Does nursing have to be your "calling" for you to be a great nurse?

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

I believe you can and will still be a good nurse. I personally don't think every nurse has the "I was called" feeling. For me, it was just seemed normal after taking care of a sick parent for years. However, I don't consider that a calling.

travis73 · Feb 13, 2009

I've worked in factory and high speed production jobs for the last 18 years. Those types of jobs are being out sourced to other countries due to our current political/economic environment. Just before Christmas we were told that our plant would shut down in March.

I chose nursing as a new carreer because it is stable, in demand, and mobile. I will do the best job possible because that is how I will support my family. Period.

As long as the patient recieves the best care you can provide, thats all that matters.

Thats what I think any ways.

Riseupandnurse · Feb 13, 2009

I had several other jobs and even a whole other career before I went into nursing. After interacting extensively with the new generation of nurses, I believe that we are all in serious trouble if nursing has to be a "calling." Just take it seriously and do a good job.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 13, 2009

in a word: "no."

VORB · Feb 13, 2009

I'm in it for the career potential. Nothing more, nothing less. I've worked in about 5 other fields, and this is the best.

Don't let anyone question why you're a nurse. As long as you, your manager and patients are happy, that's all that really matters.

Chaya, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

I let just that line of thinking keep me out of this career for the first half of my life. I finally got into nursing thinking I might like it and might be pretty good at it, and it feels right to me. After all-who's to say nursing is any less your ultimate destiny just because your path to it is less direct?

PeteyPie · Feb 13, 2009

I think your friend is being shortsighted in suggesting that everyone lands into the perfect fitting job field the first time. It takes time to decide if a particular field is right for you. It sounds like you were not happy in law and are willing to try something else.

Personally, I've worked in Information Technology for the last 10 years, and I hated it. I loved computers, but working in the corporate world just wasn't for me. I hated putting on a shirt and tie working 9 to 5 with the only personal satisfaction coming from making our bottom line more efficient. For me, it was a life without purpose. I was unhappy and changed. I'm now in my second semester of nursing school, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

So I say go for it. If nursing doesn't work out, you can always try something else.

minnie82 · Feb 13, 2009

To those that have chosen a career, loved it, and stuck with it, KUDOS to you!

In my opinion, that RARELY happens.

I have a BS in Biology and had my heart set on becoming a pharmacist. That all changed after working as a tech for two years.

I just started my first week in a nursing program and a good percentage of my class are people that chose nursing as a second career.

Don't let anyone bother you with negative comments.

Unaquaint yourself with them.

sunray12 · Feb 13, 2009

I'm a second degree/second career student. I got my bachelor's in psych. and had intended on going to law school. I did, and I hated it. Hated the people, hated the aggressiveness. After a year, I felt convinced that arguing all day every day would break me. I have always wanted to help people and advocate for them, but I didn't feel like the legal arena was the best place for me, personally, to do that. After leaving law school, I took the first job I could get because of the educational loan debt I was in, and have been working in community mental health since that time.
I've wanted to pursue nursing since before I left law school. My mother is a nurse, and I really believe that I possess the same qualities that she does that have made nursing a good fit for her. So my question is, does nursing really have to be your first choice for it to be the best choice for you? Does it have to be your "calling"? An acquaintance of mine recently insinuated that I wasn't "called" into this profession because it will be my second career/second degree. Maybe I was called, just in a different way then others. Regardless, it seems like no one can accept that I simply changed my mind. I feel like I'm perceived as a quitter. I took a chance and tried something, and it didn't work out. I've researched and put a great deal of time into getting information about nursing in an attempt to be sure that this is, in fact, the right path, but I'm so sick of people like the one I referenced above. How do you second degree people out there deal with questions and statements like this?
Thanks everyone so much for any advice! :bowingpur

By your friend's definition many priests, church ministers and other people in religious life must be lying about God's call simply because they had other careers before they took up the ministry. Many people say they were called to lead, but since most leaders don't become leaders right out of grade school chances are they take other career paths first. This doesn't mean that they can't be called to lead. Your friend's logic is faulty and I wouldn't pay it any attention. Not every good nurse had a calling in the religious sense of the word. But the definition of calling doesn't say it's only a calling if you've never done anything else with your life.

Your decision should not be about other people's perceptions - it should be about what you want. And you shouldn't feel defensive about your choices. If people have something complimentary or supportive to say then that's fine - after all its never a small thing to prepare to take on a professional course of study - and you will have done that twice. If they're negative then you should ignore them.

feralnostalgia · Feb 13, 2009

I'd majored in three other programs at two entirely different schools before I switched to nursing.

frankly, I plan on back to school for whatever I feel like, probably not related to medicine, and using nursing to support myself while I follow whatever fancy I want to. I wanted something that would make me useful if I decided to volunteer overseas, or if I ended up living in a commune (I'm a crazy environmentalist, I have concrete plans for living in a hobbit hole.) I also wanted something that I could get me a decent paying job pretty much anywhere, enough that I could go back to school every few years if I wanted to. botany, anthropology, and various arts and languages are definitely on my list.

I have never had any overwhelming desire to be around sick people or clean up after them. I do, however, hate to see people in pain and I hate not being able to help them even more. nursing is a good fit, and a very practical decision after several years of highly impractical ones. I'm not sure I'd call it a calling. helping people? yes I feel called to do that, but nursing is only one way of enabling me to help people in lots of ways.

Reno1978, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2009

Nope.