My career after my profession: why nurses can become better entrepreneurs.

I was half as excited as an auditionee who gets a golden buzzer on American or British got talent when I attained admission to read Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University Of Cape Coast. In my first year, second semester, I had the opportunity to listen to debates over the topic: Nursing as a calling or as a profession. Many viewpoints brought on enormous information that magnified my knowledge on the topic. 

Nonetheless, whether nursing is actually a calling or a profession, the question is- how sustainable is nursing now or how relevant will nursing be few decades from now when automation and AI (artificial intelligence) forms of nurses have been manufactured to take over the job market? - I shall allow you to do the imaginative calculation of how many nurses will be displace of their jobs some decades from now.

The job market and the world at large is evolving at a pace which mid- level and senior level employees with masters, PhD, doctorate and many years of working experiences are struggling awfully to keep their jobs. This should enlighten you that the profession you pursue today may become irrelevant tomorrow if you fail to take plans B, C, and even Z towards packaging yourself adequately for the future.

It is in this regard I write to remind and entreat we all as nurses that the nursing profession should not be a limitation to our potentials and successes which we could chop to attain a sustainable life in this fast evolving world and the unforseen future.

It is no secret that nurses learn a great deal of skills and gain tremendous experience on the job. The nursing skills coupled with quality background education predispose the nurse to many entrepreneurial opportunities. However, the leap from the field of healthcare to entrepreneurship has become a huge task that scares many nurses from taking a bold jump to become self-made entrepreneurs.

The fascinating aspect of this abrupt transition from being a nurse to an entrepreneur or being both a nurse and an entrepreneur at the same time is that - You do not have to entirely reinvent yourself to become an entrepreneur thereby quitting the nursing profession. Thus all you have to do is to combine your body and mind, and transfer the skills and experience you have learnt as nurse to the entrepreneurship world.

A lot of things learnt through nursing are transferable into other aspects of life especially entrepreneurship. In my third year, second semester of nursing education, I got the chance to take an hour and half entrepreneurship class for ten weeks. Over the past weeks of my entrepreneurship lectures, I observed that the skills I have acquired as a student nurse are beneficial to my wide range of business careers that I have pen down before entering the university.

One key lesson I have learnt which applies far beyond the ward and walls of the hospital during my internal and external clinical internships is to be an excellent planner and good prioritizer when it comes to handling of tasks pertaining to patient care. In this regard, I believe that nursing like business, requires excellent planning skills and great ability to prioritize goals and issues appropriately to meet the needs of the patients in your care.

All nurses who work in various hospitals are not simply passionate, ambitious and capable rather they possess unique and professional variety of entrepreneurial skills and characteristics that can easily be transferred into any form of business. This means that it is very easy for the nurse to become an entrepreneur than what most people perceive. Below are highlighted few catch entrepreneurial skills and characteristics that all nurses possess.

1. Endurance.

Every trained nurse has physical strength, mental strength and the will power to undertake tasks on their feet for approximately twelve to fourteen hours per day over weeks. The ability to be on the feet most part of the day to take care of patients is a typical sign of endurance which is a key characteristic of all entrepreneurs who desire to be successful. Hence, this makes it a lot easier for the nurse to transfer such characteristics into any form of desired business choice and face the challenges that comes with it thereafter.

2. Customer service.

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills which the business world refer to as customer service is the framework for proper implementation of the nursing care. The nurse’s daily interaction with patients and other healthcare professionals requires excellent communication and great interpersonal skills. These skills are the key medium through which all entrepreneurs interact effectively with their colleague entrepreneurs, staff, and customers. Hence, an excellent customer service is the driving force for all businesses which is largely demonstrated by nurses
 
3. Organizational skills.

The ability to form, coordinate and maintain team is an indispensable strength of all nurses. Although coordinating patients care together with a large variety of healthcare discipline may seem to be a challenging task, nurses love what they do thus they have the ability to bring together all the necessary healthcare professional that a patient might need to promote good health and recovery. Nursing, like business requires adequate organizational skills to ensure effective management of all aspects of business.

4. Result-oriented.

In nursing, like in business the desire to achieve results is relentless. Hence, taking shortcuts may have very serious implication that might cost the life of a patients or render your patients handicap. The need for thorough planning and paying keen attention to details throughout the nursing process is the driving force to achieving results that benefit the patient, the nurse and the healthcare facility. This unique skills can equally be transferred into any form of business since all business require proper planning and implementation to achieve results as well as gain profit.

5. Time management.

I use to think that a typical nurse work shift consisted of taking over the ward, completing assigned tasks and taking a sit at the nurses station to await the next handing over. With my first internal clinical internship, I am glad to have learnt that this is entirely is not the case. Well, any nurse can tell you that working in the ward, OPD and the ICU just to mention few department of the hospital is a wane and flux of priorities within a given working period, where the only thing to be anticipated is the unforeseen within a work shift. Hence, it is never enough to just take over a ward, perform assigned tasks and get MIA -missing in action- on your patients and the team during a work shift.  In this regard, accurate time keeping serves as pivot in planning, setting priorities, implementing care, taking records and evaluating patients care. Hence, the ability to manage time appropriately to meet patients needs can as well be transferred to the business world to manage all aspects of businesses as a nurse entrepreneur.

Well, many may argue that having countless requisite entrepreneurial skills as a nurse may not be adequate to become a successful entrepreneur. I somewhat agree because, possessing all the necessary entrepreneurial skills and characteristics without the desire to become an entrepreneur is a mathematical result of Cos 90. Likewise possessing the burning desire to become an entrepreneur without the necessary entrepreneurial skills. Therefore there is the need for proper motivation and mentorship to serve as a booster and guidance to become a successful business person. This is because, a step into the journey of entrepreneurship comes with many challenges, benefits and worthy lessons that will hit you top, right, left and bottom on the face if you lack the appropriate guidance and motivation.

In this regard, I believe that nurses can make become better business people rather than being locked up in their routine world of ward rounds and patients care among others. So what is my advice for nurses seeking to become entrepreneurs?  My advice is simple:

• You should be aware that the career world is changing hence the need to properly package yourself as a professional has become a necessity which you must work hard to build else you might be cut off.

• You should be proud that you are a nurse or at least you had the opportunity to obtain your first degree in nursing which has endowed you with endless skills and experience that has made you a dynamic and resilient professional individual.

• Treat your business like nursing - since all nurses are well equipped to enter into the entrepreneur world, what is most needed is to develop a desire to become an entrepreneur, know what you want, stay focus and follow your passion, be discipline and be aware that fear and failure may come. However, when they do come, you should be ready to embrace them, knock them off and move on to strive for success.

All the best.

By: Samuel Edem Cofie.