Many people tend to do different jobs before they settle on a career that they like and feel satisfied with. They are some few individuals who are lucky enough to fall in love with the first jobs they acquire. Once they have developed an interest in these jobs, they build their careers around them. Every job is unique in its way. This means that a job has its requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, and descriptions which make it unique from the other jobs. Also, many jobs share some similarities. It is, therefore, possible to compare and contrast two jobs. I have had a privilege of doing two different jobs; nursing and teaching. These are two jobs with different description and requirements but share some similarities. Some of the similarities between nursing and teaching jobs include: They both require some level of education to gain the required knowledge and skills, they both involve directly relating to subjects and clients, and both nurses and teachers are educators. Some differences include working hours, job conditions, and average payment.
Similarities
Both nursing and teaching are knowledge-based jobs that one can only do after attaining some basic level of education in the respective field. To be a nurse, one must first go to a nursing college to learn about the basic principles and standards of practice. There are many nursing colleges in the country offering undergraduate and post-graduate nursing education. No one can be allowed to provide nursing care without getting the right education. On top of the college-based education, nurses are required to gain some skills and levels of experience. Experience is gained by practicing using real patients or through simulations and observing how experienced nurses practice. The final step is to pass board examinations and acquire renewable license to practice as a nurse.
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Just like nursing, teaching also has a level of education that one has to attain to be allowed to teach. There are different levels of teaching beginning from elementary schools to teaching post-graduate students. Each level has a basic-level of education one must attain to be licensed as a teacher. I began as a high school teacher before I developed an interest in nursing. The basic knowledge was a bachelor’s degree. Both nursing and teaching careers provide development opportunities through further education. A registered nurse has the opportunity to become an advanced-practice nurse. A teacher also has the opportunity to specialize and teach in higher learning institutions.
Both nursing and teaching jobs involve dealing with people from all walks of life. They require some good communication and interrelation skills to be effective. The role of a nurse is to provide care to patients within and outside healthcare organizations. In their day-to-day practice, nurses meet different types of patients who need help. Some patients might be easy to deal with, while others require special skills to handle for better health outcomes. Nurses are required to work in teams and collaborate with other healthcare professionals and the patients’ families to develop effective care plans.
Teaching also involves helping students to acquire knowledge and skills. Teachers are involved in students’ life right from the time children get into the elementary school to graduate level. Teachers also meet with different kinds of student, some of which may require special skills to handle. Some of the skills required by teachers and nurses include good communication and listening skills. To be effective, both jobs require teamwork and collaboration. They also have to work within established systems of their organizations to succeed. Schools and hospitals have basic procedures and guidelines which control the daily operations.
Both teachers and nurses are educators. Both careers involve transferring acquired knowledge to other people to make them or their conditions better than they were initially. Teaching job involves more than going to class to teach students. Teachers also have the roles of caregiving and advocacy, among others. Teaching can be formal or informal. Formal education is done in school setups where students are organized in classes and different grades. Each class or grade has its objectives and performance level that the students must achieve to go to the next level. The teachers’ performance is determined by the grades scored by his/her students.
Nurses are also educators. Just like in teaching, there is formal and informal education in nursing. Informal education involves having nursing students and junior nurses observe how senior members of staff practice to gain experience. Formally, nursing educators practice in nursing colleges to impart nursing knowledge and skills on the students. Nurses also educate patients on their health conditions and how they can participate in the treatment process to make their health conditions improve. Finally, nursing educators educate other nurses on various practice issues, including implementation of evidence-based practice by translating nursing research results into daily nursing practice.
Differences between the two jobs
Teaching and nursing practice have different working hours. Generally, nurses work for more hours than teachers. Nursing schedules run throughout the year without any break. Nurses might get some periodic leaves, but that means that other nurses will have to cover for them during those periods. Teachers, on the other hand, work based on schedules academic year calendars and school-based schedules. The academic calendars include academic holidays when the students are on holiday. Also, teaching schedules runs only during the day time and on weekdays. Nurses sometimes work at night and during weekends.
Both teaching and nursing have their challenges in terms of job conditions. However, nurses face more challenging conditions than teachers. Nurses deal with patients with different conditions and personalities daily. Some patients might be very difficult to deal with due to continuously changing demands. Sometimes, nurses have to watch their patients get worse or even die, an experience which is not pleasant. Teaching also has its job challenges. However, teachers have better ways of dealing with difficult situations because there are rules and regulations which guide the students’ conduct. It is not easy to control patients’ behavior using regulations because most of them are people who can hardly control their behaviors.
Nursing and teaching are two jobs with different job outlook and payment levels. Before deciding on a career path to pursue in college, availability of job opportunities, and the expected pay are some of the main factors to consider. Nursing opportunities continue to increase every year. According to BSL, registered nursing jobs are expected to increase by more than 20% in five years while teaching jobs will increase by about 10%. However, nurses earn relatively lower than teachers. Pay per hours earned by teachers is more than what nurses earn per hour.
Conclusion
Having worked both as a teacher and a nurse, I understand some of the similarities and differences the two jobs have. In both jobs, clients are involved and must be dealt with in the best way possible to achieve positive results. Nurses and teachers need good and specialized education, knowledge, and other social skills to relate with the clients and subjects. These jobs differ in terms of job conditions as nurses have to withstand some difficult patients and longer working hours than the teachers. Nurses also earn lower pay per hour than nurses whose jobs involve scheduled holidays and vacations. Nevertheless, each of the jobs has its advantages and advantages. It is upon an individual to use his/her career goals to find the most suitable job.
