Considering going into nursing. Advice?

[Andrew225]

So, I've been bouncing around for a while as to what I want to be...Engineer? Nope. English major? Nope. Philosophy? Nope....and on and on and on. Recently, something occurred to me; I want a job I can see myself in 10-15 years from now (perhaps it should be noted that I'm nineteen, a freshman in college, and, as the name implies, male.)

I came to two careers that met a must-have-degree, pay-acceptable and can-see-myself-doing-it-for-a-while criteria; teacher, and nurse.

Currently, my plan is to graduate with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology (As well as getting a teaching license), while devoting most of my elective credits to things that would transfer into nursing school. 1-2 years after the first degree, get a BSN, and go into intensive care for a few years. After that, with any luck I'd go into a CRNA school and graduate with a degree from there, and then...well, who know?

Now, I know the stats, I've talked to nurses (my own mother is a Nurse!) and find I typically like what I get back, and am more likely than nod and agree than shy away and shake my head at the ideas presented.

So really, I suppose my question is this; what makes a good nurse? What kind of person (or, almost just as importantly, male) would make a good nurse? (And not just good, but happy!).

Any and all advice/questions/comments/stories/etc is more than welcome.

Thank you,

-Andrew

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Andrew,

You sound like a great kid! Best advice? Listen to your mother - she's obviously got it all together & you couldn't have a better role model. Gender is far less important than competency in the 'real world' of nursing practice. Other than areas in which patients overwhelmingly prefer female nurses, there's no problem.

The biggest challenge may be adapting to a female-dominant environment - in school and in the workplace. This is certainly not the norm in general, and probably not for you specifically because of your current course of study - women are still very much a minority in STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) majors. Entering nursing school will be an abrupt change.