Nurse
The tasks of a nurse include nursing, pharmacotherapy, carrying out examinations and providing advice, guidance and support. Nurses have many opportunities to work in different tasks in the health care sector, such as specialised care, primary care and home care, outpatient health care, emergency care, school health care, prison care or international tasks. In addition, nurses can find employment in expert, fiduciary and occupational safety and health duties, as trainers, in development, research and organisational work, and in supervisory duties. The profession requires good knowledge and practical skills, interaction skills, stress tolerance and particular precision and care.
Nurses work in hospitals in inpatient wards and outpatient clinics, health clinics, home nursing, old people's homes, rehabilitation institutions and various treatment units in both the public and private sectors.
Nurse competence plays a key role in the patient's comprehensive health and illness care, guidance, prevention of illnesses, and guidance of the patient's family and friends. The nurse's work is highly responsible, and the nurse decides on many matters related to care independently. Nurses must be able to apply extensive theoretical knowledge to practice in the care situation of an individual patient.
In addition to decision-making skills, problem-solving skills are needed. Special care and precision are needed in, for example, pharmacotherapy, monitoring the patient's vital functions (breathing, circulation, level of consciousness) and in the use of various aids and devices.
Ethical perspectives must be taken into account in the nurse's work. The work requires good interaction skills in encounters with different patients and their families and friends as well as cooperation skills in working with other care participants. The nurse must be able to listen to the patient but also communicate clearly and comprehensibly to other people what they have heard.
The work requires the ability to organise and coordinate. Nurses must be able to act flexibly and adapt quickly to changing situations.
Nursing requires both physical and psychological sustainability and good stress tolerance. The work of a nurse is often three-shift work, so the profession often requires adaptation to shift work.
The nurse's work has several possibilities of specialising, which means that the knowledge and skills required in the work also vary within the profession. Continuous continuing education and information acquisition are important as the methods and tools of the sector develop rapidly.
At universities of applied sciences, you can complete a degree of Bachelor of Social Services and Health Care in nursing.
Paramedics, midwives and public health nurses also complete a degree in nursing.
A nurse is a licensed professional. Only licensed professionals can work as nurses. The National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) grants licensing for the profession upon application.
Median salary
3236 €/mo
Private sector
3084 €/mo
Public sector
3274 €/mo
The data is based on the median income, meaning the amount of salary which is the middle of the salary amounts arranged in order of magnitude.
Source: Statistics Finland's structural statistics on wages and salaries