Career in Nursing

Nursing is indeed one of the noblest professions in the world. This is one of the few domains of work that is almost totally dominated by women. A nurse is a health care professional, who provides nursing care to patients in a diverse range of healthcare settings, like hospitals, senior citizen care facilities, community health centers, schools, prisons etc.

This profession is filled with endless personal satisfaction and professional rewards. If you choose nursing, you are choosing to spend your life helping others, using skills that blend scientific knowledge with compassion and caring. There are few professions that offer such a rewarding combination of high tech and high touch.

Nursing duties are manifold and cover a wide range of functions and responsibilities that depends on the level of qualification and the working environment. At the initial level, nurses are required for the bedside care of patients, while at senior level they are required to manage special group of people like psychiatric, pediatric, intensive care patients etc that require specialized skills. They are also involved in checking and administering drugs and injections; setting up drips; assisting with tests; keeping records of the patients progress, setting up and operating medical equipment, administration and several other routine chores.  

Nurses focus on the patient's medical needs, and help them address spiritual and emotional issues and anxieties they're experiencing as a result of their condition. They have to deal with all kinds of feelings such as panic, anxiety, anger, powerlessness and guilt.

This field is both mentally and physically demanding and nurses are often exposed to health risks from infectious diseases. As such this profession demands long hours of work and duties. Those who come forward to take up this as a career have to be patient and courageous. The reward for such a hard and selfless line of work is the feeling that you are making a difference.

Qualifications

A large number of institutes in India offer diploma, graduate and postgraduate courses in nursing as well as midwifery courses. B.Sc nursing course provide basic knowledge about nursing, first-aid and midwifery. They are trained in all the theoretical as well as practical aspects of nursing. M Sc. Nursing provides specialized skills and increases ones opportunities in this field.

General Nursing & Midwifery programme is to prepare general nurses who function as members of the health team, to hold first-level positions in both the hospitals and other such places. 

Auxiliary Nurse Midwife/ Health Worker course provides training as to how to take care of health related needs of the people living in rural areas especially children, mothers and old persons. 

Skills

The nursing profession calls for tremendous patience, responsibility and dedication. The job requires alertness of mind, team spirit, tact, compassion etc. One should also be physically fit; for the job involves a lot of hard work. Nurses should have the instinct to help and serve the patient without getting sentimentally attached. Nurses must be able to make decisions in constantly changing circumstances, always remaining aware of the patients' condition. Apart from all these one must have a pleasant smiling face whatever be the situation.

Career Options

Nursing offers a wide range of opportunities for career challenges, travel, professional development and the personal satisfaction of working in a caring profession that helps people to get well or to stay healthy.

Changes in the health care system such as increasing health care services provided to patients at home and in the community, more illness prevention and health promotion, and growth in the elderly population continues to broaden the opportunity for nurses.

They can find employment in Hospitals, Nursing homes, Clinics and Heath Departments, Orphanages and old age homes, Military, Schools, Railways and public sector medical departments and Training Institutes as educators.

Remuneration

Remuneration of nurses depends on the level of seniority reached. Nurses employed by government hospitals receive a monthly salary of Rs 7000 to Rs 10,000. Those working for private hospitals or the military receive a slightly higher remuneration. Private nurses have a fixed daily fee. Midwives receive above 4,000 per month approximately, plus a fixed amount per birth registered.