TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Nursing may not be glamorous, but it greatly impacts those it serves.

Katelyn Jackson is familiar with nurses after many hospital stays growing up.

“My family and I grew up with a lot of health issues. I grew up kind of in and out of the hospital, and in that, I got to see a lot of good nurses and a lot of bad nurses,” Jackson, a sophomore nursing student, said. “I also got to see my family experience good care and bad care, and I decided that I wanted to be the good instead of the bad.”

Jackson said compassion and attention to detail are two traits she hopes to bring to her future patients.

“I want to get my BSN, become a registered nurse, and work in the neonatal intensive care unit. My mother has been a NICU nurse for 25 years now, and growing up, I asked her a lot of questions. I then volunteered a lot with the unit and shadowed in the unit. I just fell in love with it.”

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Love for the profession is not always enough. Nurses are constantly facing burnout and shortages in their profession, but some feel the challenges provide an opportunity to have a greater impact on patients.

“I think that it makes it more possible for you to make a difference,” said Hannah Weafer. “It’s being able to go into a field where you know there aren’t a lot of people, so the things you do are able to impact more people because you have to.

“You have to cover all these bases and take care of all these patients in order for these people to survive and for the hospital to thrive.”

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, the nursing shortage in the United States is expected to keep growing over the next decade. Although the challenges they face look dire, these future nurses look forward to making a difference when they finally get on the frontline.