Nursing
Your skills and the employment market
Having invested four years of your time gaining a
professional qualification and a degree, you can now look
forward to many years building a career that is worthwhile
and well rewarded. Health care in the world is changing and
new roles and new work settings are emerging, providing
nurses with new challenges and career opportunities. “Nurses
must take control of their career and futures in their quest
for self-determination as professionals. Career-resilience is
about flexibility and adaptability, something nurses
understand” (Donner & Wheller 2001)
Prospective employers will be interested in your personal
skills and abilities. Remember that apart from the
professional and technical skills you have gained from a
vocational degree such as yours, you will also have gained
personal communication skills (both written and oral),
analytical and problem-solving skills as well as caring skills.
You will have used all these in a wide variety of care settings
– hospitals, people‟s homes, and the community, with people
of all age groups, cultures and ethnic origin. So you are
already, adaptable and flexible.
The International Council of Nurses (2001) provides career
guidance to the profession in a document entitled, It’s Your
Career – Take Charge: Career Planning and Development.
This document is a training package that provides nurses
with an overview of career planning and development and
suggests a five-phase career planning and development
model. The model includes advice on creating a vision,
developing your career plan and marketing yourself. See
International Council of Nurses Website, www.icn.ch for
more details.
The National Council for the Professional Development of
Nursing and Midwifery in Ireland has introduced a document
entitled Guidelines for Portfolio Development for Nurses and
Midwives. The document will be of assistance to you in
identifying, reflecting upon and recording the contribution
you make to direct and indirect care. It will also help and
encourage you to store records of formal and informal
development in a coherent and structured manner and
provide guidance and information on achieving your
individual professional goals. See the National Council
website for further details, www.ncnm.ie
Possible Career Opportunities
Upon successful completion of the Bachelor of Nursing
Science degree you must register with An Bord Altranais.
You can then explore the career options available.
Nursing is a career offering wonderful opportunities and
challenges. As a nursing graduate a wide range of
employment opportunities will be available to you.
Within hospitals there is a range of nursing posts available
in general and specialist areas, management and
education. New nursing roles are emerging all the time,
from clinical nurse specialist, advanced practitioner,
family nurse, nurse practitioner, telenursing, etc. There is
also a world wide nursing shortage which, according to
the ICN is at crisis level.
Nurses work in a range of settings all over the world,
for example:
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Hospitals and communities
 The Department of Health and Children
 An Bord Altranais
 Health Insurance Agencies
 The International Council of Nurses
 The United Nations
 The World Health Organization
 Voluntary agencies such as Goal and Trocaire
 Health Promotion
 Medical representatives
 Occupational Health nurses in Industry
 Public Health Nurses
 Palliative Care nurses in hospices and community
 GP practices
 Universities
 Unions and Professional Organizations
Note: Further qualifications may be needed for certain
positions. This list is a sample representation of the
areas where nurses work.
Further study opportunities
Deciding on your Career
For certain career choices, employers may look for
candidates with further qualifications and training.
Information on post-registration courses available in Ireland
can be obtained from the Nursing Careers Centre, An Bord
Altranais, 31-32 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2 or at:
www.nursingcareers.ie
Choosing a career involves more than just finding out
what is open to you. Knowledge about yourself is vital to
the process. It is valuable to start by looking at your
strengths, weaknesses, interests, abilities and skills in
order to relate career options to you.
Some of the range of opportunities available in the Centre for
Nursing Studies, NUI, Galway, include:
NUI Galway students and recent graduates can arrange an
appointment with one of our staff, browse through the
careers library.
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There are resources available on our website for help
deciding „what next?‟ including Psychometric Tests at:
www.nuigalway.ie/careers/students/careerinfo.html .
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Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Intensive Care)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Perioperative)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Accident and
Emergency)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Gerontology)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Oncology)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Palliative Care)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Public Health
Nursing)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Orthopaedic
Nursing)
Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Mental Health)
Master of Health Sciences
For those who wish to study something outside Nursing,
there is a vast range of Conversion Courses available
throughout Ireland. In most cases, all you need is a degree.
www.nuigalway.ie/conversion lists those available at NUI
Galway. Some of these include:
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Higher Diploma in Business Studies
Higher Diploma Occupational Health & Hygiene
Higher Diploma / MA Health Promotion
Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
It may also be possible to take a conversion course into
another health related field such as
 Physiotherapy
 Speech & Language Therapy
 Health & Safety
 Dietetics
 Psychology
 Medicine
The website www.postgradireland.com also contains useful
information on postgraduate courses in Ireland,
www.prospects.ac.uk is an excellent site for researching
opportunities in the UK and http://europa.eu.int/ploteus
covers the EU.
Useful Contacts
Centre for Nursing Studies, NUI, Galway
www.nuigalway.ie/cns
Tel: +353 91 524411 Ext 3432 or +353 91 493432 or email:
nursingstudies@nuigalway.ie
Nursing Careers Centre (NCC), An Bord Altranais,
31/32 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2
www.nursingcareers.ie
Tel: + 353 1 6398500 or email: ncc@nursingboard.ie
International Council of Nurses, 3 Place Jean-Marteau
CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland www.icn.ch
Tel: +41 22 908 01 00 or email: inc@inc.ch
Irish Nurses Organisation, 11 Fitzwilliam Place,
Dublin 2 www.nurse2nurse.ie
Tel: + 353 1 664 0615 or email: info@nurse2nurse.ie
National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing
and Midwifery, 6-7 Manor Street Business Park
Manor Street, Dublin 7 www.ncnm.ie
Tel: (01) 8825300 or email: admin@ncnm.ie
Central Applications Office (CAO)
www.cao.ie
Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square, London WIG
ORN. www.rcn.org.uk
Irish Health Boards - searchable jobs page
www.careersinhealthcare.ie
Nursetown – searchable USA website with hospital jobs,
travel nursing, camp nursing and nursing employment
opportunities of all kinds. www.nursetown.com
NHS – jobs pages. www.jobs.nhs.uk
References:
1. Donner, G. & Wheller, M. (2001) It’s Your Career: Take
Charge
Career Planning and Development. International
Council of Nurses. Geneva
2. Government of Ireland (1998) Report of the Commission on
Nursing a Blueprint for the Future. Dublin, Stationary Office.