[mastiff38]

I tried posting this under the "Would you recommend nursing" section, but don't seem to be getting any replies yet, so I thought I'd try posting here also.

Here's my question... it seems as though many of you who are already nurses chose that career because you felt some sort of a "calling" or a need to help people, or maybe it's just what you always wanted as you were growing up. For those of you who went into nursing for other reasons, what were those reasons? I don't know for sure what is making me consider nursing. It's not a money thing, because I'm doing OK now at roughly $22/hour plus great benefits (in a location where even $12-$15/hour jobs are very hard to come by). I know why I want a career change, but I don't know why I'm being drawn to nursing... is there anyone else out there who was as unsure as me, but just decided to go for it?


Thanks for "listening!"

Kathy

[portland_guy]

Hi Kathy,

I am right there with you. I am doing quite well financially (> $50k salary with amazing benies). However, I am NOT getting anything out of my career. I come and go, do the paperwork and really don't feel fulfilled at all. It is me and my computer for 8 hours a day. I see people at my work who have been here for >20 years and are nearly dead. I don't want to become that.

So, I thought what career has a lot of variety and one where you actually feel like you might be helping someone out and nursing sounded like a great one. So, now I am doing pre-reqs to go back to get my BS in nursing. I am VERY excited about this. I know it will be a big change, but for the better. I hear about the burnout factor, but after 5 years doing my job here, I am burned out not doing much of anything but pushing buttons on my computer.

I guess I should get back to work and push some more buttons. Yippee....

[oceanlover]

If you're drawn into it perhaps it's the human element that's of interest. You get immediate feedback from your patients.

A lot of nurses are drawn to that stressful environment. Perhaps a dysfunctional family life has 'set them up' for working very effectively under stress.

[nicudaynurse]

Hey Kathy,

I actually did not grow up wanting to be a nurse, but one day as I was standing in line to sell one of my college books back it literally just hit me like a brick wall. I wanted to be a nurse and from that day forward everything has worked out perfect.

I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I do agree that there is some sense of a "calling" to the field. I enjoy being in a career that is making a difference in people's lives. I get a lot of personal satisfaction with this career and it isn't in the form of $.

I also have a an extreme interest in anything "medical" I read it and watch it all the time. I love to learn anything medical. I would actually love to go to medical school just for the knowledge.

Do you have a certain area of nursing that you may be interested in? Do you know anyone that is a nurse and maybe you could shadow them for a day?

Good Luck!!!!!!

[studentdeb]

Originally posted by portland_guy
Hi Kathy,

I am right there with you. I am doing quite well financially (> $50k salary with amazing benies). However, I am NOT getting anything out of my career. I come and go, do the paperwork and really don't feel fulfilled at all. It is me and my computer for 8 hours a day. I see people at my work who have been here for >20 years and are nearly dead. I don't want to become that.

So, I thought what career has a lot of variety and one where you actually feel like you might be helping someone out and nursing sounded like a great one. So, now I am doing pre-reqs to go back to get my BS in nursing. I am VERY excited about this. I know it will be a big change, but for the better. I hear about the burnout factor, but after 5 years doing my job here, I am burned out not doing much of anything but pushing buttons on my computer.

I guess I should get back to work and push some more buttons. Yippee....

I understand how you feel. I see the people who have been working for 20 years where I work and just won't make the change, but that is what I am trying to do also.

My husband says "it's just a job", you go to work, do your job and that's it. He said the other day, "noone likes their job". I don't believe that and that is why I am pursuing nursing also. I want a career with interaction with people, variety and flexibility.

[Asiancutie]

this will sound so corny

i just want to serve this country and its people. can't be a fireman, cop and my hubby won't let me in military (hehe) so i'll be a nurse! if it doesn't work for me, i'll be a teacher :-)

[Dr. Kate]

I went into nursing because I need a salable skill and typing class gave me headaches. The impetus to find a salable skill was my Mom telling me she had no intention of working the rest of her life to keep me in graduate school. She was also very unimpressed with the salary I was making a a teacher in a private high school.

I'm lucky as nursing has proven to be a good fit for me. I also am not one of those people who knows what it is they should be doing. All of this explains why I have a series of degrees in wildly varying disciplines all of which can make my heart sing. But it is nursing that pays the bills.

[talldollNYC]

I am currently working through my prereqs. I got my bachelor's degree in dance/theatre. I toured for three years in various theatrical productions. It was a lot of fun. But, after a while, I felt like everything that I was working so hard at was POINTLESS!
Especially after 9-11. I had, I HAVE, such a strong desire to be a positive force in the world.
I have spent hundreds of hours studying the body from the perspective of a performer. It is fascinating to study it, now, with a new perspective.

[ggfifi]

Like talldollNYC, 9-11 had an impact on me too...in addition to that tragedy, my younger brother had been killed in a car accident the year before, and I got to thinking, there has to be more to life than this daily grind in the financial world, where I'm treated as if I'm just another piece of office equipment. Plus, I guess I'm having my "mid life crisis" since I'm in my mid-40's, and the nest is nearly empty. So I decided, quite spontaneously (very unlike me!) the first of last year, to pursue my dream of being a nurse. I've finished up enough of my prereq's (w/ a 4.00 GPA) to apply to my CC's nursing program that starts in May...should have an answer by mid to late March...hopefully it will be the one I'm looking for!

I know that this career change is going to be a major disruption for my family (I've been the primary breadwinner for the last 10 years, so we're in for some serious penny pinching while I go to school fulltime), but its all been almost "too easy" to get to this point so far, and I've loved every minute of it...its almost as if its "meant to be". Now, I'm not so naive as to think there will not be stumbling blocks in my way, but I've already learned how to deal with workplace politics, etc. in my 30 years in Corporate America, so I think I'll be ok.

Being a nurse was never a "burning desire" for me, but medicine & science have always interested me, and I want to feel as if I'm making a difference in someone's life, and there are so many different areas I can branch out to once I am an RN, so, this is what is right for me.

[nurse-lou]

I just knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was little. Haven't regretted it. There's nothing else that fascinates me more than the human body and all of it's functions. Plus I enjoy helping people. That sounds lame I know but I couldn't see myself sitting behind a desk all day or working in a factory either. That's not me.