While the very first nurse practitioner school was established five decades ago, the career has been deemed high in-demand and essential ever since. As a result of this career’s high in-demand nature, many individuals who feel passionate about healthcare are wondering whether a career as a nurse practitioner is the best choice. To help you make an informed decision, we have listed the top reasons to choose this lucrative career.

Ongoing Intellectual Growth And Challenge

Not everyone is cut out for a ‘dead-end’ career that offers no or minimal growth. If you consider yourself ambitious in terms of career growth, pursuing a career as a nurse practitioner might be the best choice for you. Working as a nurse entails so much more than picking out the best men’s or women’s under scrub shirts, as you will find an intellectual challenge every day. What’s more, the intellectual challenge begins when applying to relevant educational institutes and will continue right throughout your career.

A Great Place To Start

Some individuals who pursue careers in healthcare feel it is best to start with an education in their specific chosen career. However, you can start your educational growth with nurse practitioner training and use your qualifications to leverage growth towards becoming a general practitioner, a surgeon, and various other careers in the healthcare sector. Your learnings will serve as stepping stones to get you to where you want to be. Because our ambitions can change over time, if you are not entirely sure where you want to be in five to ten years, starting as a nurse practitioner can be considered a sensible way to get your foot in the door and navigate the industry.

Prescription Authority

Nurse practitioners don’t just assist doctors and surgeons as they often run clinics and prescribe medications and treatments as these professionals do have prescriptive authority. You will be able to prescribe controlled substances such as Adderall, Xanax, and several others. Therefore, the career offers a sense of authority as a notable benefit as well.

An Affordable Start

It’s no secret that some lucrative careers can be unreachable for some simply because education costs are out of reach. If your start point in the healthcare sector is to pursue an education as a neurologist, the costs may set you back and act as a hurdle that could even hold you back indefinitely while you pay off student loan debts. On the other hand, the educational costs of pursuing a career as a nurse practitioner are notably more affordable as obtaining qualifications are shorter. At the same time, the cost itself is also lower.

Ample Opportunities

Once you have obtained the necessary qualifications and education to start working as a nurse practitioner, a world of great opportunities will open for you. Nurse practitioners can work as home health aides within hospital environments, clinic settings, elderly care facilities, and even rehabilitation centers. Therefore, a nurse practitioner career will give you ample opportunities to forge the right path for you.