Career Choices – Nurse

Becoming a nurse is highly rewarding, giving you the opportunity to provide a valuable service to the community. They provide valuable support to, and work under the direction of, the doctor. They are highly skilled medical professionals who save lives on a daily basis.

There are many ways you can specialise as a nurse, for example children’s nurse, theatre nurse or renal care nurse. However, you need to start with general nursing and then specialise at a later date. A good start may be to get some first aid training with St John’s ambulance or the Red Cross so you can decide if you are comfortable around blood and gore, as this will be an essential part of your role.

There is currently not a requirement for formal education to become a nurse. However, training is longer if you do not have qualifications. At the basic entry level you will have to be able to show that you are competent in both literacy and numeracy; these skills will be tested as part of the application process.

This will put you on a pre-registration course, which is the lowest starting point. However, if you are able to obtain at least 5 GCSEs at grades ‘C’ and above, you can bypass this stage and apply directly for the Diploma in Higher Education level of entry; add some good A-level passes to that and you can go straight onto the degree in nursing.