone wears essentially the same nurse uniform, which is cost-effective and washes easily. The most expensive piece of clothing you’ll buy for work may be your shoes. Nurses should invest in footwear, as many nurses routinely walk several miles in a single 12-hour shift.
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