I want to be a nurse, do I have what it takes?

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2016

It takes book smarts and people smarts. It takes excellent critical thinking on the feet skills.

It takes enough empathy to be caring and compassionate, but not so much that your feelings destroy you.

It takes a Teflon coating; not everyone appreciates our efforts, and combined with them not feeling good...people can be ugly to us.

It takes the assertiveness needed to be patient advocates, to be firm with patients and families when necessary ("No you can't give Mom water. She is barely protecting her airway from her saliva -- that water will get into her lungs." "No your gang buddies can't come in -- for your safety and for that of everyone else here, you agreed with security that your two visitors are Mom and brother." "Your mom is actively dying and showing signs of pain. Yes I understand you want her awake. But absolutely not, I will not withhold her morphine.")....... and to stand up for yourself when necessary. ("You will not speak to me that way," as in when ugly person addresses you as a swear word. "I am taking my break now." "Yes I have time to pee. Anything can wait 1-2 minutes, yes even pain meds.)

bossman · Jul 16, 2016

Nursing takes a lot of work and hard work. It takes countless posts on Facebook telling people how hard you work. It takes sacrifice to not pee so that you can post on Facebook telling people you don't have time to pee. It is hard to tell everyone how much of a saint you are to all of society. Sure the work is pretty fulfilling but man telling everyone how great I am really gets old; and tiring. I wish I could just live a life where I didn't have to show the world how great I am. Such is the life of a nurse.

nutella, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2016

Resilience, knowlegde/intelligence, ability to display empathy without getting sucked in, collaborative, good communicator.

SnowShoeRN · Jul 16, 2016

There are lots of good threads on this site about this topic. Do some seaches and some reading to get a good understanding. :) Best of luck.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jul 16, 2016

You might consider shadowing a few nurses to get that "day in the life" view. There are a lot of people who become nurses and say that it is not what they expected/thought/envisioned. What interests you in nursing? What do you think we do? :) Helping people, yes, but how?

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2016

Now I have to clean coffee off my screen! :roflmao:

Nursing takes a lot of work and hard work. It takes countless posts on Facebook telling people how hard you work. It takes sacrifice to not pee so that you can post on Facebook telling people you don't have time to pee. It is hard to tell everyone how much of a saint you are to all of society. Sure the work is pretty fulfilling but man telling everyone how great I am really gets old; and tiring. I wish I could just live a life where I didn't have to show the world how great I am. Such is the life of a nurse.

cardiacfreak, ADN · Jul 16, 2016

Nursing is so much more than "helping people". I only have acute care experience so I am only speaking of such, but it is being a waitress, a counselor, a patient advocate, a teacher, a public relations person, an arbitrator, a secretary, a receptionist, and so on. Nurses wear many different hats. We must have excellent communication skills, assessment skills, customer service skills, coping skills, people skills, and acting skills. I say acting skills because nurses find themselves in situations where you can not let the patient, family or doctor know that you are uncomfortable, or that you have had the worse day of your life before you walked into the company door.

Nurses have and do find themselves in dangerous situations, personally I have been choked, had my thumb broke, threatened physically, been called horrible names, yelled at, spit on, pinched, and had my butt grabbed. Why am I still a nurse? Because holding the little old ladies hand when she is dying and wiping her forehead gives me a sense of doing some good in this world. For all the bad things that happen you will find satisfaction in a mere heartfelt "thank you" or a sincere smile.

A lot of times nursing is a thankless job, but when someone tells you "I couldn't have done this without you." That will carry you on and make you remember why you became a nurse. No one understands what it is to be a nurse unless they are nurse. No one can tell you if you have what it takes to be a nurse, you must be able to reflect upon yourself to see if you have what it takes. I believe a vast majority of people can be a nurse, they can pass nursing school, pass the NCLEX, go through orientation, but not everyone can be a GOOD or GREAT nurse.

Alexandra888 · Jul 19, 2016

Thank you, that helps me a lot!