How to become a Registered Nurse

Becoming a registered nurse is a very rewarding career path to take. Nursing involves day to day medical care and aiding the wellbeing of hospital patients, as well as being a source of support to those undergoing treatment.

Registered nurses work with medical professionals, such as doctors and surgeons, to give patients medical treatment. They may work in private and public hospitals, GP surgeries, clinics or on an outpatient basis, visiting patients in their homes. 

Being a nurse typically involves tasks such as: 

• Administering medical treatment to patients that has been prescribed to them by a doctor. This could be in a hospital ward, or giving injections or other treatment in surgeries or clinics. 
• Communicating with doctors about patient’s needs and wishes.
• Consulting patients before they see a doctor in a hospital or other practice.
• General care in hospital wards.
• Helping patients with emotional needs.

Those who are on this career path should have a caring temperament and really want to help people. Nonetheless, they also need to be resilient as the job can be very emotionally taxing. 

Most people’s steps to becoming an registered nurse start with tertiary education in nursing. It is quite common to do these degrees as mature students, as many people switch careers to nursing later in life. Some governments offer extra funding for nurse students, because professionals in the field are widely in demand.

Registered nurses generally choose a specialism in fields like: mental health, child nursing, palliative care or hospital nursing. The training for each specialism differs, as does the pay. Being a nurse means working long hours and often doing shift work at unsociable times. It is famous for being an exhausting role, but many people in this position are, rightly, very proud of what they do.