[pelsmith]

Several things came together all at once to make me decide I wanted to be a nurse, some logical, and some emotional:

Logical:
1. I am retiring from the Air Force, and want to keep a steady paycheck.
2. I am a computer tech and can appreciate the value of working in a career where you are needed.
3. I like helping people.
4. Over the years, I have mentally shifted from being an INTJ to an INFJ. I guess I have moved to a more complex and interesting system by moving to people.
5. I always wanted to save a life.

Emotional:

1. I found faith in God
2. A few years ago my stepfater passed away after an extremely long illness. When my mother couldn't lift him anymore hospice was called in. When the nurse came she was always a relief to us all. She was a visiting angel. She laughed when she could, and she listened all the time, and when things got too sad she went out on the porch and cried a little.

I was so impressed with her...humanity...that I decided I wanted to be a nurse.

pelsmith

[Kalico]

I decided to become a nurse the summer I turned 7. My dad was diagnosed with brain tumors and spent most of the summer in and out of the ICU. My mom decided after two months of fighting and him only getting worse that it was time for him to come home and spend his last days with his family. The last three weeks that he was alive I helped my mom take care of him. I knew I wanted to be a nurse and not a doctor b/c the nurse is the one who spends more time with the patient and their family. I am planning on specializing in neonatal intensive care when I graduate and look forward to taking care of my patients and developing good relationships with their families. I am also hoping that I will be able to help others that may be facing the same situation that my mom did. I want to be able to make a difference in someone's life, even if it is only one person.

[angelladyclaire]

I've always been interested in all things medical. This comes from the fact that my dad was sick all of my life until he died when I was 19. He had Lupus which brought on ESRD. He then had a kidney transplant and a CABG on top of his other recurring co-morbid conditions, so needless to say we spent a lot of time in hospitals. Even when my dad was in the hospital, I would be excited to go there. The environment is just thrilling to me... so many doors with so many cool things behind them!

The funny thing is that I started college as an English major. I'd never even considered nursing because the sciences weren't my strong poing in High School. I've always loved to watch what my husband calls the "bloody shows" like Trauma: life in the ER and Maternity Ward. One night I had the t.v. on TLC while I was trying to write a paper for my Foundations of American Education class (I thought I would be an English teacher). The paper was to be about why I wanted to teach. I was conflicted because I didn't really want to teach, but what else are you going to do with an English degree? Then it hit me. I looked at my then fiancee and said, "you're going to think I'm crazy, but I want to be a nurse." I never looked back. I dropped my education classes and started my pre-reqs for nursing. The rest is history

I graduated May 13th and am currently a graduate nurse! Yea!

[KPOP]

Hi There.

I Wanted To Be A Nurse Or A Teacher Then Later On I Wanted To Be A Doctor

I Took Nursing At Uh But Did Not Do Good So I Decided To Take Medical Secretary And Work As A Secretary To A Doctor While Going To School To Become A Nurse

I Got My Lvn Though Back In 84 And Worked In A Retirement Community In The Health Center Night Shift

I Was Alone And I Did Not Know How To Be Productive Yet -- He He He He What Would I Do Without My Pc -- My Very Best Friend

When The Health Center Is Full Of Patient Like Sometime Up To 5 I Think I Like It Though To I Get To Be Busy

I Doubled Check Every 2 Hours

I Made Sure They Got Their Medications

I Get Them Up I Think In The Morning

I Made Sure They Had Fresh Pitcher Of Water With Ice And I Always Encouraged Them To Drink Water

But Not If They Are On Npo

But Encouraged Them Especialy When They Were On Ip/op

I Never Got To Be A Doctor But One Day I Know I Will

I Will Take One Step At A Time

I Need To Get Better And Healed First

But Before That I Need To Shine Somemore

Many Thanks

Mabuhay!


Kathy

Kpop

[Payaso]

I was a wild child, getting in trouble and causing my mother grief when I was growing up. I was graduating high school and I really did not want to go back to school. I craved excitement in life and adventure was calling me. I was bored with my life in suburbia, and so I enlisted in the military. I chose to join the Marines to prove to myself that I am capable of becoming one of the few and the proud. Needless to say, I got my share of adventure and excitement, I even celebrated my 24th birthday in the desert during a war.

After the war, there was no promotions and they were trying to shrink the military. They gave us veterans free tuition and so I had to decide on what to do with the rest of my life. What will I major in now that I am faced with so many choices? My family have always worked in the health field as nurses, med techs, phys. therapists, and cna's. I did my research and nursing came up on top, it being the one where one can always find a job anywhere one ends up. I considered becoming a male stripper but I can't dance. My body was good but not that good.

It has been 8 years since I have been working as a nurse and I have always loved the job. I found that I was very well suited for the job and having been a soldier first gave me an advantage. I was not one to back down from a challenge and I love the action in Telemetry and the Rehab patients make me proud to see that I have made a contribution to help these people get better. Yeah, I do work 3 jobs! I am still a member of the Reserves. I have yet to travel as a nurse but someday the kids will grow up and leave the house. How I long for that day to come. So there it is! I am also sticking to this version of my story.

[Gromit]

well, my story stretches out over several years. I was a paramedic in Pasco county, FL., met a nurse there (we went on to get engaged some years later, but the engagement failed (as with all things, not for one single reason, but the culmination was her demanding my quit riding motorcycles after a major accident that landed me in a (thanfully brief) coma) but anyway, I'm married to a fine woman who likes to ride (has her own, now) and things are much better. Anyway, I digress... Back then, I burned out, went to a few classes and became a long-haul truck driver. After a couple of years driving cross-country, my girl told me that she noticed I didn't look very happy with my new vocation. While I liked driving, and enjoyed seeing our beautiful country, I missed working in the medical field -but had no interest in ever being a medic on an ambulance again. She suggested nursing. Part of the problem I had with being a paramedic was that after 4 years, I'd advanced as far as I could, and the field was so over-glutted (still is) that there were no jobs available, pay wasn't what I would have liked (its better now, however) and I hated the idea that in another 16 yrs, I'd still be working in the same capacity (in Pasco, the average age of the officers above me was MY age -in short, unless they quit or died, I would never advance, and I still had the competition of all my 'compadres' who were my age or younger, and had my dreams of advancement. The prospects weren't very good. )
She showed me that RNs are in demand pretty much everywhere, in Florida or outside of it. Pay was better, and the hours were too, (imagine, work just three 12 hr shifts in a row, and have the rest of the week off. OR set it up so you could work six back to back, and end up with an effective week off, depending on how you set your schedule up), and if I got bored with one facet of nursing, I could take a few classes and get into another aspect of the field (more or less) -i.e., cardiac as opposed to med-surg, or same-day, or whatever.
The ONLY thing I really miss from being on the ambulance was intubating (ET tubes) -its great fun, and a good challenge -one I'm proud to say I was quite good at. However, I enjoy nursing and all the prospects it has open to someone willing to work. I may yet decide to become a travel-nurse for a while, or just move to somewhere else, and work there. Thankfully, almost everywhere I've looked, I've found openings, and in truth, the shortage is going to get worse -which SHOULD mean more flexibility in most respects for those of us working in this field -especially as the hospitals (larger ones for the most part) start fighting to retain their work force. We shall see, but I'm doing a job I'd never considdered, and I enjoy it. It isn't as dramatic or glamorous as my old paramedic/firefighter position, but it has far more depth to it, and I'm doing things I never knew I could do, working with people and equipment that has a far bigger effect on the health of my patients, and I don't just shut the door on them and look to the next call -now I see them progress (or not), and sometimes see the difference I make in a single shift. I've long-since let my medic license lapse, and have no intention of getting out of nursing.

[new_mom2005]

Originally Posted by brian

Everyone has his or her own story about how or why they became a nurse. What's your story?

Please be as detailed or as short as you wish. It'll be interesting to hear everyone's stories.

Well i have been a cna for a couple of years now,,, but I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I had my boy( 4 months ago) cause everyone on the L&D floor was sooooooooo very nice to me I knew I wanted to be a nurse so now I am in nursing school want to work on the L&D floor

[snowfreeze]

I was going to be a veterinarian, but my parents got divorced and a lot of creepy things happened while I was a teen. I went to farrier school instead of Cornell. I still don't know if that was a bad choice but I was so burned out with life and wanted to do something else than what my now hated parents had lined up for me. I had already trained horses so I had lots of contacts to start my business. Well when I got out lots of people thought a 5'2"woman could not possibly know how to shoe a horse..lol. I got a part time job as a nurse aid.
My business thrived in my opinion, I paid my bills and had money to put in savings. I did a lot of barter work too, I had horses to feed and some of my customers could not pay for the foot work so we traded.
I got married and after a while found he wasn't the man I married, he had been laid off in the steel industry and was very bitter and angry. I could not even talk to him so I decided to go to nursing school after becoming a paramedic. I had some acute care experience, ran a working farm so knew some genetic stuff and had a few employees at times so learned to manage people. Put in a lot of time with cooperative extension service in my county as a 4-H leader, I helped develop and establish a school enrichment program for sciences in Pittsburgh PA.
I had 2 children at the time and he raped me during my first year of nursing school,( I was living in my daughters room at the time) and I became pregnant with my 3rd child during nursing school.
I finished my first year of school, had a c-section in august so had to take off a year until I could go back and get my associate degree.
I finished nursing school and heck I couldnt find a job, slow time for nursing.
I finally got a job at a city hospital ( they filmed part of 'silence of the lambs' on their loading dock...talk about scary....lol)
I worked in med-surg was in charge as a GN and then ****** off my manager and transferred to ICU/CCU. Two years there and off to specialty flight team for 6 years. I am now in LTC and love it for now. Spent some time in CCU and TRAUMA in between and have supervised a lot lately.
Oh yeh, I left him, took the kids when I graduated. I NOW make more than twice what he does. I feel good about who I am, he is still angry.

[DawnfromKC]

Originally Posted by Keely-FutureRN

Well, I'm a pre-nursing student but I thought I'd share my story...
I always wanted to be an elementary school teacher growing up. I loved kids and the idea of teaching in general. My mom became sick when I was in high school and had a couple close calls with death. I felt so powerless to help and saw nursing as my true call to help people (my mom). I became a CNA and got a job at a nearby hospital and worked on pre-req's at the university.

After about a year I became sick with an eating disorder. I spent 6 months in the hospital recovering from anorexia. While there, I bonded with some the the nurses who cared for me. They were so compassionate and caring. They took the time to listen to me and truely cared about my well being. I know that nursing is my calling. I have been out of the hospital for two months and am working on going back to school in the fall and I just got a new CNA job starting June 6. I want to pick myself up and recover and when I become a nurse, work with patients with eating disorders so I can provide the kind of care and support I recieved and offer hope for others struggling with eating disorders.

Keely

I wish that there was an icon of a tear because I have a few in my eyes after reading your story! BEST OF LUCK TO YOU SWEETHEART!!!! You will make a wonderful nurse! Lasting peace to you ---- Dawn

[ZASHAGALKA]

If I tell my story, a few of you ladies are going to be upset:

I was in the NAVY. When I went in, I decided that if I liked it, I'd stay, but if the only reason for staying was that I had nothing better to do, then it would be time to find something better to do.

Flash forward 2.5 yrs into a 4 yr hitch. I remember thinking, "I need to re-enlist so I can do another 2 yr OUTUS (outside cont. US) tour, but it's OK, I have nothing better to do. . ." And I can remember the alarms going off with that thought.

Went to career counselor's office and found an article about 'the best college bang for your buck is ADN program'. Didn't think much about it, but I told a friend of mine about it.

Flash forward 6 months - we're both back in the states, taking basic classes cause in my case, I didn't know what I want to be. My friend says to me, 'Hey, you remember that ADN program you were talking about, I applied and got accepted, you should too'. So I applied in Feb and was accepted 2 weeks later for fall (I had already taken soc/psych and several of the pre-reqs and the rest I could take in summer session and A&P I/II were co-reqs at that time).

Got out of the military Aug 28 and started Nsg school Sep 5, 1991.

Now the kicker - there was a 2 yr waiting list for the program but they accepted all male and minority applications that qualified first. No wonder the lady at the front office was always rude to me, how was I supposed to know that I kicked some white woman back a year because I applied on a lark?!

(If you had to wait till 1992 to start nursing school, and you were at the top of the alternate list, ummm, well, that was my fault. I wish I could say that I'm sorry, but the thing is, I'm not.)

Now for the rest of the story: I'm a believer. Things happen for a reason. When I see things line up in my life, I try not to question them! Learned that lesson a few times the hard way.

I'm good at what I do. I wouldn't say it's a calling, cause I was never really 'called'. But I was led to it. And the wonderful thing about nursing is I never have to wonder why I was led here: it's something I can see every day.

~faith.