You're interested in becoming a nurse. How do you get into
field? First of all, you need to assess your basic interest. Why do you want to get into nursing? Are you getting ready to graduate from high school and always wanted to be a nurse? Do you want to go into nursing, because a relative is in profession or your family has a tradition of graduating nurses, and it seems like right thing to do? Nursing seems like a nice secure profession-the pay attracts you? You've always liked helping others and you care a lot?Have you worked in another career field and want a change for various reasons? Does "nursing shortage" make you feel like you need to be a part of "gold rush," because you have read and heard about all of wonderful sign on bonuses? Thorough research still needs to be done, before decision is made to embark upon a nursing career.
There are many resources which provide information on getting into nursing school, studying for and passing boards, getting into new graduate employment programs, summer exploratory programs, etc. But for traditional nursing work (bedside nursing) in a hospital or long term care facility (traditionally known as a nursing home), it really would do some good if you had a reality TV type experience. Reading books and articles exclusively, won't prepare you for what profession is like.
During my first nursing clinical rotation, I knew instantly that I didn't like hospital nursing. However, I loved research, collecting data, writing papers, and so forth. Since I had a science background and had worked in various laboratory settings (e.g., a dairy plant testing milk to biotechnology company testing, human sera, a county environmental health lab testing water sample on a mass spectrophotometer, a food plant testing spaghetti sauce), going into nursing research seemed like a natural progression. The rude awakening: No one ever told me about 5-6 years of med-surg hospital experience needed, before an employer would even look at me. It was not anyone else's responsibility to tell me this. Clearly, lesson is to do all of your homework.
After graduating from nursing school, I combed Internet, help wanted ads, journals, and even enlisted a network of friends to be on lookout for any nurse research employment opportunities. Positions in nursing research were scarce. My diverse science background, along with my Bachelor of Science degree from University of Rochester, weren't a powerful enough combination to hurry me into interviewing seat. Hence, I never landed an interviewing spot for any nursing research positions.
There are simple, invaluable, economically efficient ways to thoroughly research nursing as a profession. Of course, nothing can substitute for actual on job experience. But you are not there yet, and you want to investigate to see if you want to get there. Here a few suggestions to include on your career research things to do list: (1) utilize Internet to fullest, (2) use services of your ISP (Internet Service Provider) such as AOL, MSN, etc., (2) make contact with potential employers in your area, (3) try volunteering, (4) and find student mentors at your local college and university. Start with an open mind before you use any of these resources.
Many prospective students have their specialty title etched in stone. "I want to go into pediatric nursing, because I love children." "I want to work in trauma." Moreover, they don't want to discuss or research anything else. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a vision of which practice area you'd like to specialize in, but it is a good idea to keep door open for other possibilities. The turn over can be high and many nurses change specialty areas for various reasons, from burnout, boredom, needing a change of pace, advancement reasons, to unforeseen circumstances. The good thing about changing specialty areas is your skills are transferable.
Utilizing Internet yields a wealth of information. There are many contacts to be made on Internet. Let's hypothesize, for reference purposes, CRNA (Certified Nurse Anesthetist) will be used as an example specialty area, and hypothetically, you are interested in becoming a CRNA. Keep in mind you have already researched nursing schools, salary ranges, employment outlook, and in addition to becoming a registered nurse you're aware of advanced degree requirement. This part of your research has already been done.
There are many organizations where you can make email contact, or get other contact information from nurse professionals who are retired CRNAs, or those who currently work in field. Go to www.google.com to do a search. Try Google's advanced search feature and type in keywords "email" and "CRNA" without quotes, on first line.
Your first 100 search results will include some email addresses for people who are actually CRNAs. You will find some with university addresses, who may be professors or alumni, company addresses of CRNAs who are employees, and personal email addresses. Select a CRNA's email address from these four different areas: (1) university employed, (2) hospital employed, (3) military employed, (4) and other areas, such as a physician practice group. To narrow your search you may type in "email" & "CRNA" or "military" or "physician practice group" or "retired."
