Nursing During Covid-19 | A Great Time to Become a Nurse

You Can Make a True Difference in the World 

Have you been stuck at home, wishing you could be one of the heroes in this fight to save lives? Have you wished that your efforts to help people extended farther than just your own couch? Now is your time to make an impact not only in the lives of others, but in the entire world by becoming a nurse. As our previous way of life has shuttered to an unexpected stop and everyone is hunkering down at home in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19 this is a great opportunity to consider if a career in nursing might be right for you.

The Nursing Shortage is Increasing by the Minute 

There was already a predicted shortage of nurses, but this pandemic will only increase that need. Some nurses, as The New York Times reported, have already been quitting on-the-spot under the pressure of dire conditions in hard-hit infected areas. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has predicted that there will be a need for 203,700 new RNs each year through 2026, and those numbers will be much higher in the aftermath of this pandemic. Especially if you can enter the nursing field rather quickly, such as if you are near graduating from nursing school, have an RN license but haven’t been working lately, or can take an accelerated nursing program, (if you have a Bachelor’s degree in another field, for instance, you can get a nursing degree as quickly as one year), there will be increased opportunity for higher wages. Many high-need areas are offering sign-on bonuses, for instance, along with OT opportunities. And if you have the ability to do so, staffing nursing agencies are at an all-time high, offering crisis pay, along with sign-on bonuses, quarantine pay, and more stipends for emergency areas. Some staffing nurse agencies allow you to start work as a travel RN right away, and some may even waive minimum requirements for crisis areas if you have recently graduated and don’t have a lot of experience yet.

You Will Always Have Stable Income as a Nurse 

No one quite knows what the aftermath of COVID-19 will be on the economy, but if there’s one job that’s completely recession-proof, it’s nursing. I graduated from nursing school myself in 2008–remember that little time of the worst recession in America since the Great Depression?–and started a nursing job right out of school. Nursing, and really any position in healthcare, will always be in high demand, and entering a program now can ensure that you will be ready to hit the ground running when the need for nurses is at its peak. 

The Future of Nursing Could Include More Telehealth Nursing Opportunities

Hopefully, the aftermath of COVID-19 is that the healthcare system in the U.S. gets a major overhaul, starting with ensuring we have the supplies we need to protect and equip our healthcare professionals. But some health experts are also predicting that this pandemic could also be a catalyst for increased telehealth services in the future — including funding the technology to make it possible, training healthcare staff on how to use it, and increasing consumer confidence and ability to use it.