So you want to be a nurse.

Congratulations. You've chosen a challenging, but flexible and rewarding profession. Less than half of working nurses actually work in hospitals. The rest do a variety of work including community/public health; school nursing; parish nursing; wellness center nursing; industrial nursing; gerontological nursing in a senior citizen center; research, and academia. Even within hospitals there is an incredible variety of jobs from which to choose: staff nurse in an ICU, an emergency room, or on an inpatient unit such as pediatrics, nursing case manager in a rehabilitation hospital, quality control coordinator, nurse recruiter, nursing shift supervisor, clinical nurse educator, etc. So don't think that you have to do a certain job or that if you don't like your first clinical experience that that's the only thing available. Nursing is huge, and the opportunities are tremendous.

As you've watched the news and read the paper, you know there is a national shortage of nurses. Not only does this translate into more job opportunities, it also means that you will get to help shape the future of nursing. So again, congratulations on selecting an excellent profession.