How did you discover you want to do this?

[onthefence]

I am finishing up a Master's and considering a move to BSN programs. I have gotten good advice on this forum telling me I need to learn more about what nurses do and I am working on talking to lots of them and shadowing/volunteering. Some people also suggested CNA but this might be infeasible. What did you do to find out that this was what you wanted to do?

[onthefence]

I do not want to be impertinent or ungrateful to those people who are sharing. Rather I am observing that these experiences are just not really connecting for me. I think the motivation thing is one aspect, and I think I have reasons to want to do it in that sense. But I want to see the actual job, and how it plays out in the real world. I do not want to commit to something and find its not stimulating enough, or that I cannot actually do any of the good things I intended on doing. Thanks to everyone for their insights and advice.

[aura_of_laura]

As far as "Why nursing?" I was motivated by several things: job market, opportunities to diversify, and the ability the travel (try emigrating to Europe with a liberal arts degree). The "a-HA!" moment came when I was waitressing with a girl who had her degree in international business and was still waitressing due to no job options. I wanted to do something with my education, not spend my life paying it off with menial labor. And I was bothered by the self-indulgence of studying philosophy- nursing seemed to be the polar opposite...

The "inspiration" was spending highschool watching my best friend (now a philosopher) struggle with suicidal ideation and repeat hospitalizations and realizing how positively incompetent most psych professionals (nursing and otherwise) were. I knew I could be better. Ergo, I went into pediatric psych nursing.

Nursing puts you in a position to do great good- you can work in the most impoverished areas of the world and know that you actually are serving with a purpose. Do most nurses do this? No. But it certainly puts us in the position to. Nursing is as intellectually stimulating as you make it - if you are an inquisitive person by nature, nursing will not disappoint.

[onthefence]

Thanks for the informative and warm response. I was wondering if you could tell me what you mean by this last part?

Nursing is as intellectually stimulating as you make it - if you are an inquisitive person by nature, nursing will not disappoint.

[aura_of_laura]

I'm a very inquisitive person with really varied interests, and I hate getting stuck in a rut.

To give you an example of some of the interesting stuff get to do, in addition to the stuff that's in my job description, such as creating educational tools, writing pandemic plans and exposure policies, etc.

In the past year, I:

-attended a vaccine conference where I got to meet with Dr. Paul Offit (Phila. epidemiologist who helped develop the rotavirus vaccine)

- participated in a Health Department roundtable on STD prevention in African American communities with some people doing amazing work in my city

- sit on my hospital's Safety, Performance Improvement, and Pharmacy Committees

- am the nurse-liaison for introducing electronic medical records to my hospital

- volunteer for the Medical Reserve Corps for my city

Basically, there is so much that you can do once you have RN after your name. Its a doorway rather than the endpoint!

[•M♥J•]

I always had an interest in science and biology since I was in middle school, but it really peaked for me when I was in college for my undergrad in Psychology. I got a job as a veterinary technician at an animal hospital and it is very similar to human nursing! Just with furrier patients and higher turnover

[onthefence]

Thanks for these great examples. I am really worried about ratcheting down the level of intellectual life I am used to, and could see this causing more problems than anything else. So it is really useful to see what is out there.

[aura_of_laura]

You could always work as a nurse for a few years, get another Masters, and then spend your life writing grounded theory. Nursing theorists get just as loopy as any Foucault, Berkeley, or Baudrillard.

Check out my hometown girl Rosemarie Rizzo Porifice for some lovely stuff... http://www.discoveryinternationalonline.com/site/di-frames.html

[•M♥J•]

Thanks for these great examples. I am really worried about ratcheting down the level of intellectual life I am used to, and could see this causing more problems than anything else. So it is really useful to see what is out there.

What do you mean by 'ratcheting down the level of intellectual life you're used to'?

[onthefence]

I meant that my long term satisfaction would be dependent on being able to utilize my critical thinking and creative impulses. And I want to make sure that whatever I consider doing allows latitude for that. Thus, I was happy to hear that there are many opportunities in Nursing for creative, inquisitive people.

[aura_of_laura]

Before OP gets flamed for suggesting that nursing is not the most intellectual of careers...

For a two year degree, we take almost all practical-application classes. We are, in general, a profession of action. Whether or not this is bad has been the subject of much (and I mean much) debate, but being "intellectual" has never been a requirement of nursing. Many nurses are intellectuals, and we can always use more in the ranks!

Nurses do not (typically) sit around debating theory. Most of my professors may throw out Heidegger's name as the father of phenomenology, but couldn't tell you a whit about him. I have never ever in my four years of nursing study, had someone get half as passionate about nursing theory as my friends and I used to get about deconstructionism. To an "intellectual", not having that kind of banter and thinking-out-loud can be kind of sad.

That being said, nursing takes smarts.

[•M♥J•]

Yes, there are many things you can do with a nursing degree, but don't think that you are going "down" intellectually. Maybe I am just reading into what you are saying, but that is pretty insulting from my point of view. Nurses are expected to not only be creative and critical thinkers, they are expected to know how to react to a variety of situations at the drop of a hat while still acting compassionately toward their patient. If you are looking for something a little more philosophical or "intellectual" you might want to try bioethics. Also, try shadowing a nurse or volunteering in a hosital to see what it's really like to ratchet down.

[onthefence]

Thanks for the reply. I understand that it is not the same thing. I could stay where I am and do what I am doing if I wanted to keep doing that. However, I am considering not doing that. This does not mean asking nursing to do something that it does not do.

Obviously you guys spend lots of time dealing with patients and doctors. If I did not want to actually care for other people, I would not even consider this path. But that does not mean you cannot constantly learn new things about the field you are in. So the response about meeting doctors, making educational strategies was really helpful. (I also do not doubt that the school part itself is a lot of new knowledge for me to wrap my head around.)