Why Students Should Consider a Nurse Practitioner Career

Written by  //  2022/09/01  //  Career Planning  //  Comments Off on Why Students Should Consider a Nurse Practitioner Career

Why Students Should Consider a Nurse Practitioner Career

Are you a student looking for a career that’s both personally rewarding and financially stable? In our guide, we’ll explain why students should consider a career as a nurse practitioner, from competitive wages to enriching work with patients.

Rewarding Career

Plenty of professions offer competitive wages, but are you looking for a more enriching and satisfying job than just punching a clock and collecting a paycheck? If you want your career to be about making a difference in people’s lives and helping those who need it, you should consider a nurse practitioner (NP) career.

NPs work directly with patients and provide a holistic approach to medicine. They don’t just treat the injury or illness but provide lifestyle and general health advice. Every day presents new challenges, but NPs get to go home with a feeling of satisfaction knowing they helped someone that day.

Competitive Salary

Of course, you can’t pay rent or buy groceries with just the feeling of satisfaction from helping people! Don’t worry—NPs also earn competitive wages in healthcare, and many earn strong salaries in their first year.

The median salary for an NP is over six figures, and experts predict that number to go up as demand for their services increases. There are also plenty of opportunities for NPs to advance their careers and earn higher positions with even better wages.

In-Demand Profession

NPs occupy a vital role in the healthcare industry, and trends point to their skills and profession becoming even more essential and in demand in the future. Some of the demand comes from the pressures the COVID-19 pandemic put on the healthcare system, but the trends started long before 2019.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted over a 30 percent growth in NP positions from 2016-2026, so there’s no better time to join the profession than now. Hospitals and healthcare facilities will need to fill these open positions fast, resulting in even more competitive wages and added benefits for NPs in the coming years.

Choose Your Specialty Immediately

For some healthcare professions, you must cut your teeth in general healthcare for a couple of years before moving on to your chosen specialty. But as an NP, you can select the specialty you want to work in as you’re applying for NP schools, so you can jump into the environment of your choice upon graduation.

There are many specialties (also called “population foci”) for NPs to choose from, including:

  • Pediatric care
  • Adult-gerontology (age-related illnesses)
  • Family care
  • Cardiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Emergency care
  • Women’s health
  • And more

Whatever focus of medicine interests you as an NP, you can get started in your chosen specialty on day one.

Complete School Quickly

If you’re worried about adding more years of schooling and student debt, one of the benefits of NP school is that you can get it done quickly and start earning. For some nursing professions, you must attain a registered nurse certification before advancing further.

But there are direct-entry NP programs that students can enter even if their degree is in a non-nursing field. And, if you go to NP school full-time, you can graduate and start working in less than two years.

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