Do I want to be a nurse for the wrong reasons?

Honestly, I think more nurses are like you than aren't. Those with heaps of "compassion" and a love of listening to parents talk normally choose an avenue that encourages that, such as psychiatric nursing.

Reading your post, I think you should absolutely go for it. You sound like you want to be a nurse for all the right reasons, to HELP people. I think that the issue you are talking about is being human. Some of the best medical professionals or heck, even other professions that help people like teachers, dont want to listen to people go on and on. Who knows, you might become a nurse and enjoy this part of nursing more than you ever imagine, you are bound to change when training for this career.

Also, since you have thought about this for so long, have the support to do, then think to yourself, will you spend the next 10, 20, 30 years wondering if you should have just gone for it? If you think that that is a big possibility, then you should do it. You are a crossroads but honestly, to me it sounds like you have already decided deep in your gut. I think you will be great. Good luck to you!

I have a bit of your situation in that I love the workings of the body and knowing how things work. Whenever my children are prescribed meds I always look up just how they work on the bacteria and I find it fascinating. I do have compassion for people and want to help but I think you also have to have a curiosity for the details too. Just my opinion, I'm just finishing prerecs and about to apply to a BSN program.

As an aside, have you considered getting certified as a CNA and working as a CNA while you do an associates program? CNA training is short. In some cases you can get a LTC facility to pay for your CNA class. You don't make a lot of money but then you're working sooner than with an LPN and you don't have that much more past LPN for an AA program. Just a thought.

Your interest in the medical/science part of nursing sounds like most of the nursing and prenursing students I know. You need to have human compassion and care for humanity but you don't need to be "a people person" or the most empathetic person neccessarily. Some sort of balance is probably best for both the professionals involved and the patients. Good luck! Also you might want to look into the LPN job market in your area before deciding on what kind of program to enter. In some markets LPN's are usually only employed at LTC facilites. They might not deal with the parts of nursing that really hold your interest. In others, your plan of starting as an LPN and working your way up from there over time might be a great strategy.

Also you might want to look into the LPN job market in your area before deciding on what kind of program to enter. In some markets LPN's are usually only employed at LTC facilites. They might not deal with the parts of nursing that really hold your interest. In others, your plan of starting as an LPN and working your way up from there over time might be a great strategy.

Good advice! : )

OP, the time you spent in the hospital with your mom probably gave you a pretty good idea that you'd be okay with the hospital environment. For myself, one of the biggest dilemmas I have with bedside nursing is that for all of the wonderful technology, knowledge, skills and compassion nurses may have to offer, it can be an endless juggling act. Several balls are in the air at any one time and they are constantly changing in weight and number and direction! Also, there often is literally more that needs to be done than can realistically be done by the nurse. And somethings you simply have no power over but you bear the brunt of being a first-line provider. You've got a bunch of new orders that need to be done, physicians to call, a patient who is nauseated, another patient to prep for a procedure, another patient who needs pain medicine, another patient who was just given a bad diagnosis, is scared and has a ton of questions. Wherever you start, the ever-changing nature of acute health conditions means nothing every goes according to schedule. Anything can be bumped at any time for an emergency. Or it may be more mundane, you discover a patient ate something when they're supposed to be NPO and now the procedure must be postponed. You may now need to get new orders (leave a message for physician, hope that you're available to take the call when they call back sometime in the next hour). While you still need to do that dressing change, change that IV, and find some pillows for your newest patient since the linen closet is empty (again!). Some folks thrive in that environment . Just like some folks are okay in their cubicle M-F 9-5. No one loves everything about their job. Full-time bedside nurses are 12 hours straight, 3-4 days a week, 12 months a year, often working holidays, weekends, etc.

Just food for thought! It sounds like nursing might be a good fit for you!

Thank you all for the posts and thoughts to ponder. I think grasshopper7780 has really made me stop and think, I don't want to spend the next 20 years wishing I would have done it. The worse that can happen is I go to school for a year, work a few years and if I decide it wasn't for me after all, then I will always know. The best that can happen is I do it and love it and spend the rest of my life never regretting it. Seems like a small price to pay to finally answer the question I have been asking myself ever since I was a little girl.

I am going to go for it!!

Whew! I am going to go back to school to become a nurse! That sounds really good to say.

Thank you again and I am looking forward to reading and sharing on this forum. What a great community you guys have here.

You sound like the ideal nurse to me. My only concern is that the accidemic rigor is pretty intense, and I couldn't have done it at your age- I was too far removed from study-homework-class... Also, if you are looking at working at only an acute care hospital- forget about LPN. The job opportunities are not there for new grad RNs let alone new grad LPNs.

Don't let your age stop you. I went back to school at the ripe ol age of 46 and at first, I was scared to death. But after a few scary weeks of "blowing the cobwebs off of my brain", I have done very well. In fact I just graduated with honors from our local communtity college and was accepted to the University to continue on and get my BSN! You can and should do it! It sounds to me like you truly have the heart for Nursing!

Hi Suanna,

I get what you're saying. I am figuring that my working environment wont be the ideal setting that I envision for quite a while (few years I am guessing), but I am open to almost any option that will provide experience and opportunities.

As far as going back to school, my current job requires continuing education every year and last year I had to take another state test to upgrade my license level which required numerous classes beforehand which I took over the summer prior. Seems like I am always in school and learning for my current job. However, it is not in the medical/health field.

I am looking at getting started as an LPN to begin the process of going on to an RN. I just cannot commit 2 years to a school (let alone 4) right now. Although my husband is making enough for us to get by (forget any extras), I don't trust his job lasting. I figure with the LPN under my belt, it leaves some breathing room to then go on to an RN degree. If his job is secure, then I can work part time wherever I can while continuing on with my education.

My end all goal will be to become an RN and within 5 years have a steady enough job for my husband & I to trade places and he can go back to school. He loves children and always wanted to be a teacher. Although we aren't getting any younger, if it is what he wants to do, then I want him to have the opportunity to do it.

It would have been so much easier right out of high school if I had parents that actually understood why college was so important and had planned for me to go. But I am willing to do what it takes now and if it means baby steps along the way, then baby steps it shall be.

I so appreciate all the comments, and like I said, honesty, even if it is brutal, it is what I am looking for.

The only thing I wish that could be different is the amount of students going into nursing as the media has created such a frenzy over it. I know of several people that have gone into the field soley for the money they think they can earn and thought it would be so easy. Makes it so much more difficult for those that truely want to go into it to get into reputable schools and then find good, secure jobs. Maybe by the time I am done, those people will leave the profession and open up spots for the rest of us that really want to be there. Who knows....

Sounds like you would be a competent nurse. DO IT!! =)

You know…many of the skills you mentioned in your post are done in LTC too. You will be checking the Apical Heart Rate with your stethoscope before administering Digoxin. You will be checking the resident’s blood pressure before administering the blood pressure medicine. You will be listening to the resident’s lung sounds before and after breathing treatments. You will have wound dressing changes to do. You may have short-term residents there for rehab. I thought that when I did my LTC rotation that I would mainly be pushing pills and talking with the residents. I was wrong. I did similar tasks that I do during my med/surg rotations in the hospitals.

I think, from reading your post, that nursing is right for you. I say do it.

You know...many of the skills you mentioned in your post are done in LTC too. You will be checking the Apical Heart Rate with your stethoscope before administering Digoxin. You will be checking the resident's blood pressure before administering the blood pressure medicine. You will be listening to the resident's lung sounds before and after breathing treatments. You will have wound dressing changes to do. You may have short-term residents there for rehab. I thought that when I did my LTC rotation that I would mainly be pushing pills and talking with the residents. I was wrong. I did similar tasks that I do during my med/surg rotations in the hospitals.

I think, from reading your post, that nursing is right for you. I say do it.

Thank you for the info. I never really thought about what all takes place in a LTC facility. I guess I envisioned that in a nursing home for the elderly, all you did all day was help them to the bathroom or clean up afterwards and help feed them if needed. Of course, driving past some of the LTC facilities around here, they are like mini hospitals and spa resorts. I wonder if I called up a few of them and asked for a tour to see what their LPNs do if they would be open to that? I will have to make some calls and see what they say.