Why do you want to be a nurse?

It took me a very long time to come to the decision to apply to NS. I wanted to go to med school, pharmacy school, I wanted to get my masters in editing, I even got apcepted to an MSW program. I was sooo confused.

My current job really put things in persepctive for me. First and foremost, I learned that what I currently do is not a career but a stepping stone for me. My job allows me to observe nurses 5 days a week and I never cease to be facinated by their level of skill, the things they know, their compassion and the fact that they enjoy what they do. While everything I do is purely administrative, I'm right there in the mix of things, when my unit is running smoothly, I go in patient rooms and sit and talk to my patients. Sometimes while the nurse is starting lines and hanging the chemo I sit in the room and get to watch what they are doing and the patients never mind me being there, infact, I talk to them while they are getting their lines started to distract them from the stick. I hand out lunches, I get them coffee and tea, blankets, clean the rooms when housekeeping isn't around and when we are super busy I help make the beds with the nurse again when housekeeping isnt available. I do the teeny tiny tid bits that the RN's may not have time to do at that moment, and they appreciate my help. Me being there, I want to do more, and I feel like finially there is something out there that I can do and be sucessful at. Ive observed clinic nurses, and pharmacy nurses. Ive met international nurses. Its just such a diverse and exciting career in my opinion and I could kick myself sometimes for not looking into it sooner. I could have been a nurse years ago when i attended my local CC and again at my uni, which both have excellent Nursing programs but I was too hung up on being an MD to make my parents happy.

I also don't want to be poor for the rest of my life and I want to be able to take care of my mom, be able to give her stuff and help her with a house so she doesn't have to work so hard. My mom is still young, but it kills me that she works 7 days a week, every week.

I know there is alot more to nursing than what i am able to observe on a daily basis, but from what I have seen over the past 2+ years, its the way to go for me

cheers

Why do I want to be a nurse? I can't really give a pat answer; I don't want to say 'to help people' because that isn't the reason why. If all I wanted to do was help people, I could do that without going to nursing school. If all I wanted to do was learn about science, there are courses better suited to that than nursing. I suppose with me it's the whole idea of it...I like science, I'm fascinated by healthcare issues and the human body, and I want to help people achieve and maintain good health, or comfort them/their families when they're dying. Combine these factors and nursing seems like a good fit, because it combines my desire to help people with my interests in science and healthcare. That's probably the sort of answer that would make interviewers cringe, but there you go; it's honest.

I can't answer the question without saying why I'd want to change to nursing from my present career. Right now I'm a DB programmer and I've thought about getting a degree in software engineering, or getting certification as a database administrator...but every time I read up on programs I just can't whip up any enthusiasm. I sort of like what I do, but it doesn't really blow my skirt up. I'd be lying if I said I was passionate about it, and if it paid less than it did I wouldn't do it. I got into I.T. for the money and because I didn't know what else to do with my life. I'm good with computers and I was in the right place at the right time, during the dot.com boom. I acquired the skills I'd need to get jobs in the real world after the boom ended, but after less than a decade in I.T. I've got itchy feet. Plus, the threat of outsourcing looms large and it guides pretty much every decision I have to make about my career. I don't want to live this way anymore. I'm sick of underqualified Indians constantly threatening to take my job away by offering to do it for a quarter of the pay (and a quarter of the quality, hahaha).

I don't really care what nursing pays. It pays a little less than what I'm doing now, from what I've been able to find out; but I don't care. The added job security makes up for that. The secure, recession-proof aspect of a nursing career is part of what made me consider it as a career; I'd be lying if I said otherwise.

I always dreamed of becoming a nurse..I feel that I am a compasionate and caring person, (there are alot of nurses who lack that)

There is a tremendous feeling of fulfillness knowing that you can help someone...I believe I will be a great nurse some day..

My top reasons are;

-I want to help people
-I want to travel around the world
-I want to be an educated activist
-I want make a decent wage if I have to

I think that I just watched too many episodes of M*A*S*H and China Beach over the years.

Seriously though I've always been interested in nursing and medicine in general. I just feel like kicking myself in the rumpus for waiting until now to get started.

Actually I have been living in the woods to much. I have lived in the woods as a radical enviormental activist for the past two years. I realized in this time that I wanted to help humans more the nature and nursing was the best way to do that. I have had to re-enter society to go back to school but once I am on the waiting list I will go back to my life of an activist until I get accepted.

I got interested in nursing through an ex of mine who was always telling me about the interesting things that she got to see at her clinicals. I was in school at the time studying engineering and business and, after a few internships, decided it wasn't for me and I needed to find something else so I started volunteering at a hospital. I ended up in the surgery/recovery area and got really interested in the CRNA position. So, I am going back to become an RN and eventually a CRNA. I think the main reasons that I liked nursing were that I couldn't stand office work or being tied to a computer all day, I find all the different surgical procedures really interesting and aside from money, freedom, flexibility and all the things that everyone wants in their job, I think the chance to care for someone and help them through their surgery will be waaay more rewarding than any job I could find being an engineer in corporate america. Just my two cents.

Why do I want to be a Nurse? Hummmmm, Sometimes I wonder because I feel like I'm sacrificing my sanity, my house is a mess (which drives me INSANE ) my kids miss all the attention, not to mention what my husband misses and all of this has JUST been while getting all prereq's out of the way which I will finish this semester.
Ever since I was a child someone has always been sick in my family with heart problems, diabetes, cancer, etc.... and even as a child all I wanted to do was help them feel better, sit by their side and let them know that someone cares. I get pleasure from making people feel like they are not alone that they do have someone that cares about them and will make their own sacrifices to make someone else feel better. You go to the hospital it's not the doctors that make you feel better, it is the nurses that do all the work and make the difference, if you have a good nurse that actually cares and isn't just there to make a dollar that is what means the most and people don't forget that. I will get great pleasure for myself to know that I can make a difference in someone else's life. Older people are the one's that usually get the short end of the stick, they get sick or need long term care the family gets the heck out of dodge. My mother-in-law lives with me and I am her sole care taker she has schizophrenia, Bipolar, Type II Diabetes, and the start of Alzheimers and where is her 6 children and husand? NO where in sight, they don't want anything to do with her, That's SAD
I didn't mean to write a book but that is why I want to be a nurse, not only the same old cliche ,to help people, but to make someone feel they are special, loved and let them know that someone cares about them and them getting well whatever their situation. When I get my degree that will be a great accomplishment, but the greatest accommplishment will being able to make the difference in just 1 person's life.

Me too! In fact, I couldn't stand the sight of blood and guts when I was younger. But it's funny, once I had my first child everything just "clicked" and I just KNEW that's what I wanted to be!

I love working with people and small children, along with helping them. Nursing just seemed like a perfect fit. I feel like it is a job that I wont hate after 10 years and it is one where I can keep learning and growing