Things You Need To Do Advance Your Nursing Career
The nursing field is evergreen with growing demand, plenty of opportunities, and job security. Apart from any other careers nursing offers tons of advancement and plenty of various career paths to help you go. Whether you are a new grad Registered Nurse (RN) or a professional RN, setting goals in your journey is a great exercise for those who want to advance their nursing career. Here are some examples for inspiration to set your own nursing career goals.
Have A Plan
To make more stable advancements in your career, you should have to come up with an actionable plan – which means, one must be certain of what they aim to achieve in their profession. Are you intending to stay in the current position or would you like to make genuine progress?
Find answers to these types of questions. And this includes the specialization that you are aiming to pursue together with the healthcare institution that you want to work for. Because if your career plan includes that you want to work at a Magnet hospital you have to prepare for it – like, they require at least a BSN degree. And if your goal is to work in a magnet hospital you may have to advance your degree from RN to BSN.
If you think you don’t have a clear idea of where you want to be in 5 years, you can also seek guidance from a trusted mentor, which could be an experienced healthcare professional, your professor, or a close colleague who has been in the nursing profession for some time.
Build Your Network
Build your network or join professional nursing organizations where you can connect with various nursing professionals from the industry. Also being part of a professional nursing organization such as the American Nurses Association (ANA), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) will look good on your resume and can help you to gain valuable experience from other professionals in the field which may help in career advancement. Nurses who are very keen on advancing their careers should join these organizations to build up their networks. You can utilize these platforms to build up your knowledge and career.
While connecting with other professionals, new grad nurses can be mentored by those with much experience in the healthcare field and get some tips and tricks on how you can do well in the job to advance in your career. You can also follow professional networking organizations on social media like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook to connect with online communities of nurses. And you can build your own professional social media account that highlights your skills, experience, and certifications. Maintain a close connection with them and you can let them know that you are open to new challenges.
Invest In Education
Education is needed in the stage of your career advancement program. Which is an essential factor in a nursing career. Many advanced nursing professions like teaching, leadership, and research require you to have a master’s and doctoral degrees. So, if you’re an RN you should consider advancing your degrees from any reputed college like Laboure College. Moreover, investing in your education can help you to stay ahead of your career when it comes to meeting requirements for certain healthcare, nursing-related jobs. There are several ways to keep up with your career advances and help reach your dream nursing career field or position.
- Subscribe to nursing and medical journals
- Read nursing eBooks
- Participate in nursing webinars
- Be a part of any nursing organizations
- Be a part of nursing conferences
Find Other Opportunities In The Field
Are you currently working in a city hospital? Ever thought about how it would be working in rural hospitals? What about travel nursing? Or working in a nursing home? Every organization or place that you are working for has something to teach you new. If you choose to be a rural nurse you will understand how it is different from other organizations – the patients, your colleagues, quality of healthcare, and how you would be reacting in a critical certain healthcare situation, and so on.
If you choose to be a travel nurse – it will help you to understand how you can enjoy your life and career at a time. You will understand what you have been missing in your life and will help you to understand other possibilities of travel nursing. Besides, travel nursing offers various benefits, especially for those who are hoping to advance their nursing careers. As a travel nurse, it gives you the perfect opportunity to work in multiple locations where you will work with new people and improve your skills and experiences beyond what you would improve when working under a single organization.
Be Professional At Which Stage Are You
Nursing is a professional field, and you should maintain your quality patient care and professionalism throughout time. No matter at what stage you are in your career, behaving in a professional manner is always important. Even if you have just started your career in a lower-level position, you should build your professional manners and maintain it well. Build your interpersonal skills as you grow and present yourself as a well-maintained healthcare professional at all times when on the clock.
A professional nurse should maintain their appearances too. Always make sure that the scrubs you are wearing to work are kept neat and stain-free. You can bring an extra pair of scrubs in case you need them. Having some comfortable scrub jackets will help you to act comfortably. Make sure your shoes are clean and comfortable. Generally speaking, you should not look poorly put together when going to work.
Be A Leader
The people who have reached their top career level did not just follow others – they put their mission and vision to be a leader in the field. They show strong leadership skills and a willingness to take on any challenge that comes in their way. For example, if you are an emergency care nurse you should have known by this time that time is precious.
Your quick thinking and decision making skills play an important role in your patient’s life. Even your colleagues may be confused about what to do, as a leader teach them how to be efficient in those situations. You can volunteer to take extra responsibilities to understand or guide other nurses on how to do certain functionalities.
