when did you know you wanted to be a CNA or a Nurse?

yousoldtheworld · Dec 20, 2008

When I was young, my grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimers and had to go into a nursing home - my grandma just couldn't handle having him at home, as he started showing violence, etc. I remember just marveling at how kind and compassionate his caretakers were.

Years later, I started college with english and history majors. Two years in, I just realized there wasn't a career I wanted there. I still didn't know what I wanted to do, so I took some time off of school and started working in retail, figuring I could buy some time to figure out what exactly I wanted to do with my life.

I hated working retail. I hated the feeling that my job did not matter in the slightest. I felt like I was wasting my time, and it was miserable. Around the same time, my other grandfather became progressively more ill. He was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and several other conditions that our family was unable to take care of at home. He chose to go into a nursing home. He loved his nurses and aides, he always talked about how much he appreciated them and how much they did for him. When he passed away, the staff was really supportive and compassionate to my family. I think it was then that I realized I might like to go into nursing.

I have nurses in my family, so I was fairly familiar with the profession, I just hadn't considered it for myself before then. I was offered a spot in a CNA class, and I decided I would try it out. I immediately took to the CNA work. It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I am still working as an aide, but (very slowly) finishing up my nursing pre-reqs, part time. Having spent nearly 3 years working in long term care, post acute care, home health, and memory care, I am now confident in the fact that I want to be a nurse. :)

k_r_ah · Dec 20, 2008

I was inspired by the midwives and nurses that cared for me during my pregnancies/deliveries . I also worked for a vet for a while, assisted in surgery and was very interested, vet school was out of the question so nursing it is.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Dec 20, 2008

My grandmother was an RN working in the OR as a supervisor and my mother was a CNA. While I discovered that it was easier to obtain entry positions into nursing, I did feel that I wanted to know more about the disease process, treatment, medications and enjoy teaching people in layman terms...so, LPN was the best thing for me!

Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN · Dec 20, 2008

I knew when I got to old to continue to get shot at and I knew i wanted something that would put food on the table always.

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Dec 20, 2008

My mother was a nurse, and all of her friends were nurses. There always seemed to be nurses around when I was growing up. I thought then that I would like to be a nurse, but I didn't know any men in the profession. I thought it was a field for women.

My first career was in healthcare administration and I worked in areas that required contact with nurses. They always seemed to have something special, to know something more... and some of them were men. I decided to return to school and study nursing. Now that I'm preparing to graduate in May, I can say that this is without a doubt the most important, the most appropriate thing I've ever done. It's right for me in a way that nothing else has ever been.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Dec 20, 2008

I had a great job in systems that got out-sourced in 2002. I like science so I thought maybe I'd teach bio and took some classes. Then we moved to a place that didn't need teachers so I applied to nursing school. I had no idea I was supposed to apply 4 times and get wait-listed - I just got in. I had a lot of credits and A's in a lot of pre-reqs that I didn't knnow I needed. I guess I kind of lucked out.

I did a year on the floor lucked out and fell into an informatics spot - I'm the geek nurse. Instead of a steth I have a mechanical pencil and keyboard.

:)

Melinurse · Dec 20, 2008

I started in veterinary medicine and was pretty good at it. Then my grandfather got diagnosed with end-stage COPD. We hired a private LPN to go into his home once daily and set up meds and help with morning ADLs. When we checked up on her we realized she was only coming twice a week. ( a neighbor called , we lived in another state ) So we had a vacation planned and added in going to see grandpa and getting another nurse. Well, we ended up placing him into a nursing home that mom & dad checked out and was supposed to be best in town, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyhoo, we went on vacation for two weeks and when we came to see him he was a mess!!! He smelled like he had not been properly cared for or bathed since we left him. I was in tears. How can anyone who works with people be so uncaring? He had two stage 2 ulcers when we took him back home. We hired a full-time live-in maid, got 24 hour CNA in-home coverage, and hired a RN to come in for weekly visits. I decided right then I wanted to make a difference and care for peoples loved ones the way they should be. I did not want anyone to have to worry that their family was not being taken care of. It is the worst feeling to entrust your loved one into the care of " professionals " and realize they did not care enough to clean him up ( he was incontinent of B/B ) and did not care enough to turn him, and Lord knows what else.

Sorry for the rant and long story. That is why I began as a CNA and loved working with people. I continued my education because I want to be in a position to effect change. That is how I realized I wanted to be a nurse.

casi, ASN, RN · Dec 20, 2008

I've always been attracted towards health care. I didn't do too hot in high school so community college was really my only option. Nursing was the only thing on their list of majors that caught my eye. I started out half-a**ing my way through pre-reqs.

At the time I was working in retail which I DESPISED. So I took the required CNA course and got a job. It was then I fell in love with nursing. It's a dirty, hard, stressful job and I seem to be oddly good at it. I also think it's a lot of fun. n

rhondaa83 · Dec 20, 2008

I got a divorce, was a restraunt manager and waitress for 20 years, I like people. Instead of kissing peoples but , I am wiping them, but it is for a for sure wage instead of the unknown. I love it. Yesterday, when I told a patient that I had the next three days off, they said, I am truly going to miss you. That feeling in itself is worth more than money can pay.

Tippy-ta-ta · Dec 20, 2008

When I was growing up my mother was very sickly. My mom had her first surgery when she was 21 she had her tonsilectomy, then an appendectomy, a ganglioan cyct removed from her wrist twice, a D&C, a hysterectomy, Gallbladder surgery, brain surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor, Chemo & radiation, 3 knee cartliedge surgeries (all on the same knee w/i 6 months) numerous seizures from the brain surgery. My mom spent more time in the hosp than she did at home. She died at 36 from brain cancer when she developed more brain tumors. I was 15. Her best friend was a CNA would come to our house after she got off work and take care of my mom, I would help her. After I graduated HS, my mom's best friend kept trying to get me to take CNA classes and I kept telling her no. I didn't want to see anyone else die. I started taking pre-reqs for med lab tech. and took a phlebotomy class. I got accepted in the Med Lab Tech class at the community college. They accepted 15 to a class and only 3 graduated out of the class, I wasn't one of them. I then got a job as a waitress in a retirement home and it was there that I realized I wanted to do more for the residents there than just serve them there meals. So I enrolled in a CNA class thru a nursing home, I worked in the nursing home for 6 months then went on to a hosp. I feel that growing up with a very sickly mother, and seeing all that she went thru, that by being a CNA I am able to do for her now, what I couldn't do for her when she was alive. I know she would be proud of me.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Dec 20, 2008

I began my nursing education in my late teens and early 20's. Went all the way up until I was one semester away from applying for the program. Then I let my summer job boss, landscape business owner, talk me into becoming a crew boss in his company.

10 not so responsible years later, I looked around me and saw myself surounded by a bunch of divorced/not too long out of jail/alcoholic/chronicly unemployalbe types. I knew then more than any other time I had made a mistake. But going back to school just wasnt an option. I was with another company at this point, still a crew boss, but basicaly just made enough to function and certainly did not like my job.

That following winter, I worked snow plowing hours with a vengence. Took every opportunity to work that presented itself. It was a bad winter in PA that year too, I had plenty of work. In the past, I had done like most of the other guys did, collected unemployement for the winter and took a vacation. I took all my earnings and applied them to school loan payments. In six months, I was out of default and able to return to school.

Those long shifts of doing snow removal kept me motivated enough to finish school no matter how hard it got. Now I've been a nurse for 3 years. Nursing has its own obsticles, but its never been bad enough to make me desire my old life.