If you’re in the process of choosing your career, you will want to select work that you love. As the saying goes, when you have a job that you love, you never work a day in your life. Perhaps one of the main goals that you have for your career is to do work that helps others and makes a difference. If that sounds like you, there are plenty of reasons to consider becoming a nurse practitioner. Not only are family nurse practitioners becoming more and more vital to the healthcare system, but they also enjoy excellent demand, job security, salary opportunities, and rewarding work.
Here are six great reasons to consider pursuing a career as a nurse practitioner.
Career Advancement
Over the past few years, there has been a growing need for good nurse practitioners, which has provided an increasing number of opportunities both inside and outside of clinical settings. Today’s nurses pave the way for both medical and nursing research that’s crucial to the growth of the modern medical industry. Nurse practitioners are often important members of various medical corporations, working to advocate for patients and improve the standard and quality of healthcare across the board. These DNP FNP programs are an ideal choice for nurses who want to advance their career and work in a role with more responsibility and autonomy.
Personal Satisfaction and Fulfilment
Becoming a nurse practitioner is no easy task, but the work is also highly stimulating. Nurse practitioners tend to be people who are very intellectual, can think on their feet and have a passion for learning new things. And while becoming and working as a nurse practitioner can be quite challenging, the rewards are certainly worth it. As a family nurse practitioner, you will get to play an active role in improving the overall health of your patients, ensuring that they get the right treatment and providing them with the support and care that they need to live long healthy and fulfilling lives. If helping others is your calling, there’s no better career option to make this a reality than working as a nurse practitioner.
Career Stability
For as long as humans exist, there are always going to be people who are in need of medical attention because they are hurt or sick. Unlike many other careers today that are ceasing to be in demand or even exist altogether due to technological advances, you can be sure of the longevity of working in the medical field. Nurses and nurse practitioners play a huge part in the expansion of medical professionals, and there is likely to be even more nurse practitioner roles to be filled over the long term.
New Opportunities
Any advanced education will provide you with better opportunities, but with an advanced degree in nursing, there are countless new career opportunities to consider. Getting an FNP degree not only qualifies you to work as a family nurse practitioner but you can also consider various ways to pivot your career, including becoming a nurse educator or nurse consultant, with several options available for nurses who are considering moving away from the clinical setting. With the right nursing degree, there is always going to be work available wherever you go, and you are not limited when it comes to the work that you do.
Financial Stability
Nurses already enjoy a generous salary, and moving up the ranks to the role of the family nurse practitioner can increase your earnings even further. The average annual salary for nurse practitioners in 2019 was $112,000 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, once qualified as a family nurse practitioner, there are even further opportunities to advance your career and earn a higher salary. As a nurse practitioner, you can count on never being without work or a steady income.
Variety
Getting a nurse practitioner certification allows you to consider a variety of specialties. Family nurse practitioners often work in a general practice office, but there are also many roles within hospitals and other clinical settings that you might consider. You can also choose to pivot your career to focus more heavily on one aspect of healthcare over the others, such as women’s health or treating patients with a certain condition. As a family nurse practitioner, your work options are endless and there’s a lot of choices when it comes to what you want to do with your career.
Flexible Schooling Options
The idea of taking time out of their career to pursue full-time study might be off-putting for some nurses who want to pursue a career as a family nurse practitioner. But the good news is that today, this is not always required. If you need to continue working while you study, there are various flexible schooling options to choose from. Online degree programs have made it easier than ever for nurses to become family nurse practitioners by studying from home and on their own time, allowing them to continue working and upholding their other commitments as normal.
Continue Working as a Nurse
Many advancement opportunities for nurses take them away from the bedside and into an office, but this is not true of a career as a family nurse practitioner. Job flexibility is one of the best aspects of this work, and while there are options to go into non-clinical settings, if you enjoy the clinical, hands-on and patient-centered aspect of nursing, you can certainly continue to do this once qualified as a family nurse practitioner. In addition, you can also continue working shifts as an RN for an agency if you would like to continue gaining experience in other fields while working as a family nurse practitioner.
Independent Practice
Depending on the state where you work, many nurse practitioners can practice independently with no need for a physician supervisor. This provides family nurse practitioners with much more job autonomy and gives them the option to open their own practice and take responsibility for patient care decisions.
If you’re looking for a rewarding, exciting, and stable job in healthcare, there are plenty of reasons to become a family nurse practitioner.
