How could I become a nurse if...

[janycortes]

Hi y'all. I am currently taking my prerequisites to be able to transfer to the nursing program once I'm done. I was pretty excited in the beginning but now I feel a little pessimistic. I have been thinking about what it would be like if I become a nurse and I can't imagine myself dealing with needles, especially if I have to insert needles in veins, I just freak out. I was watching some videos about how withdraw blood and I started crying. I really can't do it. What could I do about my fear?

[PurpleLover]

You cannot live a happy life with a negative mind. I read that somewhere.

Stop thinking about the bad, and think about how much you want to be a nurse. I am sure there are many people who had aversions to something that is required of a nurse but they wanted it so bad they pushed through that.

I once worked around the elderly as a CNA and the first week, I got a patient that was put in the blue room. The room where they are put when they were about to die. She had the death rattle and all, I was unsure I could handle it. When everything occurred though, I handled it like a champ. Even though, when I had run through the scenario in my mind it never went well.

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

I have a fear of needles too, but I force myself to watch any procedure with a needle. It's different with a patient. They NEED you to give that medicine/start an IV/draw blood. Just as your mother probably hated watching you get vaccinated, it was a necessity that was done for your own well-being. You do it for their good, not for yours. You'll get past it :)

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

My question is then, Why do you want to become a nurse? I'm not being sarcastic at all, but it's something you need to ask yourself. Nursing is dealing with needles and starting IVs and all that fun stuff. If being a nurse is what you truly want to do, then you need to reconcile that in your head before you spend the money. I would not waste my money on schooling if it wasn't something I truly wanted to do. I would call your local hospital and see about shadowing a nurse for a day to see if you can handle it or not. I know when I was younger, I had no idea what I wanted out of life. I just knew I didn't want to be in retail for the rest of my life. So I ended up making the mistake of spending a bunch of money at a for-profit college taking classes in business administration. The biggest waste of $10,000 ever. Took me awhile of life experience to know what I wanted to do. Now, I am a little older, but wiser. Wish I had this wisdom 20 years ago.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

During summer semester our cohort was involved in giving child immunizations. There were several people that were very apprehensive to give children shots. After they did 3-4 they were volunteering to give more. You never know what you are capable of handling until you do it.