How did you guys realize that nursing was for you?

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Hello to you all, i am a new member of the site, i think its a great resource for nurses and nursing student. Anyway I am going into my third of university and i have being really undecided as to what i want to major in and recently ive been thinking about possible going into nursing because i like the idea of helping others and i began taking some of the pre-reqs, however i still have doubts, i just dont know if i can make it through nursing school. I also do know if this is what i am meant to do but i am working on getting a volunteer job at the hospital in my college town. Can you guys elaborate when and how you realized nursing was for you and how difficult was nursing school for you? thanks in advance for your responses.

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The thread below is more of an 'introduce yourself' type of thing, but in it you can see some of the reasons why many of us decided to pursue nursing.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f213/getting-know-men-behind-names-168867.html

Best of luck to you!

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Specializes in Trauma, Neuro, M&S ICU.

I was a compensated volunteer and EMT working for my local fire dept. My father is a retired firefighter so I thought I would try it. I like the ambulance way more, though. I made a vehicle vs. vehicle scene and a little 5 yr. old girl was laying in the road with her head wide open. I went to her first, and tried my best to control bleeding and hold c-spine. The FD called in Starflight, and they came to take her away. I never got to find out what happened after that point watching her fly away into the night. I wanted to do more past that point. It was there and then that I knew I had to be an RN in order to better help people after the point of trauma. Physically and spiritualy.

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Hey all,

At age 40 I took some time off work to help take care of a close friend who was dying of lung cancer. The hospice nurse noticed that I had more than just a casual curiosity about the disease process, the nursing techniques, and healthcare in general. Our friend died, of course, but a week or so before he passed, his nurse took me aside and asked what my plans were when I got back home to Tucson. I told her I was thinking of a career change. She smiled and told me she'd been about to advise me to do that. So I guess you could say I "heard the call".

When I got home I enrolled, and started my prereqs at Pima College, got pretty good grades, and today I'm halfway through a fast-track RN program in a nearby town. I'll be taking the NCLEX-PN in a week or so, which should make my weekend nursing home job a bit more lucrative for the next two semesters.

I haven't looked back, or regretted this move, even once. I wish I'd done this at age 30, rather than 40 -- but hey, I figured it out when I figured it out!

Nursing school is tough -- the ladies who designed it meant for it to be. But it's nothing you can't handle, if you keep your mind on WHY you're doing it. My advice? Don't look back, don't hesitate, and just accept that your bosses are going to be women while you're in school. They want you to succeed as much as you do; so just relax and learn. Oh yeah: pay attention in Organic Chemistry -- there really IS a reason you're learning it!

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Specializes in SRNA.

I suppose what you're asking is more philosophical. Don't think there is a really a career for anyone. I doubt there is any job that I would be satisfied to do for 40 years. Nursing is not a bad gig for leading to other things.

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Nursing is a stepping stone for me, on the way to medical school. Even though the philosophies are different, I think that a lot of the things that I learn here will help me to be a better doctor later.

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I was an Army medic - worked with an Army nurse (male), and I saw that he made rank and his income wasn't bad. Army retirement comes after 20 years.

Nursing has so many different specialties - if you don't like the typical med-surg inpatient stuff, there are other well paying jobs to get into (Nurse Practitioner, Anesthesia, management, community health, industrial hygiene). All are very secure income and you'll usually always find a job market.

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I was already an EMT and decided to go to Paramedic school. All of the Medics I worked with told me if I had the option, to do nursing...more $$ and more options. I like working in clinical environments (ie. ED), I never liked working out of a rig. No one's body is designed to sit in a car for 12 hours. You can always stay busy in the hospital stocking, cleaning and learning new stuff.

Also, everytime I looked in the classifieds, there were about 30 nurse jobs.

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Specializes in Mental Health and MR/DD.

Worked in a LTC as a direct service specialists, liked what I was doing and decided to take it to the next step by becoming a RN

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while in school i switched my major from nutrition/dietetics to nursing. i wasn't sure what i wanted to do but knew it wasn't medical school. i also wanted to help people. i considered myself a person that liked to work with my hands, a people person and more practical. i realized nursing was for me when i started clinicals and it was one of the best feelings in the world.

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