Why did you become a nurse?

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I was curious why all you guys out there became nurses.

For me, I was tired of construction work and I was on a roof in the middle of winter. Needless to say, I felt like I could do more with myself even though, construction work can be gratifying.

I originally signed up to be an EMT. I later found out that advancement and salary isn't as good compared to other healthcare professions. I volunteered in a hospital and ER and really liked what nurses did. But, didn't fully understand until I was in clinicals during the first level of nursing school. I still don't have a complete grasp.

After volunteering and many clinicals, I really started to enjoy nursing work. I have to admit that money was my main focus for becoming a nurse. Heck, nurses have the potential to make six figures.

However, after nursing work grew on me, my motivations have changed. I really don't care about the money. One can live frugally and still be happy with life. I've learned I can truly make a difference in many people's lives. Initially, it was the money but now, I want to be a nurse because of the infinite potential help and change someone for the better. I feel satisfied with my work almost 99.9% of the time. It's hard to do that.

So, why did you all become a nurse?

Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.

Flattering, See there's another reason to become a Nurse, we are natural born networkers.

OMG, I would have known it was you by your name, Lol! I am glad your on allnurses, there are so many I have found on here from Chile, Nambia, Lesotho, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, Barbados, Columbia, and now Czech Republic.

If your young and unmarried (or have an adventurous spouse) Nursing can take you ANYWHERE! I am loving it! Plus, the Global job market is EXTREMELY different than the US market right now.

Especially with several countries that are experiencing a middleclass boom!

Great Talking with you Wong! Les Bon Tempe Roulle !!!!!!

P.S. Right on OP, your thread is waaaaaaaay cool, THANX;)

:redbeatheBoston

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Nursing = Me :)

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Specializes in Progressive, Intermediate Care, and Stepdown.
Nursing = Me :)

Likewise! :D

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Specializes in Progressive, Intermediate Care, and Stepdown.
Flattering, See there's another reason to become a Nurse, we are natural born networkers.

OMG, I would have known it was you by your name, Lol! I am glad your on allnurses, there are so many I have found on here from Chile, Nambia, Lesotho, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, Barbados, Columbia, and now Czech Republic.

If your young and unmarried (or have an adventurous spouse) Nursing can take you ANYWHERE! I am loving it! Plus, the Global job market is EXTREMELY different than the US market right now.

Especially with several countries that are experiencing a middleclass boom!

Great Talking with you Wong! Les Bon Tempe Roulle !!!!!!

P.S. Right on OP, your thread is waaaaaaaay cool, THANX;)

:redbeatheBoston

I'm definitely looking forward to the travel!!!

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I dropped out of high school twice, got a GED around age 21, worked in construction, labor, grease monkeying, and various odd jobs just to try to make a living. I can tell you wages in Texas are generally pretty low for an unlicensed construction guy. It took a few years to realize how bleak life was when I felt intellectually stagnant. I started out at community college at age 25, transferred to a university, undeclared for quite some time before I realized that I wanted to learn how to work on people. I grew up without health insurance just like most friends and family and grew tired of watching people suffer or not even seek treatment because of the de facto inaccessibility to decent health care. We broke bones and healed them on our own time, superglued lacerations to stop the bleeding, etc. I figured few paths would provide fulfillment the way caring professions like nursing do, so I applied to the program, got accepted into the BSN program in 2010, and I graduate next month. I've realized throughout the endeavor that I honestly love caring for patients and interacting with people in a positive way.

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Specializes in Hospice, Telemetry.

The industry I am in was dying, so I wanted to be proactive and have a plan B. I love my job, but I also had to be realistic.

It so happens this was just at the time my father was dying of lung cancer and he ended up in hospice care.

The hospice nurses were amazing, and I had a lot of time to talk with them. Never saw a doctor, just the nurses handling everything. And they did great work, both with my father and the family.

And that reminded me of the birth of two of my children at a birthing center run by midwives. Our first was born in a hospital, and the experience was horrible. When we visited the doctor during the pregnancy, all he did was complain about . At the hospital for delivery, it was crowded and noisy and my wife was hooked up to all kinds of monitors, and then the doctor came in and to speed things up gave here an episiotomy (totally unnecessary). She was stuck in the hospital for another night (totally unnecessary).

At the birthing center, we never saw a doctor. The classes were all about achieving natural birth, the cost was about a third of what it was at the hospital. The nurses were amazing. I still have vivid memories of them surrounding my wife and helping her. We were back home eight hours after the birth of both kids. (This was back before hospitals realized they needed to change and started their own birthing centers based on what the midwives were doing).

Those two experiences made me give nursing a hard look. I checked into the job market, future prospects, the kinds of nursing jobs available, and it became pretty much a no-brainer.

Signed up for A&P I, nutrition, sociology in the fall of 2011 (thank god for on-line classes and community colleges) and am starting in an accelerated BSN program in May and will be out in May of 2013.

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I chose nursing because frankly, I could not imagine myself doing anything else.

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Specializes in Family practice.

My sister is an LPN which I always thought was pretty neat, so when my construction career seemed to be only getting me a worn out body and O.K. money, I went back to school. So for me: Decent pay, interesting work, mobility both geographically and professionally and job security (we will see about that). Last but big- I can help people who need help. Sometimes that last one doesn't pan out, but when it does, it's great.

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I wanted to do something in the medical feild, and saw that nursing had endless oppurtunites, and you could specialize in almost anything. Its a career with job security and great pay, so I based my desicion pretty much on what would give me the most oppurtunities.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

I wanted to be a doctor initially but then when I started volunteering in a local hospital, I was able to see what nurses truly do. I ended up getting a job in the hospital that I used volunteer at. I have worked as an ER Tech for over 2 years now and I absolutely love it; even though I could do other things with my life, I can't imagine doing anything else but nursing. The job security, pay, flexibility, and opportunity for advancement are just the icing on the cake. Starting a 3-year (including summers unfortunately haha) BSN program in the fall and my orientation is in less than a week!

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I failed out of my state college's (University Milwaukee-Wisconsin) mechanical engineering program(during the prereqs). My only motivation for that major was the military entrance exam I took out of high school. After being out of college for a term, I found myself at a tech school( Milwaukee Area Technical College) talking to a counselor about continuing where I left off. She was very persuasive in steering me towards Nursing (pay, hire rate, benefits of being latino and male). I thought what the hell, and I haven't looked back since.

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I felt the end coming. I was working a job in sales that was on the decline. After almost a decade out, I finally decided to go back to school. My mother has been a nurse since the 80's. After graduating high school, I just knew my future lay in business management. However, after working in that environment for almost 7 years, I realixed that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something where I helped others...something that paid decent but also offered flexibility. Fast forward a year...I just got accepted to the ADN program I applied to.

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