How did you choose?

wife&mommyRN · Sep 20, 2009

bgood1967,

i am also in nursing as a second career, but it was always my first love. my generation is the confused generation, it takes us a while to be mentally mature enough to do what we actually desire. when i 1st entered college i looked @ all the science courses and quickly changed my major to something more simplistic & appealing which was teaching. i think nursing & teaching go neck & neck in so many different aspects, but my passion was for nursing. my father became ill during my sophmore yr. & i was taking care of him & my sick grandmother throughout college. every1 suggested i go into nursing because of how good i was @ caring for people. my father researched & discovered in my senior yr. that they had a second degree program. i graduated early to complete the pre-reqs & applied & here i am.

my advice is for u to surf this site from top to bottom, bc the people on here are going to give you the realistic view of nursing & nursing school that the media & newspapers conveniently leave out. after u read many of the horror stories on here & u feel like this is definitely what u want to do, then go for it! before i started nursing school i was fortunate enough to discover this site & i spent, hours on here haveing my view of nursing shred until i new everything there was to know. i knew that this was what i wanted to do even after everything i read. as soon as i went to school i followed all of the advice i read & there were minimal suprises @ school bc i read majority of the things i was living & i have been successful ever since. nursing is much more than "caring" for ppl, this site helped me discover that u need the entire package. my ci said something that made a whole lot of sense to me that you are "called" into nursing, i have that calling which was my sick father. i think if you don't have that calling it my not be for you. there are many ppl in my program & over 90% of them are there bc they couldn't find a job/ they want to become a np/ crna. & it isn't difficult for ppl to see the reasons ppl are there & they ultimately end up not succeeding bc honestly those are not people they want to put into the field. these programs intentionally micromanage students in order to see if they are truely there for nursing and many ppl don't realize that they can dismiss u @ will, regardless of ur academic successes if they feel u won't be a successful practicing rn & u don;t have that caring aspect. i hope u discover what u need, but do ur research go beyond what u hear on t.v & see under the job postings, discover your "calling". if u don't discover ur calling & u still decide to move forward, never tell professors/ other rn's that u are there bc u couldn't find a job. you will be asked why are you there millions of times. good luck :heartbeat

mkwatro · Sep 20, 2009

Don't put NURSING as a reason for having no choice. Nursing is very risky job because you deal with the life of a person. I'm only 18 but that's serious I am when it comes to nursing. You completely commit yourself on that job whole-heartedly. It is not just for money, It is not just for hire or something business. It is a service with humility. It's how you preserve life personally. Giving care to someone you didn't know is very difficult if you won't love nursing. Nursing is a passion, it is an art not just for any reason. In Nursing you need to study EVERYTHING, academically. For me, those who are now registered nurse are not that experts on some of the concepts on diffrn't illnesses, etc. You need to learn more, keep on learning until you retire. It's a common sense to study academically because how could you give care to patients if you don't even know his/her status post?, his/her diagnosis or any unusualities he/she experience. If you won't study academically in nursing, how could you assess your patient? See? there's so many reasons why you have to study academically in nursing. You have to be diligent, focus, and be inspired by helping in saving life of other people. Nursing is not a joke. It is a mission.

Hope my personal perceptions on nursing would help you decide open-minded with no feeling of guilty. If I were you, Talk to God, let him understand what you feel, because he's the only one knows what's your mission on earth. Think a thousand times first before you finally decide what you want.

Nursing Career says: "IF YOU'RE IN DOUBT, DON'T".

Good luck! :yeah: God bless! :up:

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 20, 2009

I have never been the "you have a calling from God to be a good nurse" kind of a person. A lot of people go into nursing for practical reasons and are satisfied with their choice and have long happy nursing careers.

However ... for any career, not just nursing ... you have to have at least some interest in the work itself to be happy in your work. If you have no feelings of attraction for the work itself, you will be miserable and very few people can handle being miserable 40 hours per week for very long.

Nursing is not a perfect career. It has its share of stresses and difficulties. If you don't have any attraction to the work itself, those stresses will get you down and burn you out in a few years.

So ... think carefully. If nursing has NO appeal to you, then it would probably be a mistake to invest in the education, etc. for a career that is difficult and stressful that will probably make you miserable. However, if there are aspects of the work itself that you can imagine doing and being happy with, then it's OK that you don't feel any sort of special calling for it. Only you can know how much appeal/lack of appeal you feel about it.

Also, explore all the different options within nursing. You might find that some appeal to you more than others and that you will be able to find a satisfactory niche for yourself in some corner of a huge profession.

Have you spent much time exploring the field? Have you ever worked in a hospital or spent time around sick people? etc. You might want to do that (as a volunteer or CNA) before you make a huge investment.

TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP · Sep 21, 2009

I was premed, didn't matriculate, and the lab job I got after I graduated showed me that I did not want to continue with graduate studies in biology, so I went into nursing instead after briefly considering getting my MPH.

bgood1967 · Sep 22, 2009

Thanks for the input. I have worked as a CNA and been a Red Cross volunteer at 2 different hospitals so I have patient experience. There are many different kinds of nurses. I'm checking out my options at this point. I know so many others that are in the same position I'm in and I hope they glean something from this thread also.

WDW4ever · Sep 22, 2009

Nursing will be a second career for me also - I always wanted to go into nursing, though. While I have no practical experience, I think it is not necessarily a field to go into just by ruling out other things. I know it will be a ton of work, and there will be aspects of the job that are unpleasant, but I still feel that it is really something I want to do.

I agree with one of the previous posters who said that if you have no interest in your work, you will be miserable. That's how I feel about my current career (law). Yes, there are jobs and the money can be decent (though there is a huge range in pay), but I am very unhappy. I don't think I could pursue nursing without a genuine interest in it, though. Just my :twocents:

Best of luck in whatever you decide :)