Today is National Nurse’s Day!  If there’s a nurse in your life, give him or a her a shout-out and let them know how much you appreciate what they do.

To celebrate, I thought that I would share 5 things that I love about being a nurse {these are in no particular order}:

1. The level of autonomy that is required of you – you need to be self-directed and able to think for yourself in order to be a great nurse.
2. The fact that, quite often, I get to make someone’s day better in a tangible, visible fashion.  It’s very gratifying.
3. That I get to meet so many different types of people from all over the place.
4. That it’s a scientific-minded job.  Most people don’t think that about nursing, and while there are some nurses who get their degree and never look back, most of us are constantly learning and studying.  We get to see research in action, and that’s exciting.
5. The fact that there are so many possibilities as a nurse: clinical care {which is full of possibilities in and of itself based on which area of nursing you prefer}, research + performance improvement {which I happen to love}, teaching, management, legal consulting, government reform, pharmacology, ethics… it goes on and on!

To all of my fellow nurses, thank you so much for what you do!