Is Nursing For Me?!

[KaylaBrooke1695]

[color=#00ff00]

hello everyone!

so to start off i am sixteen and a junior in high school. i go to two high schools- one is normal high school and i am finishing up my last year over at my magnet (vocational) school for allied health cna.

anyways, i have been discourged all this year due to having a terrible teacher who told us different concepts and just wasn't a great teacher. plus, i had this one boy who said i would make a terrible cna or nurse due to me lacking upper body strength and not being able to do bp well.

anyways i have a yo- yo mind at the moment where i keep changing my mind from nursing to a criminalist and back to nursing (it keeps going back and forth). yet, last night i was thinking, hey i think i want to be a nurse because ever since i was little i have been fascinated with science and medical science. i used to play doctor and for halloween dress up as a doctor. i also love working with people ( i can be shy sometimes) and i want to make a difference.

so tomorrow i take my cna licensure test! and if i get a 70 or higher than i pass, however i have to also pass the allied health final with a 70 or higher to move on to clinicals. i don't do clinicals until june 18-june 22 (7:00am-3:30pm). i hope going to clincals (if i pass both exams- i am sure i will) will help me decide would i like to do this as a living and help me see what a rn does too. i will be on the surgical unit.

the only thing is i hate foul smelling stuff and i especially hate vomit ( i gag).

anyway, based on some things i have said, could it be for me? also, do you love nursing? is there anyway i can over come the hating foul smells with vomit? how can i do bp better without hearing my hand move? do you have any suggestions, tips, or words of advice for if or when i do my clinicals? what are some of your favorite units of nursing you loved working in? anything else you want to add, please do. :)

thanks so much,

kayla:)

p.s. i know i have time in the world to change my mind and can do it a zillion times before getting it right.

oh i almost forgot, i start a half day of college next year as a senior in high school, what are some classes that i should get out of the way?

[mplovex]

Honestly, only you would be able to know if nursing is really for you. The best way, in my opinion, to figure that out is to gain experience in actual medical settings, whether it be for work or volunteering. My entire family is filled with doctors and nurses so I've grown up around medicine and nursing. I've known since I was young that I was interested but I wasn't sure it was the career for me until I volunteered in 3 different units when I began college 3 years ago. I volunteered in the ICU, ER, and the newborn nursery, all while I was taking my pre-reqs for nursing. I was able to get a feel of the different units and I was able to shadow the nurses more. When I was offered a job in the newborn nursery/mother-baby unit, it made me realize that being a post-partum nurse isn't for me, but I did figure out that I still wanted to be a nurse. The more you gain experience, the more you learn about yourself and your feel of becoming a nurse.

I'm happy for you, that you're starting so young as a CNA. It will help you develop and master your skills early on and help you work on patient interaction. Your exposure will make you stand out when you finally apply into the nursing program after you complete your pre-reqs and gen-eds. Keep up with it and hopefully it will help you get more familiar with the field.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Becoming a CNA is a good way for you to determine whether you can handle the working conditions of the nursing profession - in my opinion, as a prenursing student who is a CNA. It would be good if you could volunteer at a hospital or shadow a nurse at work in a hospital also. I say this because working as CNA may mean that you are exposed to SNF's and that environment is markedly different than that of an acute hospital setting. Don't be shy about reaching out to talk to people in the nursing and medical profession. Once you do that, more people may be willing to open up and tell you the pros and cons of their jobs.

If I was as young as you and knew that I wanted to be a nurse, I'd start taking the classes necessary to transfer to a 4 year university and earn a BSN: English, Statistics, Anatomy, Chemistry, etc. That way you can apply to both ADN And BSN nursing programs. Keep your GPA high. Find out what criteria the nursing program you want to attend considers when doing admissions and try to meet the reqmts.

Actually, my daughter is your age and I am doing the things I recommended to you.