Why are you REALLY going into nursing? Honest answers please.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2004

Now, you're probably wondering why I had to share these stories in order to tell you WHY I am going into nursing. Again, nursing is something I always dreamed of doing.....But when these nurses gave such wonderful care to my children, they made a huge impact on not only my children's lives, but my life as well. I guess, in some ways, I almost feel a need to "repay" them by providing that same level of care to MY patients. I see the difference that they made in our lives and I want to do the same for others. Maybe this all sounds cheesy but I can honestly say that money isn't a factor in my decision to go into nursing. I've been a stay at home mom for 12 yrs now so we've managed to make it on my husband's salary for this long...I actually decided to go back to school just last year because my "baby" will be starting school next year and I kept wondering how I'd deal with that and what I'd do without any children at home......and then I decided to go back to school so that by the time he starts school, I will have a life of my own outside of the kids. Medicine has always been very interesting to me and I'm a "people" person. Nothing feels better in life than to know that I've done something to help my fellow man....I guess you could say that for me, nursing truly does feel like a calling to me. I really feel that this is where God wants me to be at this point in my life and I couldn't be happier about it. Of course, I'll have to admit that the extra income will be an added bonus!

Not cheesy at all -- thanks for sharing your story! :)

arudarbme · Jun 23, 2004

i didn't have many choices when i finished highschool. back then in my poor provincial life, i was only fed with the idea of nursing, then wanting to become a doctor. my titas did encourage me, because they wnated me to go to the United States. :) i went into nursing, got attached to it, learned and loved the financial security it would bring, loved being with people (sick or well). lastly, and perhaps the most important reason (of which i just came to realize its importance) is the opportunity to be able to help them , understand them, relieve people's burden's, share their burdens, and love them.

what about you???? :rolleyes:

guest22304 · Jun 23, 2004

My reasons for becoming a nurse:

1. Pretty good pay

2. Lots of job opportunities

3. Shift work I can pick from

4. Helping others. Yes this is last on my list b/c everything else is more important. But I do think I will enjoy nursing, or I wouldn't have chosen it as a career.

totallytheresa · Jun 23, 2004

I can tell you why I am going into nursing. I have always always worked with people, and I am very compassionate. Also, I came to the realization that my deadbeat ex husband will never help support my kids, so I needed to find a career where I can make a good living, and that is a possibility with nursing! PLus there is great job security, if you're good at what you do, which I am aspiring to be! Also, because I find people to be so very interesting! How different we all are, our bodies, etc.... I love learning new things, and having that knowledge to really help people, that is going to be great. I am excited to meet new people, and have a nice future ahead of me!

Ok, I'm a bit frustrated with all of these posts telling us that we shouldn't go into nursing because we need a job and steady income. Sure, I do like to help people, but I need a steady job even more. So, I decided to post a poll to see if we can get some honest answers.

RN2BinPA · Jun 23, 2004

Ok, so if you weren't paid for that, would you still do it? Seriously.
:uhoh21:

I know I certainly would. Yes, the pay is a HUGE bonus, DO NOT get me wrong! But if your heart is not in the patient care, then is it really worth it to you? I mean think about it. I have been in several hospitals and exposed to the medical field long enough, and nothing irratates me more than a nurse for the money! You can tell these one's. I certainly do not want to judge character, but I can say that there are a few that made me SOOOOOOOOOO very mad when my grandma was in the hospital, I just wanted to throw them right down in her bed and treat them like they were her. (and they were the healthy one, wouldn't have liked it, IM SURE!!!) That gave me all the more inspiration to start the career I was born into. I just wish that all of them had thier heart behind it and realize they too some day could be treated in a terrible manner when they are very ill. I am not saying that all the $$$ nurses do, but you certainly can feel the difference. And in another defense, all the patients that I've seen on *low income* insurance think they are getting blown off in the ER's because they have to "wait". Well, maybe we should put them behind the scenes to show them .....everyone has priorities, and it's not a place to earn frequent flyer miles!!!! :angryfire

Saved_by_Grace · Jun 24, 2004

"and in another defense, all the patients that i've seen on *low income* insurance think they are getting blown off in the er's because they have to "wait". well, maybe we should put them behind the scenes to show them .....everyone has priorities, and it's not a place to earn frequent flyer miles!!!! :angryfire"

do you really feel it's fair to "label" all low income people like that? i am one of those people you are labeling, as i am struggling financially to get though nursing school after being layed off from the telecom industry. i use medicaid for my children as i am unemployed right now. i understand that waiting is a part of life and have never thought that was why i was being blown off. it's the one's that label people as such that make me feel that way. :rolleyes: but i respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. and i'm sure some patients that may be low income may seem that way, unappreciative to what is going on behind the scenes, while they are out in er room waiting.you just might not wanna label people is all i'm saying. i might get flamed for this but just wanted to share that not everyone on assistance is like that.:)

totallytheresa · Jun 24, 2004

you're right about labeling and also stereotyping, but i have to tell you, a great number of people on assistance of some type are not grateful for the help they get, they believe they are entitled to it and get very angry when things don't happen like they think they should, and get defensive in their thinking that they are being made to wait, after someone else. maybe that's their defense mechanisms, who knows. i have had to get public assistance before, and medicaid, and the things i have seen!!! many people i have witnessed in the offices as well as where they get their care, etc.. get mad and demanding. all the while it's like some big social convention, visiting with their buddies, wearing lots of jewelry, dressed to the nines, etc... there is great abuse of the system out there. so sometimes it's a little hard to remain pleasant when hard working people have to see that going on!

"and in another defense, all the patients that i've seen on *low income* insurance think they are getting blown off in the er's because they have to "wait". well, maybe we should put them behind the scenes to show them .....everyone has priorities, and it's not a place to earn frequent flyer miles!!!! :angryfire"
do you really feel it's fair to "label" all low income people like that? i am one of those people you are labeling, as i am struggling financially to get though nursing school after being layed off from the telecom industry. i use medicaid for my children as i am unemployed right now. i understand that waiting is a part of life and have never thought that was why i was being blown off. it's the one's that label people as such that make me feel that way. but i respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. and i'm sure some patients that may be low income may seem that way, unappreciative to what is going on behind the scenes, while they are out in er room waiting.you just might not wanna label people is all i'm saying. i might get flamed for this but just wanted to share that not everyone on assistance is like that.:)

DeanG · Jun 24, 2004

I am going because I am in need of a steady job, with a decent income and health insurance. I"ve earned a BS in psychology and have worked in social services and have lost my jobs in the past due to State Budget Cuts and Layoffs. My husband works for a small busniss and gets no Health Insurance at his job. I've dealt with the public before and worked in a psychiatric hospital doing things that I'm sure legally only a nurse or CNA should of done, but due to a shortage of nurses, myself and others had to. The RN at the end of my name will hopefully add some job security. As for the job itself, I don't believe there is anything I (or anyone else) can't do if they put their mind to it.

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jun 24, 2004

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68585&highlight=medicaid

There is a thread on medicaid abuse going elsewhere. Let's try and keep this one on track. Thank you :)

2ner · Jun 24, 2004

I love the idea that I can actually make a difference is someone's life. In clinical we're only given one patient at a time, but I help classmates with their patients. I fall in love with each and every patient i encounter (even the mean ones). I find myself putting them in their shoes (i'm a very empathetic person....which will probably be my downfall one day, but i hope it NEVER changes).

I love being able to spend time with my patient, rubbing their foreheads while they try to relax and recover, not to mention their emotional needs. I love being able to listen, which so few of my patients have anyone to bounce their feelings off of. Even if you only make one person comfortable and feel loved, it's a great day.

It's the neatest feeling to have a break through with one of my patients that was in end stage COPD with not alot of options in front of her, I stay with her, rubbing her forehead. It was too funny b/c she asked me, "Do you do that with all your patients?" And she requested i kept doing it, with a tear in her eye. I really feel that that woman truley felt love that day and to me that was the greatest feeling for me.

Patients writing poems to you, greet you with a smile and hug, tear up when you leaave. These are all great, it really offsets the negatives.

Not to mention nursing is a steady, respectable career to go into, but you truly have to take the good with the bad and focus more on that good feeling you get when you help someone. It's also a secure job in which you can make a decent living. I'm not going into this to become rich because that will never happen, but life is not all about money (in my opinion at least).

RN2BinPA · Jun 24, 2004

i am sorry, i guess i should not have used the *low income* direction. but, in my days in the ed.....the frequent flyers there, where the ones with the "state issued/lower priced" insurance who would come in for the runny noses, sore throats, achy pains, and not seem to appreciate the fact that they are fortunate enough to have the insurance. instead, many of them seemed to use it to help get drugs for thier *booboo* to help with their drug addictions. i certainly did not mean that to be directed, i apologize for that. and i was not labeling all low income people just to clarify, i was talking about the one's who abuse the right to this insurance. but you always here (and yes i still today in the practice hear it) "i had to wait so long because of my insurance". "or she didnt give me the treatment i was supposed to get because of my insurance". it does not matter if you come on top paying rates of insurance, your problem would have been treated the same, on that given day. no, i am not blowing you off because of your insurance, half the time i pay no mind to the type of insurance you have, but when you are making your frequent flyer trips here, of course your going to have to wait when there are much higher priority cases than your runny coughy stuffy head, needing so you can rest medicine, that you were just seen for two days ago. i am sorry that i am not able to *type* out the point i was trying to make clearly. but i was trying to state that nurses do not blow off patients because of thier type of insurance, they are busy running around taking care of everyone, and if your waiting, it's for a very good reason. we can't help if the lab is slow with the blood work return...etc. but, we all *or most of us* have heard this complaint at one time or another, and i was just trying to state that it was not because of your insurance that they waiting, it's because of other reasons. i hope that help clear it up some!!!! :uhoh21:

"and in another defense, all the patients that i've seen on *low income* insurance think they are getting blown off in the er's because they have to "wait". well, maybe we should put them behind the scenes to show them .....everyone has priorities, and it's not a place to earn frequent flyer miles!!!! :angryfire"
do you really feel it's fair to "label" all low income people like that? i am one of those people you are labeling, as i am struggling financially to get though nursing school after being layed off from the telecom industry. i use medicaid for my children as i am unemployed right now. i understand that waiting is a part of life and have never thought that was why i was being blown off. it's the one's that label people as such that make me feel that way. but i respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. and i'm sure some patients that may be low income may seem that way, unappreciative to what is going on behind the scenes, while they are out in er room waiting.you just might not wanna label people is all i'm saying. i might get flamed for this but just wanted to share that not everyone on assistance is like that.:)

nsgstudentjen · Jun 25, 2004

of course the desire to serve and help others, but also a career that allows me flexiblilty - no matter what state I live in I know I will have a job. If I have children in the future, I can choose a job that is flexible or part time if needed. There are just so many good reasons to be a nurse - of course $$ and job security are some and are important. I always felt the pull towards it, but it too me one degree and many jobs to figure it out

Jen :specs: