Hi everyone! :DI'm Chris, and I'm new here. I posted this post on the sticky thread at the top of this forum several days ago and received no responses, so I figured maybe I should post it as its own thread so more people might see it. I'm not a nurse but am considering applying to nursing school next year (community college for an ADN) and am currently taking pre-reqs. I have a bachelor's degree in interior design (so nowhere near the health care field!) but have not worked since my first son was born 11 yrs ago, and nowadays the thought of doing interior design just doesn't float my boat anymore (not to mention my skills are waaaaay out of date by now).
So let me ask you guys. . . how did you know that nursing was really what you wanted to do? Did you have the desire your whole lives? I am still unsure. My mom is a nurse and I grew up thinking nursing had too many 'gross' aspects and that I would NEVER be a nurse. It was only after experiencing the pregnancy and delivery of my first baby that I became very interested in pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and postpartum. So, my interests in being a nurse currently really only lie in the L&D and/or PP field. I don't know if that is 'good enough' to make a career of nursing, or if I would be able to handle nursing school. I know that in nursing school clinicals you have to do several areas of nursing, and I suppose I could handle anything for that length of time. But, I'm just really unsure about 'being a nurse' since I only have interest in one specialty, and I only developed this interest in the past 11 yrs since having my first baby. I'm not one who can say "I've ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse ." I CAN say that now, I want to help laboring and/or postpartum women to have a wonderful experience. . . actually I'd love to be a doula but that type of constant on-call schedule would not work right now with our family life. Maybe in several years when the boys (I have three) are older.
Sorry if this was rambling! Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!:nuke:
I felt the calling when I was 7 years old and was always in my doctor's office as a sick little girl. It was kinda something that I never really second guessed. However, I don't think that to be a good nurse you had to have known it from birth. What makes a good nurse, it's actually pretty easy. I think if you are willing to give of yourself ( I mean really GIVE)in order to make someone elses life easier or less painful then you will be a good nurse.
I've been an LPN for 6 years now and will be an RN in a few months. I've seen a lot of suffering in that amount of time. I've also had so many people reach out to me for my hand to thank me for being there to take care of them. I wont lie, I've felt used, abused, beaten emotionally, and at times physically. BUT, there were far more nights of going home feeling good about what I was doing than there were those nights that I questioned my decision to be a nurse. Long answer short, it's about love for people. It is a hard profession, and it's those nurses that go into it for the "money" that end up burning out and becoming bad nurses. It might be good money but it's not always worth the money so you have to really care about the good you are doing, the difference you are making to make it in the nursing world.
I became a nurse ONLY to be a L&D nurse. I did fine in clinicals, it is helpful to learn all aspects of nursing, but as soon as I was out of school I went directly to women's services. You don't need to be interested in other aspects of nursing, in my opinion. Just be prepared, it can be hard to go straight into a specialty like L&D as a new grad. Try and get some other experience. I had been a doula for 5 years, and was also a childbirth educator and lactation specialist. Taking classes such as NRP, fetal heart monitoring, lactation, etc can give you an edge when you go to apply for positions.. Good luck!
I took an observation class my junior year of high school. During that class, we had 3 hours (from 3p-6p) of observation to our assigned units. I was in sitting next to a guy getting a hematoma drained from his brain, observed in the ER and had many times in L&D. There was one family that allowed me to observe their first child being born. I had arrived around 330pm and the nurse I was assigned to said her patient was about to deliver so I came at the perfect time.
The whole experience was something I will never ever forget. I teared up after the baby was born remember going home and telling my parents "This is what I want to do. I want to be a nurse" and I remember feeling so passionate about it. I think about that family every February. That little baby will be 5 in Feb. Time flies.
I can see where you are coming from. I am only in my first semester of nursing school and I have 4 more to go. I have always known that I wanted to work with kids and I decided to go to school for teaching. I got about 3 weeks into school and just knew it wasn't for me. Nursing was the only thing I could think of that would fulfill my dreams of working with children/babies. I am currently going through clinicals and we get no experience with OB for another couple semesters. Even though we are doing other work I still know that OB is where I want to be. Just stick with it and I think you will love it. I have hardly gotten started and I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. Sorry I don't really have any advice but I hope my story helps a little.
I was suppose to go to med school but just couldn't put my name on the application. So I decided nursing was the way to go. My original goal was to be a flight nurse but I have found myself going down the L&D and postpartum path. Its a great job and is so versatile its ridiculous. Love my job!
Lost In Transition
17 Posts
I felt the calling when I was 7 years old and was always in my doctor's office as a sick little girl. It was kinda something that I never really second guessed. However, I don't think that to be a good nurse you had to have known it from birth. What makes a good nurse, it's actually pretty easy. I think if you are willing to give of yourself ( I mean really GIVE)in order to make someone elses life easier or less painful then you will be a good nurse.
I've been an LPN for 6 years now and will be an RN in a few months. I've seen a lot of suffering in that amount of time. I've also had so many people reach out to me for my hand to thank me for being there to take care of them. I wont lie, I've felt used, abused, beaten emotionally, and at times physically. BUT, there were far more nights of going home feeling good about what I was doing than there were those nights that I questioned my decision to be a nurse. Long answer short, it's about love for people. It is a hard profession, and it's those nurses that go into it for the "money" that end up burning out and becoming bad nurses. It might be good money but it's not always worth the money so you have to really care about the good you are doing, the difference you are making to make it in the nursing world.