Did you choose nursing because it was your "calling"?

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  1. Was nursing your calling?

    • 20
      Yes
    • 56
      Not at all
    • 27
      To some degree
    • 4
      Other

107 members have participated

Hello :) I'm a first year in college interested in pursuing nursing.

Did you feel "called" to be a nurse? Did your expectations of nursing fit reality?

I read that people who choose nursing because of their desire to help others, rather than the actual enjoyment of the job, were more likely to burn out quicker.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm trying not to see nursing as a profession that is always "rainbows and butterflies" and to not let that cloud my expectations of nursing.

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Pay was my calling, but I do enjoy taking care my patients especially the chubby babies

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Not really. I chose nursing because I was looking for a steady, good paying career....and I thought that Psychiatric Nurse sounded like a really neat job.

I guess it was in my blood though. :) I had several nurses in my family!

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No I chose a career I was interested in and thought I'd be good at. I was right on both. now and then I feel called to retire lol but I have to ignore that calling for now.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

What does that mean, exactly - to be "called" to nursing? To me that implies a religious component, as if you received a message from G-d. Or is there another, more secular meaning of which I am unaware?

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I chose to go into nursing because it aligned neatly with my personal values and world view, but I would not consider it a "calling" in the religious sense that most people mean the term. I considered a few other professions at the same time, and nursing "won" on the basis of practical considerations (pros and cons).

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Nursing is more combat with rations than it is butterflies and rainbows. By a lot. The *calling* doesn't really exist anymore. The working conditions are not anything that most would be called to do. The actual job these days is much different than yesteryear. People can be *called* to their idea of nursing but not the reality of nursing. You're not going to take care of people in the way that you imagine (general you).

I love the challenges, well I do now that I have a lot of experience behind me and my kids are grown. Not so much when I needed to pick up and take care of my kids, then I just wanted smooth.

It's ironic isn't it, that smooth comes when you don't need it as much?

You really have to like *blood and guts*, you're own, to know if you're wired for it. At least for the beginning.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

It has been my observation that "the calling" folks burn out far faster than those who chose the steady employment, middle-class pay and benefits and who find the work interesting and challenging and the scheduling flexible.

My expectations of nursing were shaped by my mother, who never let her lack of actual knowledge get in the way of her strong opinions. She told me to be a nurse because I'd spend my days "in the nurse's station drinking coffee and talking to the doctors while someone else does all the work." She never let anything I told her based on my actual experience in nursing change her mind, either, although that is subject for another thread. Consequently I was SHOCKED when I started my first job and found out what nurses really did.

I hated nursing, really, truly hated it. My first year was profoundly miserable. I cried on the way to work, I cried on the way home, I cried in the bathroom AT work and I cried at home thinking about going to work. But after that first year, something "clicked" and I began to feel comfortable. I liked my colleagues, I liked most of the work. And after I found my niche in ICU, I loved it.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I had/have a desire to help people, and I have aspirations within nursing that I believe to be a calling of sorts (involving a particular Christian surgical missions group)... but I don't consider *nursing* a calling. Last year my husband and I took a walk through the Gangnam district of Seoul; they have plastic surgery centers like Seattle has Starbucks. I can't picture myself enjoying aesthetic OR nursing, let alone feeling called to it. I feel the same about informatics or utilization review. I may do non-bedside if I was unable to do bedside -- but that would be out of necessity, not because I felt called to it.

As far as why I went into nursing, I did because I was studying music initially. I decided I didn't want to be unemployed after spending 6 figures on my education. I had worked as a CNA though, liked it, and liked that I would be gainfully employed with a short educational track. So I decided to advance from CNA to RN.

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Thanks Ruby Vee for sharing your experience. I'm glad you ended up finding your niche and loving it!

I'm trying to research nursing as much as I can because I do not want to end up hating my career choice! So far, I find the career very challenging, interesting, and rewarding. Plus the good pay, steady job, and all the specializations I could choose from.. I am leaning towards pursuing nursing the most.

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical/Telemetry RN.

For me it was a sense of duty. A duty to take care of anyone in need. I also think that nurses are truly the backbone of healthcare. I wanted to do more than just treat a disease and give the patient some sound advice. I wanted to actually work with the patient and see them improve day by day because people need connection with others. In nursing I can build that connection with people that I care for and truly help them get better. The nursing process in my opinion surpasses medicine because medicine can fail people. Something can go wrong with the surgery, or you have an untreatable disease. Again if you were the patient who is going to be with you when you hear that. The nurse will. As a nurse you have many opportunities to dig deep into people's lives and have meaningful conversations with them so they don't feel that they are alone in the fight against a life threatening disease. Nurses do the little things that make the most difference in a patient's life. This is why I became a nurse.

Hope to be a humanitarian nurse with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) after nursing school.

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For me it was a sense of duty. A duty to take care of anyone in need. I also think that nurses are truly the backbone of healthcare. I wanted to do more than just treat a disease and give the patient some sound advice. I wanted to actually work with the patient and see them improve day by day because people need connection with others. In nursing I can build that connection with people that I care for and truly help them get better. The nursing process in my opinion surpasses medicine because medicine can fail people. Something can go wrong with the surgery, or you have an untreatable disease. Again if you were the patient who is going to be with you when you hear that. The nurse will. As a nurse you have many opportunities to dig deep into people's lives and have meaningful conversations with them so they don't feel that they are alone in the fight against a life threatening disease. Nurses do the little things that make the most difference in a patient's life. This is why I became a nurse.

Hope to be a humanitarian nurse with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) after nursing school.

Get ready for a rude awakening. ..deep conversation !!! Too funny

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