A Guide to Nursing Careers

Nursing can be an exciting career if you’re looking for a role where no two days are the same. You’ll be directly responsible for improving people’s lives and nursing them back to health. It’s a challenging and rewarding role that is in demand worldwide. Here’s an overview of the roles available and the qualifications you’ll need.

Paediatric Nurse

As a paediatric nurse, you’ll be responsible for the care of children. It’s a challenging role, as young people have specific requirements and development needs. You’ll be in charge of assessing the level of care needed, collecting data, and ensuring that they’re improving.

The most common route is to do a full three-year nursing degree at University; however, you could get your qualifications via an apprenticeship. To succeed in this role, you’ll need good communication skills and be resilient, as you’ll deliver information to doctors, parents, and other hospital staff.

Neonatal Nurse

If you’re interested in working with babies, you should consider a career as a neonatal nurse. In this position, you’ll care for babies born sick or premature and nurse them back to health. There’s a variety of conditions that can affect a newborn, so a broad understanding of these is critical.

To succeed, you’ll need to be flexible, as you’ll be working different types of shifts, observant, and empathetic towards parents during difficult periods. To find a position, you’ll need to be a registered nurse, with many employers asking for knowledge in the neonatal field.

Critical Care Nurse

One of the most challenging fields in nursing is critical care. You’ll be in charge of nursing back to health patients that have recently been in critical conditions. The role is essential to ensuring that patients can return to their lives as best as possible.

You’ll flourish in this role if you are naturally observant, a problem solver, and a good communicator. You’ll need a nursing degree to land a position or get your qualifications via the apprenticeship route.

Orthopaedic practitioner

As an orthopaedic practitioner, you’ll help patients recover as quickly as possible through the proper application of casts and splints. The role also involves applying dressings and removing stitches from wounds.

Unlike the other positions on this list, you don’t need a nursing degree to find a role. Training is offered on the job. Employers usually require GCSEs or a BTEC qualification in healthcare. You’ll need to be a good communicator and have good manual dexterity.

Theatre Nurse

As a theatre nurse, you’ll be responsible for providing aid to doctors and patients during the perioperative period of procedures. For example, you’ll comfort patients during the preoperative phase and inform them of the procedure ahead. During the recovery phase, you’ll perform check-ups and ensure that the patient is recovering.

To work as a theatre nurse, you’ll need to have a degree and be a registered nurse. Later, you could gain extra qualifications and become a surgical care practitioner.

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