Although in the past, many nurses have retired by the age of 60, now, many more people are working for much longer. If you want to boost your career in nursing and compete with younger candidates and recent graduates, this guide will help you to understand some of the best ways that you can rejuvenate your nursing career past your 40’s, and into your 50’s.
Study for an Online Nursing Qualification
Studying for a new nursing qualification is the first step that you need to take when considering aiming for a promotion or gaining new responsibilities as you age. This will show that you are prepared and willing to continue learning and keep up with the most recent nursing practices throughout your career. This can also help to give you new skills, show employers that you are ready to learn new things, and help to keep you updated with developments in the medical world.
Online degrees are the best option for older workers as this gives you the opportunity to study for a qualification alongside performing your usual job role. HBU offers online pediatric nurse practitioner programs that give you all the skills that you need to further your knowledge and even take on leadership roles that you have previously been overlooked for.
Change Your Specialism
You may also consider specializing in a sector that you have not previously been involved in, such as becoming a pediatrician. This will give you new challenges and opportunities for advancement by growing your skillset. Nursing is one of the most popular professions for older people, and it has an aging workforce, leading to a current shortage of nurses in the healthcare profession.
Many older people are choosing to stop performing basic nurse roles and turning towards different specialisms and roles such as home care and midwifery. To do this, you may have to take specialist degrees and training courses or shadow another member of staff which can help to expand your knowledge.
Take a Sabbatical
If you want to look into different roles in the nursing sector and what you can do to boost your career, you should consider taking a sabbatical, which is often offered to nurses and allows you to take an extended period of time away from your current role to conduct research or follow another opportunity. You can use this sabbatical to shadow or transfer to another department, volunteer or go on a placement with another medical practice, or perform your own research.
Make Connections
You can also find new career opportunities as a nurse by making connections and networking. This can be internal, such as using your appraisal to discuss new opportunities and progression, or external, by joining different organizations who can help to aid your career progression and alert you to opportunities. If you wanted to change your place of work, you could also visit a nursing recruitment open day at your local trust where you can get the latest information about hear about opportunities.
Keep up With New Technology Technology is constantly changing medical care and, as we get older, it can be more difficult to keep track of the latest developments and how they work. Due to opinions that older nurses are being replaced by younger graduates, as a medical professional, it is important that you conduct research into new developments in renowned and reliable medical journals. This will ensure that you can give the best care to your patients and help you to boost your career by showing your knowledge of modern medicine.
