20+ Pros and Cons of Being a Nurse (Explained)

A nurse practitioner is a healthcare professional that offers a range of primary, acute, and specialty care services, either alongside a doctor or alone. They play a larger role as primary care providers in rural and remote areas.

The roles of nurse practitioners and physicians have a lot of overlap. The focus of nurse practitioners is on promoting the health and well-being of the whole person and preventing diseases.

Advantages of Being a Nurse Practitioner	Disadvantages of Being a Nurse Practitioner
Nurse practitioners can make decent money	Feeling Undervalued
Prosperous job security	Dealing with Difficult Patients
Respected and trusted profession	Wading across the Red Tape
A challenging career	Coping with the Emotional and Physical Strain
Enjoying Hidden Perks	Lengthy education path
Flexibility in work hours	Variability of working hours
	Working conditions
	Workplace stress

Advantages of being a Nurse Practitioner

Nurse practitioners can make decent money

A nurse practitioner earns a decent living which allows them to afford all comforts that they have desired. Their salary usually varies depending on the setup they are working in.

They do not have to worry about struggling with basic expenses like paying rent and other expenses as they will earn more than the money required for them.

Most other people working in other professions will face these problems. Moreover, after gaining the experience of a few years, one may even earn income in the hundred thousand as a nurse practitioner.

Thus an advantage of pursuing a profession of a nurse practitioner is that they can make a handsome living from what they are doing.

Prosperous job security

A benefit of being a nurse practitioner is that they will have a very good job security. In turn, there is an acute shortage of certified nurse practitioners in most regions of our world.

And if one is really good in what they are pursuing, they may attain just about freedom of choice for which doctor’s office or what hospital they want to work for.

Consequently, not only will their job prospects be quite good right now, but they will also be excellent in the future as the average life span will increase, raising the average age of people.

The older people get, the more exposed they will become to infections and diseases. The expected increase in jobs of nurse practitioners is estimated to grow 28% by 2025.

Respected and trusted profession

Since ancient times, the profession of nursing has been recognized as one of the most trusted and valued professions.

Nurse practitioners during the course of their careers will become a champion for their patients and be influencing so many people’s lives. This is not surprising as this wearing profession requires a good deal of knowledge and compassion.

A challenging career

The different areas in which nurses get assigned to every single day can make their job a challenging, diverse, and interesting nature.

The common areas include labor and delivery, as well as the surgery and intensive care unit. Because of these reasons, they have to encounter various types of patients as they treat different diseases.

These factors make this profession very exciting as every day is a unique experience. One will observe that every day will be different for a nurse practitioner.

One will regularly be applying and learning things they learned in the day-to-day happenings they will be encountering.

Enjoying Hidden Perks

Nurses usually have many advantages like handmade thank you cards or presents from children or intangible things, like a warm hug from family members of patients. The duration of being a nurse is much more than that of a doctor.

The patients and their near and dear express their feelings by simply thanking or presenting some token of their appreciation in form of a gift.

Flexibility in work hours

Nurses have a very close bonding with each other. They usually help and accommodate each other. Though some people may believe the different schedules of a nurse practitioner are a determent, many often find the rotation an advantage to their own life.

Disadvantages of being a Nurse Practitioner

Feeling Undervalued

Even though nursing is one of the most respected, loved, and trusted professions, a nurse practitioner is one of the most marginalized and undervalued workers in the healthcare sector. Now a day nurses are highly skilled and educated.

The sector itself needs acknowledgment for its extraordinary business acumen and leadership skills.

People tend to believe that a nurse practitioner cannot do anything without the guidance of a doctor. However, in absence of a doctor, a nurse practitioner takes care of the entire care of patients assigned to them.

Dealing with Difficult Patients

Nurse practitioners are the face and front soldiers of the health care sector. They are first and foremost to bear burnt too.

Getting underappreciated by patients and their families is a great disadvantage. Not all patients outwardly appreciate or want nurse practitioners’ dedication and help to their health.

Few patients are nice to deal with, but most others are not, and working with unpleasant or difficult patients and their families are the reality every day they have to face in the nursing profession.

Wading across the Red Tape

Healthcare insurance companies and regulations craving to reduce their all expenditures can add an enormous amount of red tape which physicians and nurses must wade through to serve patient care.

Dealing with the procedural and administrative standout, whether from government or business reasons not related to caring, usually limits what nurses can do as their best.

Coping with the Emotional and Physical Strain

An average day is stressful and overwhelming on an emotional and a physical level. Sometimes one may lose a patient they have bonded with and it can take a major toll on them.

A lot of people get treated at a hospital and not every patient gets discharged out of the hospital alive, and seeing someone’s death, acknowledging there is nothing left one can do, maybe one of the hardest things one must endure as a nurse.

Moreover, physical demands are also challenging requiring one to carry, lift, pull or push heavy or equipment patients. There is a lot of physical strain and may lead a nurse practitioner to develop fatigue or swollen muscles.

Lengthy education path

The educational requirement for becoming a nurse practitioner is very lengthy. One will first have to complete a bachelor’s in nursing as the first step to becoming nurse practitioner.

One will then require gaining a doctoral or master’s degree in nursing. Completing either a doctoral or master’s degree in nursing will need an additional two to three years of education after one has completed their coursework.

Variability of working hours

There is no traditional Monday, thru, Friday, 9-5 schedule for nurse practitioners. Working hours may vary; one can work 10-12-hour days, weekends, holidays, and nights.

Schedule of work can create problems for those nurse practitioners who have to look after their children and family.

Working conditions

Nurse practitioners’ working conditions are challenging. One has to deal with different types of patients and for this, you have to be careful about your health, so that you should not get infected when taking care of the patients.

To work in a healthcare facility setting, one may be exposed to toxins and pathogens. This may place health at risk.

Workplace stress

Every job gives some stress, but as a nurse practitioner one may get lots of stressful situations. Stress can come from any side; either it may come from the environment where you work or from the reality that you are responsible for a patient’s treatment plan.