Do you want to become a nurse? Today on the My Career Shop Podcast, I am joined by Dr. Shanna Akers who is an Educational Leader and a Registered Nurse with over 27 years of nursing leadership experience. As a former critical care (cardiac ICU and trauma ICU) nurse who served as the Director of the Cardiovascular Service Line of a two-hospital system and a Professor of Nursing and Nursing School Dean, Dr. Akers seeks to support the authority in creating a robust, diverse health care workforce for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currently serving as the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs for Covenant Journey Academy, Dr. Akers has over 14 years’ experience in higher education serving as an institutional Administrative Dean for Undergraduate Programs and as Dean and Professor for one the largest Schools of Nursing in the nation, where she taught across all program levels, including course like leadership, ethics and policy, nursing education, and programmatic assessment. In this episode, we will discuss Dr. Akers’ journey from high school to becoming a Nurse to going into leadership roles where she focuses on the next generation of nurses. Additionally, she shared with us in great detail how to become a nurse, the advantages and disadvantages of the various routes, stress and work life balance in the nursing profession, types of characteristics you need to succeed as a nurse, the pros and cons about the profession, tips to help you succeed on the NCLEX, in the nursing profession and much more.