thinking of nursing as a career

[short&sweet]

Hi everyone, I'm new on here but figured this is the best place to post any worries I'm having about choosing nursing. This summer I graduated from UCLA with a degree in Sociology. I like challenges, love helping people and want a career where I can do that every day. I'm currently trying to figure out what I want to do with myself while working as a receptionist. Nursing interested me in high school, but once I found out about IV's I ran the other direction and pursued my dream of transferring to UCLA. Once graduation got closer I began thinking of nursing as a career again. I'm currently taking anatomy and I'd only have 2 other prerequisites to complete before I could apply to nursing school (if I chose nursing). My main concern is getting over my "fear" of IV's/tubes, I really don't think the other things would bother me, however, whenever I tell people this the common response is "how can you be a nurse if you are scared of iv's etc" or "it's only going to get worse" urgh....In the mean time I'm sending out applications to become a nursing volunteer so I can get a better perspective on all of this. Any advice would be appreciated :)! Sorry if this is too long and all over the place.

[mrscurtwkids4]

I think the best way to get over the fear is to face it. I am a senior year nursing student and I was sooo nervous about having to give an IM injection. Well, during this semester, we did a community health clinical rotation and we had to do a flu immunization clinic. What an experience that was!! I think every nursing student should have to do one! After giving over 50 IM injections of vaccines, I feel like an old pro at it. Granted, the first couple people I had it was hard to actually go ahead and stick them, but I started getting more confident with each one that I gave.

I feel it can always be good to have a little healthy fear in us about certain things. Especially those things that can be dangerous to the patient. This way we have a tendency to be a little more cautious and not get too comfortable with them. It seems that when you get too comfortable with something, it's then that you are liable to make a mistake. If IV's are your biggest concern, I bet you'll do fine, because there are lots of other things we have to do that you might have to get used to also...lol. Good luck in whatever you choose!!

[short&sweet]

Thanks for the advice! I think a part of me really wants to face my fear, because I'm not scared of getting poked but I'm mostly concerned about doing it to someone else. I was actually thinking of taking a Phlebotomy class after this next semester so I can prepare myself and conquer my fear. Thanks again!

[mvanz9999, RN]

I agree with the first reponse. A phlebotomy course is an excellent idea. I have had my fears over the years, and I discovered the best way to get over them is to continually expose yourself to them. I doubt giving IV's is going to be your favorite thing ever, but I think after 100s or 1000s, you will quickly get over that.

One fear I head was being deathly afraid of heights. Spending several summers atop a very unstable cherry picker got me over that quickly. Still not my favorite thing, but I'll volunteer if it's needed.