If you, like many others in today’s world, are interested in pursuing a career as a nurse, you’ve likely felt overwhelmed by the options available to you. From different specialties to different types of educational programs, there are many paths you have available to you today.
However, while many aspiring nurses decide to wing it on their journey to becoming a healthcare professional, this isn’t always the best course. In fact, not having a plan could leave you working in a specialty that you’re not passionate or excited about.
For this reason, it’s vital that you, as an aspiring nurse, have a blueprint before beginning your nursing journey. Looking at ways that this type of planning can help you can make it easier to take the leap and put effort into devising a plan.
Here is the importance of developing a career blueprint before starting nursing school.
Finding Clarity Around Your Perfect Nursing Role
In nursing, there’s no shortage of different types of roles. For some, the movement and fast-paced nature of travel nursing makes for a fulfilling professional life. For others, educating future nurses is a ripe recipe for an enjoyable career.
The truth is, which role is right for you is completely subjective. This being the case, it’s vital to ask yourself key questions, such as those revolving around your personal ambitions and the settings you prefer to work in, before committing to a role.
Once you’ve decided on a specific nursing role to pursue, whether that’s as an FNP or AGACNP, you can reverse engineer your plan to step into this role. This will give you clarity around a number of steps such as what type of educational path to pursue and what type of work experience to gain.
Ultimately, deciding on the nursing role you aspire to is an essential part of your nursing journey. As such, uncovering an answer to this question is a great place to start your nursing career blueprint as an aspiring nurse.
Deciding On an Educational Path
Your path to nursing will undoubtedly begin with education. However, the way you engage in nursing education can look different depending on your specific goals.
With your end-goal nursing career in mind, you’ll be able to better decide what type of program to start in. For instance, if you plan on stepping into a nursing career that requires a master’s degree, you may want to earn a BSN from an institute that also offers master’s programs.
In addition to this, it will likely ultimately be easier to become qualified as a nurse in the state in which you plan on practising. This is because different places may have different rules, such as different states giving nurse practitioners different amounts of autonomy.
In addition, if you’re an experienced RN looking to advance your career or a professional from a different industry pursuing nursing as a second career, your educational path will look different. Instead of having to spend four years obtaining a degree, your prior education and experience may be able to help streamline your educational requirements.
In the end, you should plan your educational path based on the role you want to step into and the place you wish to practice. By doing so, you can help ensure that your journey to becoming a nurse goes as smoothly as possible.
Finding Guidance
While you have the ability to research and plan your career trajectory, the truth is, there’s no real substitute for experience. This being the case, it can be incredibly helpful to reach out to veteran nurses or other professionals in the field for guidance.
These experienced professionals will be able to help you develop an amazing career blueprint that contains the accurate steps you must take to become qualified for your dream nursing role. As such, any aspiring nurse can benefit substantially from eliciting this type of help.
To find these mentors, it can be helpful to do internships and volunteer work at different medical facilities. This will help you connect with a range of qualified and experienced healthcare professionals who can potentially guide you on your journey to becoming a nurse.
In addition, healthcare events can also be a great way to connect with these types of professionals. Given the value of gaining this type of guidance, you, as an aspiring nurse, should make it a point to seek out a healthcare mentor while developing a blueprint for your nursing career.
Career Blueprints are Valuable for All Aspiring Nurses
Though many soon-to-be nurses jump straight into school without giving it a second thought, making a career blueprint can be incredibly beneficial. From providing clarity on career goals to charting out the perfect educational path to take, this type of planning is something all aspiring nurses should do.
Photo Credit
Photo by TopSphere Media on Unsplash
Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren
With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.
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