Have you always known you wanted to be a nurse?

P_RN, ADN, RN · Sep 4, 2010

Yes to the always, but after dropping out of my first program I went to business school for a year and then was a long distance telephone operator . They still had the long boards with the cords you plugged in. People dialed "0" for operator.

Getreal2011 · Sep 4, 2010

Yes to the always, but after dropping out of my first program I went to business school for a year and then was a long distance telephone operator . They still had the long boards with the cords you plugged in. People dialed "0" for operator.

Did you ever think twice about going into nursing? Were you nervous at any point? Or, did you ever second guess your decision?

tmow86 · Sep 4, 2010

No, I never gave nursing a thought until a few years ago I went on a medical mission trip to the dominican republic. I went as just a general helper. Being on the outside like that and seeing the nurses bring such hope to these people and bringing smiles to their faces, is that did it for me.

I wished I had a decent guidance counselor back when I was in high school 13 years ago because I just got some copies of my transcripts and I took them Chemistry, Biology, Child Dev and did really well in those classes. But I never knew to put two and two together and think "hmm..maybe I should do something in the medical field". I didn't take notice that maybe I enjoyed science. HHAHAHA!! Oh well, had I done that then I would not have met my husband!! Everything happens for a reason.

And yes I am scared to death but this is something I want. I sit at a computer all day now 250 feet underground and we have production standards where I have to keep track of every thing that I do and how many pieces of that particular function that I worked on. UGH! It's horrible. No personal growth what so ever.

CrazziiRN913, ADN, BSN · Sep 4, 2010

I've wanted to be a nurse since i was seven, and now i'm in nursing school and still want to be a nurse ;-)

acaitan29 · Sep 4, 2010

haha!amazing..i just passed an article to this site answering this very question..hehehe..to the author: if you wanna know my side of the story,you can read it from the article below entitled:"How I Fell Inlove with Nursing".. :-D

VivaRN · Sep 4, 2010

I was pre-med like probably 80% of the freshman class... had no idea what nursing was. I took a hospice volunteer course and realized I didn't want to wait a hundred years before I could work with people. I also started reflecting on how I would want my family life. Who thinks about these things at 17?

Over christmas break I had a heart-to-heart with some nurse practitioners in my faith community. I was all depressed about wanting to work with people and not feeling like pre-med was a good fit. One of them said, "I think you would enjoy nursing." The light bulb went on. Here were some women who were approachable, amazing listeners, whom I respected and wanted to emulate. I felt closer to them than to any MD. I switched programs and never looked back.

Today I'm a nurse practitioner and I aspire to be like those wise women someday.

rachelita · Sep 4, 2010

I knew I wanted to be a nurse ever since I was 3 years old and saw Nurse Dixie on the old Emergency TV show from the 70's. She was beautiful and smart and wore the cool white cap :) It took me until I was 33, though, to get my RN, but when I became an ER nurse, it was so great to realize that dream. After my Mom passed away, I was going through her things and found my preschool report card from when I was 4. It said I always fixed up the other kids' boo boos. I think some people are born to it. However, some fantastic nurses discover where their talents lie much later in life. And I know some truly wonderful nurses who just kind of fell into it or did it because their parent wanted them too, and they still are not sure they want to be a nurse. Even just in my unit, we come from wildly divergent backgrounds and aspirations.:redbeathe

Trubie, LPN · Sep 4, 2010

I never thought about it until I was trying to get pregnant and struggled through a miscarriage. I threw myself into research about pregnancy/miscarriage/labor&delivery and realized I had a passion for it. So now I want to be a L&D nurse, and I have an interview next week for that position! Yay!

dudette10, MSN, RN · Sep 4, 2010

Nope, but I do want to be one now. :) The only thing I wanted to be was a journalist, but I never was one. I still managed to kick ass in my previous non-nursing field, regardless of never really wanting to be in it. For me, it was a matter of work ethic, rather than desire.

Skips, MSN, RN · Sep 4, 2010

I knew I wanted to go into healthcare, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Nothing peaked my interest as much as nursing did. My husband is currently in nursing school, and I found everything he was studying quite fascinating. I did a CNA class to make sure that I could handle and would like direct patient care. Turns out, I did! I have only known that I wanted to do nursing for about 6 months or so. I wanted to do elementary education before then for years. I am only 20 years old, so I didn't have much time to think about it. I am doing what I feel I will enjoy!

My aunt is also a NICU nurse, and I completely admire her for what she does. I was at her graduation, and felt so proud of her...I thought "wow, how did she do it!" She has 3 kids, and she was 8 months pregnant with her 3rd when she graduated with her BSN. I'm sure that had something to do with it! She told me that I will make a great nurse, and that I was born to be a nurse. Of course, I didn't take this lightly since I admire her so much.

kesr · Sep 4, 2010

Yes. I was fascinated by my grandmother's old textbooks. From as far back as I can remember reading, I read all the girlie nurse books, Cherry Ames, Sue Barton (anyone else remember these?), all the famous biographies; Clara, Florence, Edith, etc.

Seems crazy now, but in the 50's & 60's it was pushed as "something to fall back on if something happens to your husband" YIKES! Fact is I worked steadily for 35 years with a healthy, working husband. No regrets, either.