In our house, like many others, September is a time of new beginnings, a time both exciting and anxiety producing. This year is an exceptionally exciting year for us, as our daughter will complete middle school and our son will get his driver's license and begin college searches. Our adorable curly-headed little blond boy has turned into a 6-foot, 185-pound "man-child," and now our challenge is to help him decide on a career path.

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We'd like him to choose a career that he can succeed in and enjoy, that will provide his future family with a comfortable lifestyle, and that doesn't require him to start his adult life with more than $100,000 in debt. Nursing is certainly a viable career choice to consider, with significant returns on investment that far exceed financial rewards.

Nursing provides a wide array of career options with an education price tag to fit most budgets. Off the top of my head I can come up with more than 40 different nursing career options, including traditional acute care nursing in a hospital setting, military nursing, cruise ship nursing, flight nursing, and forensic nursing.

And in the next 10 years, an abundance of nursing positions are expected to be available. In 2007, Auerbach and colleagues predicted a shortage of more 340,000 RNs by 2020.1 So those of us who have children (or have the opportunity to influence young adults) should help them to explore nursing as a profession. Ways to enter the profession vary significantly in cost. Jobs will be available moving into the future. And nursing offers an attractive entry-level salary and job security.1 So our profession has financial security. Each one of us has a responsibility to help to sustain our profession by actively recruiting future nurses.

For those of us already in the profession, continuing our nursing education is key (see Getting educated). These statistics are a reminder that we as nurses need to continue to expand our educational experiences and consider seeking advanced degrees. I hope that the numbers will motivate some of you.

Table. Getting educated

Until the next time: be healthy, be happy, and be great advocates for your patients!!

AnneMarie Palatnik, MSN, RN, APN-BC

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Director of Clinical Learning Center for Learning Virtua Health Mount Laurel, N.J. [email protected]

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