How did you discover you want to do this?

twentytenRN · Mar 5, 2010

I've known since I was a child. Loved playing "nurse" with my baby dolls. Always fascinated by the human body and how it works and the different disease processes. Couldn't get enough of watching "medical" shows on TV. I love science, especially biology. Lots of people go into nursing as a second career. See if you could shadow a nurse. This would be the best "no-strings attached" route to get in there and see what we do.

nrsnic, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2010

i sort of fell on it, so to speak. i was actually more interested in being a cop than being a nurse when i graduated high school. nobody on either side of my family went to college long enough to get a degree in anything, but both my aunt and uncle were sheriff's deputies. after returning home a year after high school graduation from a failed (and stupidly begun) marriage, i had to find a job, and fast. i spent $200 dollars on a phlebotomy class and got snapped up by the local clinic. i moved two years later to a larger area with an acute care hospital.

now here's where it gets really interesting...one night, while i was assigned to nicu, i was called to stand by during a delivery because a hydrops baby was being delivered via c-section. there were two nurses, an rt, and the neonatologist (all of whom i adore and stay friends with to this day). well, they get this kid out on the warmer and rt is focused on the airway, the two nurses are working like maniacs to get an umbi line in, and the doc is running back and forth between both sides trying to get chest tubes in. i am standing out of the way next to the new father who is less than an inch from falling on the floor in a faint.

i was literally on my toes, poised for the call "line's in, let's get that blood draw," when the doc looked up and around and said "anyone have any free hands?" his and my eyes met, he beckoned me over, and then he put in my right hand a 20 cc syringe attached to a tube that was attached to a large bore needle that was acting as a chest tube for that baby. he then took my left thumb and forefinger, pinched them around that damn chest tube, and then showed me how to withdraw the air from the chest cavity with my right hand and the syringe and told me, ever so calmly, to try not to move my left hand much.

that was the longest two minutes of my life. i will never forget it. it was in that moment, when i very steadily did something that was well beyond my scope of practice, that i knew i would do it again. right after the thought of "i am helping this baby survive its first few minutes" came the thought that all it took was having free hands to help someone literally overcome death.

to those of you out there who realize and understand how this is not anywhere close to everyday nursing, even in an nicu, know that i have loved every minute of my time spent caring for people. i went from the above to caring for elderly toward the end of their life. that too was an extremely rewarding experience. since then, i have come to the conclusion that there is little in nursing that i can't do and more than i can ever do in a lifetime.

lisamc1RN, LPN · Mar 5, 2010

I saw my mom go to LPN school when I was a teenager. After she graduated, she helped me get a job as a nursing assistant at her former LTC. I was 16 and so wide eyed about all the going on in nursing homes. I really didn't like the back breaking labor of being a nurse assistant, but I loved, loved, LOVED the residents there. I watched my mom and other nurses and decided that I would like to do that, too. It was a long road just to get to my lpn, as I decided to be a wife and mother first, and support my husband as he went for his masters degree and built his career, but I'm finally a nurse and I love it. I knew I would.

aura_of_laura · Mar 5, 2010

What did you get your Masters in? It seems a little roundabout to go into nursing if you've spent 6+ years pursuing another field!

aura_of_laura · Mar 5, 2010

I see from a previous post that you're getting a Masters in philosophy... which qualifies you to work at Starbucks.

... I am entirely joking - I was a philosophy major before switching to nursing. The sad truth of it is, most of my philosophy-major friends are working at Starbucks. Or Caribou. Now that I have gainful employment, I've thought about going back to philosophy for the heck of it :)

I can tell you that nursing will wreak havoc on a lot of philosophy. All those noble and ignoble truths about human nature fly out the window when you start working with actual human beings..! After a little while, though, they blend terrifically.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with shadowing (who does that, anyway?). You can find out the basics by talking to nurses, and you might as well just go for it. Nursing is a fascinating art/science, and, unlike philosophy (where you'll spend the next thirty years trying to say something new or meaningful and wrangling for tenure) there's tremendous potential for personal and professional growth.

Cathylady · Mar 5, 2010

I have my Master's degree and am making more money in my field and than I would as a nurse but looking back I wish I hadn't let that keep me from going into nursing. Now I'm close to retiring but have some regrets. Don't let having your Master's degree keep you from doing what you really want to do.

RunningRNBSN · Mar 5, 2010

I actually had no intentions of pursuing nursing, and in fact didn't want to pursue it at all. I was first a biology/pre-med major and changed that after a few years and transferred to a large university.

I wanted to be a nuclear medicine tech or a radiology tech -- well, I could never get in touch with anyone from those programs. As I was walking around campus one day, I decided to go to the "Health Sciences" building, which is essentially the nursing building (did not know it at the time). I walked into the main office and the lady told me that nuclear medicine and radiology was a different office but she asked me to sit down to talk about nursing.

After a 45 minute conversation with her, I walked out enrolled in pre-nursing and signed up for all of the core pre-requisites. 2 1/2 years later I graduated with my BSN. I have no regrets though!

RunningRNBSN · Mar 5, 2010

I see from a previous post that you're getting a Masters in philosophy... which qualifies you to work at Starbucks.
... I am entirely joking - I was a philosophy major before switching to nursing. The sad truth of it is, most of my philosophy-major friends are working at Starbucks. Or Caribou. Now that I have gainful employment, I've thought about going back to philosophy for the heck of it :)

I've only met a few philosophy majors and each of them worked at Starbucks! How funny! LoL.. Both of them were going back to school to pursue something in the healthcare field.

onthefence · Mar 5, 2010

So from this thread I get playing with dolls or mom was a nurse. I do not think that either apply to me, unless the doll memory is repressed deep deep down in my psyche. Does anyone have ideas about what I can do to find out more about if this is for me?

RunningRNBSN · Mar 5, 2010

So from this thread I get playing with dolls or mom was a nurse. I do not think that either apply to me, unless the doll memory is repressed deep deep down in my psyche. Does anyone have ideas about what I can do to find out more about if this is for me?

There were only 2 posters that said they pursued it because of childhood memories (one from dolls, one from mom).. the others were nothing of the sort.

Why do you want to pursue nursing? That is a question only you can answer. There is a reason you were thinking about it... what were those reasons?

You could shadow a nurse to get a better idea of what they do. Nursing is tough -- far more exhausting than I would have ever imagined. It is physically, emotionally, and mentally draining.

Silent Prayer · Mar 5, 2010

Because I was a patient first. I've been on the recieving end of the IV. I know how it feels and I believe that will make me a superior healer.