What inspired you to be a nurse?

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My inspiration comes from growing up with an epileptic mother and when my grandfather got sick when I was 15. My grandfather had leukemia and Parkinson's disease. He was put on hospice, first at home, and then inpatient. I was with him the entire time, and seeing the way the nurses cared for him and our family inspired me to become a nurse. Five days after being admitted to an inpatient facility, he passed away. My mom was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 8 years old, after she had a bout with meningitis. My father and I have been her primary caregivers since, and even though her seizures are relatively well controlled, I have witnessed them and cared for her many times.

When I think about being a nurse (everything from HOPEFULLY getting the acceptance letter to my program to my personal experiences) it brings tears to my eyes. I can't think of anything I'd rather do than help people the way I've seen my loved ones helped. I was never one of those kids who thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn't realize it until I got older and went through some very difficult things. I can remember going to my school counselor and principal in high school and telling them, "I want to be a nurse." They smiled, said they knew I could do it, and set me on the right track. I'm now 19 and getting ready to apply to nursing school in January. I'm excited, nervous, scared, and pretty much every other emotion there is. At times, I still doubt myself and wonder if I'm smart enough to do it. I may not be the smartest, but one thing I definitely do have that can't be taught is compassion.

So, when did you realize that nursing was what you wanted to do? Was it an experience?

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Practicality, money, versatility and because it's probably (besides engineering) the most efficient undergrad degree to start an actual career with.

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This might seem dumb but I decided that I wanted to be a nurse after working at a call center. Long story short I graduated from high school in May of 2013 with my CNA license but was scared to apply at nursing homes or find a CNA job because I thought I would have too much liability of the residents and mess up:/ so I applied at a call center in my area and was working there and the amount of liability I had was crazy! I was selling/doing customer service for a health insurance company and I had alot of liablity on my hands and realized that every job has a lot of liability in its own way and then decided that nursing was for me, to not be scared of "messing something up". Nevertheless, I am now doing my GEN EDs for Nursing and working as a CNA :]

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Specializes in ICU.

I have always had an interest in the medical field. Like as long as I can remember. I wasn't interested in college right after high school so I went into retail. I hated it but it paid well in management. Then I decided back in '99 I wanted to pursue nursing. I started my prereqs then I got married at the age of 22. My ex husband did not want to pay for me to go to school so I quit. Fast forward 15 years later and I was ready to have a career. My son had started elementary school and I did not like being home all day. My ex still did not support me so I signed up for school and filed for divorce in the same week. I do not regret my decision.

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The first time I thought about being a nurse was when I was about 7 years old and I had to go to the ER. Watching everything they did made me think being a nurse looked like a lot of fun. Then, when I was in the hospital after giving birth to my daughter, there was one nurse who worked the night shift. During my 4 day stay, she was the ONLY nurse who treated me respectfully and actually nice. I was 18, just graduated HS, and looked like I was 15. I was terrified to even touch her. This nurse made me feel so much better. That's when I knew I wanted to help other people like that.

Nursing is so much more than just a job or handing out pills. You get to deeply touch the lives of other people and truly help them when they are vulnerable.

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Specializes in None yet..

Easy! The nurses I met, just the BEST people ever. I wanted to be like them and around them. Add to that the chance to have intellectual AND physical work, the broad range of opportunities in the field and the geographic freedom and I was in.

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I don't guess there was one thing that inspired me to do it....I flip flopped between teaching and something in the medical field...ultimately decided I wanted to be a teacher....was almost finished with school when i realized I really didn't enjoy it...somewhere in that period I got married....had our first baby.....and stayed home with my babies for about 6 years....

my husband works in the oil field and has sacrificed SO MUCH and missed out on a lot with our kids so that I could stay home with them. with my youngest starting Kindergarten I decided I was ready to branch out and find a good paying job to lighten the load on my husband so that he can be around more for our kids. sooo after a lot of soul searching nursing is what stuck with my heart.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

My brother was born when I was in kindergarten, and I remember thinking that the nurses there had the coolest job ever. I told my teacher I wanted to be a "baby nurse." After trying out some other careers as I grew up, I came back around to that somehow, and now I'm on my path toward becoming a certified nurse midwife. Who knew I had it all figured out in kindergarten? :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I chose nursing because a part of me is fascinated by the disgusting, the lurid, and the obscene. Seriously.

All throughout nursing school, the instructor would bring up a disease and I'd always have a creepy amount of background information on it. Strange sights and even smells were interesting even when they were gruesome, and I'd always request the patient assignments other students dismissed as "gross." Hell, during clinicals, I'd always cozy up to the unit secretary and ask for the room numbers of the most complex or weirdest patients, just so I could select the right nurse to shadow. In the end, I got to have a lot of amazing clinical experiences, and even now in my job, I ask for the most unusual or difficult clients.

It may not be the most heart-wrenching, awe-inspiring reason, but I wanted (and continue to) be a nurse because I don't ever want to be bored.

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I'm attracted to the amount of opportunities: travel nursing, night shifts, weekend shifts (I'd rather have days off during the week: no crowds in my way at the stores!), all sorts of ladders to climb like NP or nurse educator/administration, the constant learning, and of course I love to take care of people. For every jerk patient, I have at least 3 who are awesome and make me feel appreciated. I'm also never bored.

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Oh no!!! I just saw this post (how did I miss that, come on AJC...) and it's almost the exact thing that I wanted to hear about too. Sorry about that! I can't figure out how to delete the post yet, if I can I will.

My thing was about what paths led us here.

My story:

My story started in 2009. I was a new freshman at Alverno College, fresh out of high school, and I was intending to become an art therapist. Now, at that point I knew I wanted to have some sort of role in healthcare, whether it would be as a therapist or not. But I was always a little envious of the nursing program students I knew- really, of what they were learning. A year later I was at a technical college in my hometown. I started in the "Biomedical Informatics Technician" program (Health Information / Informatics) and was pretty pleased with the courses I took from the start... until the next semester. I was bored and the things I learned were uninteresting to the point where I just couldn't bring myself to focus on it, and my grades suffered. I took some time "off" to take general courses and make up my mind of what I really wanted... which didn't really work. But, I went back to the HIM program with a different mindset- it could lead me to other areas in healthcare! I started the core courses and a new mostly-full-time job and I was so, so busy and kind of happy... and I admired all of the nursing staff that I worked with on a daily basis for their complete dedication to and compassion for the patients we had. I remember thinking "What wouldn't I give to play a role like that? To care for patients in that capacity?" I'm pretty sure it was then that it clicked with me, that I could become a nurse and that it would be the right career for me. And... I didn't really do much about it; my family wasn't supportive of my need to change programs again, and my instructors and counselors advised me against it. I stayed for another year and floundered through multiple boring coding courses with grades that passed but were not good enough for me. I graduated from the HIM program 7 days ago and decided that it's now time for me to finally, finally do what I really want. I applied to the same college I graduated from for the ADN program (one of the best in the state, so I've been told) and will hopefully start core courses in the spring semester of 2016. I haven't decided yet which road I want to go down but I am leaning toward ED or critical care. Right now I have options though, and as I go through the motions I am positive that I will find my little niche to fit into. :)

I should also say that what mostly brought me to this point was that I've always been the "caretaker." I love helping people, to the point of being seen as the "mother hen" in my family and group of friends. When my grandpa was sick he had fantastic nurses caring for him and... I think between them and the staff I worked with I saw similar qualities within myself, and I feel a strong need to continue down a path that allows me to care for others in a greater capacity than the behind-the-scenes stuff.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Who knew I had it all figured out in kindergarten? :)

I know I did, after shadowing and witnessing a nurse calmly give a shot to a drunk patient that was in a bar fight and become agreeable...a great diversion while my sister was sick...best decision ever. ;)

I like the complex and the morbid...most difficult pts And family members I've had the ability to "soothe" most of them, and My attitudes of thinking out the box, inquistiveness and writing (great technical) skills have served me well; I have been able to take on non-traditional roles and have worked in the community up to step-down/critical care...to leadership roles...best career to find and carve a niche in some way...I've NEVER been bored in this business.

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