are you born a nurse or do the nursing instructors make you a nurse?

[misouritraveller]

nursing instructors continue to tell new students tha they will make them nurses. wrong nursing is a calling similar to the ministry. i have both callings and feel that nursing can be used to comfort and encourage those patients that are fearful and in pain. i don't preach to my patients but encourage them to talk about their feelings about their illness and what scares them most. most have told me its not knowing what's happening with their care not the illness or death. the unkonwn is more frightening than death.

if you got into nursing for the money or "glory" or to further yourself with self agrandizing titles and degrees then i feel lyou are in the wrong career. those who entered nursing when i did who were intrigued with money and prestige to be gain are no longer in nursing. they still have their license, degrees, and their prestige because they are instructors but not nurses. they have been away from the reality of nursing and changes in the real world of health care not the information in books but in the trenches. nurses have to have a calling to be willing to clean a patient who has soiled himself/herself, clean up emesis whether is is food or blood, hold the hand of a lonely dying patient who came from a nursing home with no family left comfort them or cry with a family when a child passes or a grandparent or parent passes.

the emotional draining of the above is often offset by the patient that thanks you for saving them or changing their life or saving a family's loved one. i have experienced all the above and still thank God that i can still make a difference.

the instructors i have had gave the hooks and matrix to build my career for helping my patients but they didn't make me a nurse. i had been helping others my entire life and was prepared to do so as a nurse. they just sharpend my skill level.

What do you think?

do a random act of kindness each day. smile at a stranger and watch how the return the smile. afterward notice its hard to be grumpy when working.

[smelltheroses]

I completely agree with you. I am still in pre reqs for nursing, but I have been a hairstylist for a long time. My clients have told me many times that they tell me more than their doctors. I have wanted to be a nurse for a long time and many times I have had people tell me I would make a great nurse. I think they mean for bedside manner. I don't know yet, but I believe that bed side manner is a calling the technical part is refined and defined by education. I think if nursing isn't from the heart there is no sincerety and empathy for the patient. I am saying that from my experience from times when I've been in the hospital. I remember times when I felt the nurse caring and there have been times were I truely felt I was part of the job and not a person.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I think that we are born caring and the instructors teach us how to make that useful. And if you're lucky, you get caring ones.

[TazziRN, RN]

I think that some of us are born to be nurses, and the instructors make that happen, teaching and helping us to perfect the craft.

[loquacity]

I agree with you!

Im just first year student but allready ppl who arn't motivated enbf are dropping out. In my opinion, if you wanted a job with good money, they should've gone into engineering or soemthing. My current instrucotr is only a part time instructor and aprt time wprkign nurse whihc is best i think. She's not bascily retired from actual nursing like the rest. and she siad that she thinks (your not born with it) but by the tiem your in uni/college, whetehr your compassionate and all that stuff, that is already determined, adn no instructor can change that, n instrcutor can make you a good nurse. I feel you have to have certain qualtiies pre exisitjn g to actually be a good nruse, who make a difference & isn't just there to get their paycheck. sorry i hav't actually siad much in this apragraph...really tired

Tommororw's my community ehalth teaching project...we're teaching girl guides Basic (BASIC!) first aid....it'll be fun~ Loquacity

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I have to disagree. I think one must be a kind and caring person to be a good nurse, however that does not make it a calling. I know an RN who used to be a social worker, for many years. She actually didn't want to quit social work, but she couldn't support her family doing that. She switched to nursing. She's a great nurse. I know another RN who worked as a blue collar factory worker for 20+ years then he was laid off. He decided nursing looked like an interesting field with lots of options plus he could support his family on the wages. He's a great nurse too. Was it his 'calling'? No. Still he's a fantastic nurse. Life has many twists and turns. I think if someone has an interest in health science plus they are a basically kind person, plus they like the earnings, then those are good ingredients to make a good nurse. I guess I'm uncomfortable with the 'calling' talk. I mean, sure some have stronger desires than others to be a nurse, and some from a younger age. But that does not mean that my friends, the social worker, and laid off factory worker who switched careers are somehow less than. They are great.

I'm also uncomfortable with the notion that those who push for higher and higher earnings in nursing are somehow bad. Not so. Time to stand up and get all the $$$s we can. That does not detract from caring, or 'callings' or any of those things, but rather, it's what we are worth.

I guess I would restrict talk of 'callings' to those in the religion business.

[jenni82104]

:yeahthat:

[misouritraveller]

in response to the change of careers of the factory worker and the social worker who became nurses not having the calling, i think you are wrong. if they hadn't had the calling in their soul they never would have become the "great" nurses you discribe. the calling doesn't mean you are driven but this desire from birth but find that after years doing something else you find that this is the niche you really were meant to occupy for your life's work.

[Katnip, RN]

I can't agree that nursing is a "calling" any more than banking, engineering, or playing football is a calling.

People are born with personalities and talents that develop over time and lead them into professions they feel fit them.

There are a lot of very good nurses out there who will say they don't feel this is a calling for them. It is a profession like any other.

[misouritraveller]

nurses have to realize that they can control their own destiny. over 2 and a half nurses in the usa can make a very definite change in legistration if they become active in their local politics. this activism can change the attitude of hospital administrators and corporations that nurses don't make money for the hospital since their individual tasks are included in the room charge.

without nurses to care and treat the patients the large buildings that house patients would be nonexistant. nurses are caring individuals and feel a responsibility to their patients, hospital organizations and adminstors take advantage of this. they accuses nurses of abandoning their patients when nurses organize and walk out in reponse to depressingly low wages insufficient to support their families. yes, nurses can make a living wage but not in all areas of the country.

there are more single parents supporting families today then 20 years ago. these indiduals have to work ot or second positions to suport their famislies in the more expensive sections of the us. adding degrees to their resume doesn't solve the economic or shortage problem here in the usa. many who attain the advance degree move out of bedside nursing into administration or other areas. when they get into administration they soon forget their roots and buy into the hospital's bottom line at all costs thinking.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

I have to disagree. I think one must be a kind and caring person to be a good nurse, however that does not make it a calling. I know an RN who used to be a social worker, for many years. She actually didn't want to quit social work, but she couldn't support her family doing that. She switched to nursing. She's a great nurse.

Thank you! That's going to be me too! I was a social worker because I enjoyed helping people, but the stress of not being able to pay my bills with one job was killing me and my family. So nursing is not a "calling" for me, it is a necessity. Fortunately for me nursing fits my personality, I am very good at learning the information, learning to "critically think" (Something I did in my former life as well) and it will help me to support my family.

I'm also uncomfortable with the notion that those who push for higher and higher earnings in nursing are somehow bad. Not so. Time to stand up and get all the $$$s we can. That does not detract from caring, or 'callings' or any of those things, but rather, it's what we are worth.

I agree with this too! No one calls doctors and others in the "caring" professions bad because they stand up for more pay!

I guess I would restrict talk of 'callings' to those in the religion business.

This is great, I agree with this too!

I have not met many nurses that use this term. In fact, the Nurses I know that are admired within my Nursing community asked me one question about Nursing when I told them I was interested. "Can you handle a lot of stress?" NOT ONE asked me if I thought it was a "calling" or warned me to stay out because I did not think it was a "calling"!

I think it is so funny to see these kind of posts (usually by a pre-nursing student) that promote the stereotype of Nursing that is not accurate. I know a few Nurses that were/are motivated like me to be a nurse for other reasons in addition to having the chance to care. And they are still Nurses today!!

In fact, if I did not know them I probably would not be going into this field because I would have assumed the stereotype of nurses was true. I'm glad I know that their personality and intelligence mirrors my own and I am making the right choice.

To those of you whom find it to be a "calling" I think it is nice because this is what YOU use to keep yourself motivated. DO NOT presume the rest of us need to do the same to turn out to be good Nurses! I am sure there are plenty of student Nurses that think they have found his/her "calling" whom might FLUNK OUT/DROP OUT of school (Pre-reqs or Nursing). Or later, may end up being a bad Nurse because he/she does not have the abilities (intelligence, skill set, etc.) to be a good Nurse despite his/her belief that Nursing is his/her "calling".

[jameeladf]

This is silly. No one is "born". There are certainly some that are more naturally caring than others, but experience and life plays a major role in developing and expanding those tendencies. If you feel that you received some calling to be a nurse, than that is wonderful but I certainly do not believe that one has to think they have received a calling from the beyond to be an exceptionally talented and competent professional in the field of nursing.