Nurses that have inspired you to be a nurse...

Wow! What a question. For alot of us, being a nurse was one of the few job opportunities available at the time. Now, there are so many choices out there. But I have to say that being a nurse becomes part of who you are and it has been a good choice so far. I have wondered myself what in the world pulled me in that direction to begin with and I think it was the idea of helping others and the caring nature of the job. It isn't exactly like that any more either but it does give you a sense of doing something constructive with your life, and that is changing every day. As nurses, we need to again regain the prospectative of being the patient advocate, caring for others and standing in the gap for our patients. As nurses age, we need to understand that there will be no one to care for us if we don't care now; care by promoting the profession, by raising awareness of nursing and raising the image of nurses, and by standing up for ourselves and demanding what is right, what is necessary for our profession. Guess I better get off the soap box, but it really gives you something to think about.

I have 3 nurses who inspired me to become a nurse. First was my mother who was an RN when I was a toddler (she left the profession to raise our family). Her stories and the knowledge she kept excited me and sparked my interest. The next two were from a hospital stay I experienced as a teen. One of the nurses worked pre-op. She took some time to help calm and chat with me (I was very nervous-first time in hospital). She found out I was interested in nursing and gave a very positive report on her nursing experience. I was just so touched that she cared enough to help me relax before surgery. I told her I might like to work in that hospital and she told me to look her up when I did. I didn't actually work there but did some of my nurse's training there and looked her up to thank her. She said she was very happy that someone who had talked about the profession had actually gone through with training for it. The other nurse during this stay was a student nurse at the time. She showed how excited she was to become a nurse in her interactions with me. And when I mentioned I was thinking about becoming a nurse, she gave me a lot of encouragement to follow through.

Thank you to each of those nurses!

I am not actually a nurse yet, allthough I have worked as a certified nurses aid in long-term care centers and in an adult foster-care house for almost 5 years.

I first became interested in nursing when I was hospitalized for two weeks when I was 10. I had a nurse there named Terri who I thought was an angel in disguise. I was bleeding from my kidneys and no one could tell me why. All I knew was that I was in a scary place and in constant pain. When I cried in the middle of the night, Terri held my hand and dried my tears. When I thought I would rather die than submit to one more of the many tests and procedures I had to undergo, Terri helped me find the courage to go through with it. And when the hospital kitchen ran out of popsicles, (I was on a liquid diet), Terri went to the store in the middle of the night and bought some with her own money just for me. Because of her, and many other nurses that I encountered in my accident-prone youth, I decided that I would become a nurse.

I hope that Terri would be proud to know that after years of wanting to become a nurse, but being unable to pursue that dream because of a domineering now ex-husband, I have just completed my first semester on my way toward a nursing degree with straight A's.

I will never forget Terri, or the loving care that she showed me. This is my thank you to her, and to all the nurses everywhere who are willing to hold and comfort a frightened child, (or adult). Never stop.

Chris