Nursing and Medicine (Part 1)

For a countless number of times, the youth of today think that Nursing is still the BEST course to take. Most students consider nursing as a big ticket towards a better life. Few consider nursing as a calling: a vocation to serve people everywhere. It is true that Nursing is a calling: it is a vocation that is best done without any reservation for monetary gain. Sad to say, because of the lucrative offers nursing beams towards the uninformed, more and more young people, even old ones, join the humongous Nursing bandwagon and spend their money's worth just to strike gold in a profession that is mainly focused on the caring aspect and not the monetary one.

According to national statistics, almost 200,000 nurses are registered. Don't count off the unregistered ones just yet: if you add the unregistered ones (students, retakers, non-takers) then the count might just be near 200k or more. Think about it: the statistics are booming high. A lot of nurses tend to work their hard-earned learning's worth on other ventures: BPO's, fast food chains, HMO's, flight crew, and a lot more. What has happened to the real calling? Only a select few get to enter into legit nursing jobs: staff nurses, private duty, specialty nurses, lecturers, clinical instructors, nurse managers, and much more.

There is only one reason for this: lack of job opportunities.

Nurses usually become successful in their profession because they get to work what they were taught to do: care. When they get to enter a hospital and gain experience, they then start to climb the ladder of success. In time, they would either become promoted or land more lucrative job opportunities elsewhere.

Now they are the lucky ones, lucky enough to serve their profession well.

What about the others?

Yes, there might be others who are successful in their own different way. Some become entrepreneurs, BPO trainers, HMO experts, and other lines of work that deviate from the usual nursing job. You can't blame the unlucky ones: it's really hard to gain luck on various ventures with a course that relies more on nurse-patient relationships.

I don't want to appeal to anyone that they should fight for job opportunities. That is so old school. There are other ways to become successful while still living the profession. I suggest some ways to do it:

1. Take a Master's Degree in Nursing (MAN, MSN)

2. Manage a health care-related business venture (PDN, Paramedical services)

3. Pursue Medicine

Wait!

Pursue MEDICINE?

(to be continued)