Can You Be a Nurse at 17 or Not?

Unfortunately, you cannot become a nurse at the age of 17 in the United States.

There are a few reasons for this, but it’s generally seen that you are too young regardless of your potential.

Can you be a nurse at 17?

The US has a lot of laws preventing child labor for professions like nursing.

The concern is that it will force children into labor and these companies that have minors as employees in companies will exploit them.

Of course, minors in high school can work certain low-skill jobs but even that is hard to come by. Even if they wanted them to, you’re not allowed to actually work in these programs until your 17.

This means at the very least, you would have to be at least 20 before becoming a nurse.

You need 3 years full of education and training before you can get a job.

Generally, that’s not much time, but it won’t let you get a job in the nursing field at 17 years of age.

This is a job where you are working to improve the lives of real people and 17-year-olds just aren’t ready for that kind of responsibility.

See also: Responsibility of a Nurse

Although letting them get these jobs would help to improve the money they would make, most of them wouldn’t last too long in the job.

This doesn’t mean that they can be assistants or do internships to get more experience.

Pin me on Pinterest!

Can you be a nurse at 17 in the UK?

17 years olds can be nurses in certain parts of the United Kingdom, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

First of all, this program is really only available to people who live in Scotland.

Even then, you can only start the job when you’re 17 and a half years old.

This means that you have to start preparing even before you turn 17.

Make sure you are ready to enroll in some kind of training program before you turn 17. Then, you need to train so that you have the necessary skills to be a nurse in 6 months.

Compared to a lot of people in the medical field, that probably feels like no time at all, but it can feel long for a person like that is currently in high school.

When you actually go into the more advanced programs, they will give you paid training so that you have nothing else to focus on.

Generally, in the UK these are seen as apprenticeships.

You also have to be quite the academic if you want to get into these programs.

English is a given, seen where the country is located, but the true challenge is the other things the programs expect you to be good at.

Math is really hard for a lot of people and not a lot of people are able to do well in Calculus.

Science can be pretty complicated as well if you don’t know the formulas for certain elements on the periodic table.

How to become a nurse at 17?

First of all, you need to accept that you won’t be able to become a nurse in every country.

The United States is arguably the biggest country that won’t allow you to become a nurse at 17.

But this could also be because certain countries need the people to work at younger ages and make it legal because of that.

This doesn’t apply in every country, but you can do this in a lot of Asian countries if they desperately need nurses to work in the hospital.

Sometimes, very bad events happen, and there isn’t enough staff to take care of everyone but it’s very rare.

Getting hired at 17 is very hard for any job.

The easiest way to work as a nurse during the time you’re 17 is to just know someone who happens to work in the industry.

That way, they can trust, have some leeway with the inevitable mistakes you’re going to make, and give you what you want the most.

Even in the UK where there are programs made for 17-year-olds, you can really only do it in Scotland.

Not that many people live in Scotland and becoming a nurse isn’t the most common job that people in Scotland want to take.

It’s a great opportunity for a young high school to get their foot in the door of the medical industry, but not everyone’s going to be able to do it.

Even in those times when you find programs, you have to be ready to dedicate most of your life to them.

What is truly important is improving the lives of those who you want to take care of the most.

Conclusion: Can you be a nurse at 17?

Perhaps in this day and age, there should be more jobs and programs made for that 17-year-old who desperately wants to be a nurse.

Calling it child labor would be a bit of a stretch.

They are people who aren’t fully adults yet, but they can still do things like go to other countries on trips as well as get a driver’s license.

A 17-year-old is going to want some kind of financial independence and they only get more eager as they get older.

Perhaps, the law should ease up on certain restrictions because they need to realize they’re holding these ladies and men back.

These programs aren’t for everyone, but they also need to realize not many people are going to use them in the first place.

If you do live in an area that will let you become a nurse at 17, realize how big of an advantage that is.

This means you’re getting a head start on your portfolio by a couple of years which will help you get better positions a lot earlier.

The employer will be very impressed with what you’ve been able to accomplish with your life in such a short time and is more likely to promote you when it becomes time for that.

In fact, you might be the first option when it comes to many things in the hospital.

Now you should know whether can you be a nurse at 17 or not.

Related articles of ours:

• Can You Be a Nurse With Dyslexia?
• Can You Be a Nurse If You Have Herpes?
• Can You Be a Nurse With Hep C?
• Can You Be a Nurse With Bipolar Disorder?

I’d appreciate if you could give this article a star rating. Thank you in advance!