Is nursing right for me?

[Sgirty]

Greetings all! I just registered here, but I've been reading questions and responses for several months. I am both encouraged and astounded by how friendly, nice and honest everyone here seems to be.

I started and quit college when I was 18 years old. I got married, worked at a computer store with my husband and was happy with life. We had a baby and I was a stay-at-home-mom from the day he was born until he started school. Now, at 28 years old, I am still a stay at home mom, but I added returning student to my list of titles we all so love to use. I am doing really well, I have a 4.0 GPA and have a little over one semester left before finishing my associates. The problem is, I have no idea what I want to do. Well, that's not entirely true. I know what I want to do, but I just don't know if it's a good fit for me. The school I'm currently attending has a nursing program that is considered good in the area. I've met with an advisor who said I'd be a good fit and that they'd love to have me in the program, but I'm still feeling unsure...

Why I want to be a nurse...

I love helping people. I bend over backwards to help anyone and everyone, and get a lot of personal gain and satisfaction from doing the simplest thing that might benefit someone else. Both of my grandparents, whom I'm extremely close with, were diagnosed with colon cancer less than one week apart. They were both stage 3, and had multiple surgeries and extended hospital stays. I volunteered to stay with my grandparents in the hospital every other night, so they wouldn't be there alone. My grandpa took a turn for the worse and it was pretty evident that he wasn't going to be around much longer. During our stay, I saw all types of nurses. There was one though, she did all the same stuff as the others, but she was so nice and friendly and seemed to take a genuine interest in my grandpa. Asked questions about his home, his life, his children, and made friendly chit chat that took no more time than the others that came and left silently or with little to no talk or explanations, but sure made my grandpa's day. Mine too, for that matter. She cared, and it was evident. We looked forward to seeing her name wrote up on the dry erase board and hated it when we had a different nurse. She was a bright spot to look forward to in the endless days of bad news and waits. I want to be that nurse to someone. I think I can be, and I think I'd love it.

My hesitations...

I do not think the actual nursing school will be something I cannot handle, meaning book work and studying. I know it'll be tough, and will take an enormous amount of time and effort on my part, but I feel I'm capable. I have a husband who is very supportive and will do anything and everything around the house or with our son to ensure I have the time I need. My entire family lives in our small town, so I'll have plenty of help with our little boy and his school/activities, so I'm not worried there. My worry comes from the question of "can I actually be a nurse?" I don't have a problem with blood, not to be crude, but I am of the female variety, so it's something we all deal with at least once a month, but I do get sweaty, light headed and swimmy around needles. Granted, I've always been the one being poked, or watching someone I love get poked, and never have been the poker (pokee? one that does the sticking..) I question if this unease around needles is something I can overcome. So my question is, if a person only had that one issue or concern, the fact that needles/iv's might be something that is hard for me to handle, at least at first, would that be something that should stop them from actually following the dream of being a nurse? I imagine, after some time, you'd become desensitized to it. In fact, following that theory, I've even been watching youtube video's of IV's being started and people getting their blood drawn. I've only done it a few times and do get that lovely heart racing, metal taste in mouth, uneasy feeling, but I manage to watch the whole thing. How much of this is in nursing school? Will someone (another student) take my blood or start an IV on me during nursing school? I know that there are so many different area's of work I could take part in after actually becoming a nurse, and many wouldn't involve starting iv's or taking blood myself, but can I get to the finish line? I spoke to the nursing advisor about this, and she said that everyone has a part of the nursing aspect that they have issues with, but if you want it, don't let one roadblock be a stop sign on your path to being a nurse. Is this good advice?

Any suggestions, help or guidance would be very greatly appreciated.

Sarah

[windmill182]

There are actually more nursing students who have this problem with needles more than you think. Honestly, the best way to overcome may be through repeated exposure. I personally am not afraid of needles, but I have performance anxiety and get a little shaky in the hands when I being put on spot. A Psych Professor suggested that I get free needles from a pharmacy in my state (where its legal) and practice on an orange just to get comfortable with the whole thing.

As for blood, you should keep watching videos. Go to blood drives? I think repeated exposure may be key here?

[aneres1390]

The nursing advisor you spoke with is very correct, dont let that scare you away! You can be a nurse researcher, educator, public health nurse etc..at my hospital there are nurses who are in charge of orientation and volunteer co-ordinators, this is the good thing about nursing!