Is nursing hereditary?

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

This post has no medical value, just a simple curiosity.

I work with so many nurses whose mothers/aunts/sisters/brothers are nurses. I am the 1st nurse in my family. Grandpas brother was a Dr, till he died at an early age. I have 1 uncle who is a psychiatrist-but besides that no one in the medical field.

Now that I am a nurse, my 17 year old daughter is looking into nursing school and a nephew of mine wants to become a nurse too.

So what do you think? Is nursing hereditary? Once someone in the family becomes a nurse do others follow?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I don't think it is any different than any profession.

I am the first nurse and/or medical person in my entire family going way way back.

But now that there is a medical person in the family, it can't help but influence one way or the other.

My 18 year old daughter had her interest in dentistry piqued while in Vietnam with me last summer. However, actress is #1, then an MBA, then Hairdresser, THEN dentistry.

steph

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

My mother and her sister are both LPN's. I always swore that I would never follow in their footsteps. Amazing how things change! After spending six years taking care of a sick parent, it didn't seem that bad.

[kxvc]

I have often wondered the same thing. My mom met my father while he was in medical school and she was in nursing school. I grew up in hospitals and watched my first delivery when I was just 4 years old. There has never been a doubt in my mind that medicine is what I want to go into. I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I wonder if it is because I feel so comfortable around it because I have grown up with it.

Good question.

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

Maybe possible. My mom was a nurse, as was an aunt or two.

Probably has more to do with the fact that children usually look up to there parents and aspire to be like them though.

[leslie :-D]

i don't think 'heriditary', rather more 'traditional'.

many families tend to follow in the footsteps as a more honorary route.

no one in my family wants to be a nurse.

they see all the 'junk' i'm covered in when i come home.:)

leslie

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

i don't think 'heriditary', rather more 'traditional'.

many families tend to follow in the footsteps as a more honorary route.

no one in my family wants to be a nurse.

they see all the 'junk' i'm covered in when i come home.:)

leslie

Yeah, no one in my family wants to be a nurse either . . .

steph

[Simplepleasures]

My sister, my cousin and my daughter(soon to be).I tried to discourage her, but oh well, I am proud she is brave.

[lvnandmomx3]

My mom started nursing in trade shool while in high school, she did not finish though. I had always wanted to become a nurse, did CNA in high school though I never worked as one. I became and LVN at age 32, pursuing RN now. My MIL is a CNA and I have an aunt that does caregivng/home health but that is all. My daughter wants to become a veternarian she is 11 and that is all she has had her sights on since she could talk...... I wouldn't say is hereditary but like others have said I do believe its may traditional or that family follows in the steps of a role model.

[cmonkey]

My father, pgf, and paternal uncle are/were all docs. My mgm was a nurse. My pgm was a TB social worker. My mother (not a nurse/doc) did a ton of work on the AIDS database back in the '90s. So there's definitely *something* going on .. 30+ years on I'm finally giving into whatever it it is. But I'm NOT going to med school!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

My grandmother was a student nurse during World War I, but I'm the first (and so far, only) registered nurse in my family. My mother's favorite expression was "I'm no Florence Nightingale"---she could hardly even stand cleaning up my skinned knees---and as for my kids, they've shown little to no interest in following in my footsteps. It's OK. The oldest girl is a budding graphic designer and a wonderful mom, the younger daughter is an Army air-traffic controller and a wonderful mom, the older son vacillates between joining the Navy and becoming a mechanic, and my "baby" is going to be an attorney. Not a nurse in this bunch, I'm afraid......but who knows, maybe the nursing thing will rub off on one of the grandchildren at some point.

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

Ya I dont think it is "hereditary" as in Brown eyes or blond hair. But it seems as though it tends to run in families. I just find it interesting how many families have tons of nurses(or some other sort of the medical field) and families who have no one in the profession.

Maybe I am just all about nursing right now in my life and am noticing more about it...who knows maybe plumbers have the same sort of "heredity"