EXPLORES THE TRADITIONAL AND NONTRADITIONAL CAREER PATHS FOR NURSING DEGREE-HOLDERS IN INDIA

A Meaningful Career
Nursing as a profession can offer a consequential career, filled with many opportunities, challenges, and rewards. Skilled and registered nurses earn high salaries, work with interesting people, and — perhaps most importantly and significantly affect people’s lives, often even saving their lives. Nursing has got a huge demand in both India and abroad.
Nursing professionals can choose from a variety of exciting career opportunities, depending on their educational background, interests, and desired level of practice. Nursing is nobel profession for administration and taking care of the patient with the help of health care science. It is within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nursing is one of the strongest pillars that the medical profession stands on. Besides comprehensive patient care, a nurse keeps the patient records and operates the medical equipment along with the routine duties.
In India, Kerala and Rajasthan have produced the most numbers of nurses for our society. The Pioneer nurse -“Florence Nightingale” was the founder of modern nursing over the world. Although an age-old profession, nursing gained popularity after the work done by this legendary nurse.


Nursing Career Path
If you are interested in taking up nursing as your profession, then you can begin Nursing Career Path just after clearing Class XII by applying for the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM program)/ General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM program) or B.Sc. Nursing program. For more details check www.indiannursingcouncil.org.
Remarkable Benefits of Nursing as a Career

1. Major Nursing Shortage of Qualified and Trained Nurses in India
As of May 2018, India has only 1.7 nurses available per thousand populations against the WHO recommendation of 2.5 nurses per thousand populations. In other words, the country is short of 2.5 million nurses. The situation is complicated by a declining number of student enrolments and poor educational facilities. Despite of the fact that India churns out the highest number of trained nurses in the world and is also amongst the top 5 exporters of nurses, as per 'The Hindu', "By 2030, India will need 2 million doctors and 6 million nurses"

2.  Enjoy Strong Personal Satisfaction
One of the most appreciated fields in the world is the field of nursing. Nurses are the key linkage between doctors and patients. Most of the times, the patient will interact more with the nurse than the doctor. Many nurses find that this is one of the most personally gratifying fields they can envisage.

3. Work in Many Locations
By becoming a nurse, you can find work just about wherever you like. You may work in a city hospital, nursing college, in the suburbs or in a rural area. You can work in any state and any country in the world. You will find there is nursing work available wherever you go.

4. Enjoy Career Mobility
After you become an RN, you can go in many directions in your career. You might work as a writer, teacher or a researcher. There is no end of options when you become a nurse.

5. Many Nursing Specialties
There is more number of  nursing specialties in which you can earn a special certification. This will certify that you are an expert in that particular speciality. This will often cause you to earn a higher salary and to increase the demand for your services. Details are mentioned below.

6. Work in Many Different Patient Populations
Some of the most common patient populations include paediatric, women, gerontology, pain management, wound and burn management, psychiatric and chemical dependency. If you like to work with a certain type of patient, you can do it as a nurse.

7. Career and Job Opportunities in India
The career opportunities in nursing are very high not only in India but also abroad. With more and more nursing colleges opening up each day, it is a sign of the requirement of skilled and qualified people required for the service. Undoubtedly, this career is not for everyone as it asks for a lot of patience and hard work. Nursing is the right career option for those candidates who have the zeal and interest to serve mankind. The person who believe in the curing of medically ill people and can work in hard condition for long hours may choose nursing as the career for himself/herself.


Nursing Career the need of the hour
The demand for nurses is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the near future since there are national plans to expand the health network as well as a renewed interest by private organizations. Nursing jobs may be found in – Government and private hospitals, Nursing homes, Sanatoriums, Clinics, Creches, Schools, Offices, Factories, Orphanages, Old age homes, NGOs working on health issues.
The top job profiles in the field of nursing are as the following:

# 1. HOSPITAL
Director of Nursing
Nursing Superintendent
DeputyNursingSuperintendent
AssistantNursingSuperintendent
NursingSupervisor
DepartmentSupervisor
Nursing Officer

# 2. NURSING EDUCAION: Nurse educators use their first-hand experience and knowledge of medicine to train up-and-coming nurses. They work with hospitals and universities to design effective educational programs. Some focus on clinical hours for BSN students, while others teach courses at universities or create continuing education programs for practicing professionals. Certain posts created in Nursing Education sectors are
Principal
Vice Principal
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Tutors

#  3. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES: An experienced healthcare worker with a deep understanding of the medical system, these nurses provide insight into how healthcare policy proposals may affect patients. Unlike different nursing specialties, health policy nurses do not treat patients directly. Instead, they work for government organizations and nonprofits to advocate for patients.
District Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nurse
Community Health Nurse (CHN)
Community Health Officer (CHO)
Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)


# 4. OTHERS
Independent Nurse Practitioners
Independent Midwife Practitioners
Nurse Practitioner: Nurse practitioners are advanced practice nurses with prescription writing privileges who can work in as many different specialties as physicians. They may concentrate on specific demographics, diseases, or departments within a hospital. Some serve as primary care practitioners for children or adults. As the need for medical providers grows, nurse practitioners remain in demand.
Specialty Nursing like Hematology, Critical care, cardiovascular etc

Specialty Courses in Nursing
The nursing field has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Many specialty areas also suffer from severe nursing shortages, which stems from a rapidly aging population all over the world that requires more healthcare services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 15% job growth rate for registered nurses through 2026. This demand could edge even higher for some specialities, the most popular of which are listed below.

1. Neonatal Nurse
These professionals assist patients as they give birth and directly afterward. Some of these nurses work on labor and delivery or postpartum units, and monitor both the mothers and the babies in their care. Other neonatal nurses work in neonatal intensive care units, where newborn babies who are premature or ill can receive continuous care.

2. Nurse Midwife
These advanced practice nurses guide patients through pregnancy and delivery, and they are often the primary provider for such clients. Nurse midwife is also one of the most in-demand nursing jobs in the country; the high pay rates reflect this growth, as well as the additional education these professionals receive compared to other registered nurse specialties.

3. Clinical Nurse
Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) is an umbrella term for advanced practice nurses with many different specialties. They sometimes oversee clinical floors to ensure that all nurses use best practices. Unlike other nursing careers at this level, CNS professionals do not need prescription privileges in order to practice.


4. Critical Care Nurse
Critical care nursing is a nursing field that defines itself by the hospital units in which they work. Critical care nurses help patients on critical care floors, which sometimes includes intensive care units and trauma floors. Unlike other nursing specialties, critical care nurses see sharp rises in salary averages throughout their careers.

5. Dialysis Nurse
Patients suffering from kidney failure require regular dialysis to clean their blood. This process requires the attention of specialized nurses. Dialysis nurses assess patients before each procedure, ensure safety during the process, and perform assessments when the dialysis is complete. They may work in hospitals or outpatient dialysis centers.

6. Informatics Nurse
Informatics nurses work at the intersection of and technology. They leverage their knowledge of human health and experience in bedside nursing to determine how emerging technology can help patients. They advise hospitals, practitioners, and companies that develop new healthcare technology. These positions require excellent technical skills, including those that involve big data and networks.

7. Nurse Anesthetist
Nurse anesthetists are advanced practice nurses who must hold master’s degrees in anesthesiology. They administer topical, regional, and general anesthesia as needed, and enjoy the same prescription rights as physicians. Nurse anesthesiology is one of the highest paying nursing specialties.
Hence,  Career in Nursing is a golden opportunity and a highly respected field and today around the globe there is an enormous demand for highly skilled nurses. One can consider the exciting, growing and rewarding field to pursue a career in nursing.


Ms. Axaliya Rajan
Tutor
Career College of Nursing
Bhopal