What made you pick nursing...

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...as opposed to another clinical field?

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i was a career changer, the job availability/security, hours (i like 12 hr shifts), pay, work conditions, ease of getting a degree, work cloths (scrubs/pj's) and actually directly helping ppl led me to it.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I like the nursing model over medical model. Also, I like the idea of working as RN for a while before deciding if I want to become an advanced practice nurse, unlike the PA route where you have to dive right into it. Also with nursing I like the flexible scheduling, good pay, helping people, opportunity for advancement, and ability to change specialties within nursing.

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I was rasied around a family of nurses who are competitive academically. Secondly, I love A&P, Microbiology, and Psychology which has a lot to do with nursing. Finally, I am so intrigued by the nursing model and the role they play while helping people cope with life situtions affecting their health.

If I could not be a nurse I would pursue a singing career.

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Towards the end of my bachelor's degree (I majored in economics), I realized I wanted to get into healthcare. I originally thought about doing physical therapy (which still seems very interesting to me), but I realized I would realistically need to complete a second undergrad (bad gpa and all the wrong lower division coursework) to have a shot at getting into PT graduate school.

I picked nursing as my target (this is probably 1 and a half years ago) because it had the lowest barrier of entry and it would allow me to find employment very quickly. I've since become enthralled with nursing as a profession, and I expect I'll remain a nurse (though I want to become a nurse practitioner or a CRNA later on).

It has good pay, stable employment, felxible hours, comfortable uniform (I don't like suits, which is what I'd be wearing otherwise), lets me work with people, and most importantly gives me a chance to preform work I can be proud of doing.

The only thing I dislike is that it is still a predominantly female profession (after my brother heard I got accepted, he said he had been so wrapped up in his own stuff he completely forgot to make fun of me for becoming a nancy boy, lol), but that seems to be changing quickly enough. It's not necessarily bad to get a chance to meet tons and tons of women. I can handle it, in any case.

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It is probably one of the easiest jobs I have had especialy when I consider the relatively minimal education requirments to the amount of pay recieved and the opportunities available.

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Specializes in mental health.

The captive audience.

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After working for many years in another medical profession, when the opportunity presented itself (tuition assistance, grants, etc.) I decided to get into the profession that I wanted to right after high school. You see my father was from the generation (and some still do) that men did not become nurses. And since he was the one paying for college, My father and brother enrolled me in a medical profession that they perceived was more male oriented. Now that I am an RN I like talking to people, the autonomy (although limited), the bonuses, more patient contact, the giving of compassion, empathy, understanding, public respect, imparting information to other people, the job security (far better than other professions), interaction with doctors, respiratory therapy, and other supportive and techincal departments, etc, etc.

P.S. I read on this website that there is now a national nurses union. I have NO experience working under a union. Let me know what you think. It appears at work, that the majority are pro-union. I get comments like "Under a union patient safety will improve". "We will get better working conditions", etc. etc.

Thanks for any input.:specs:

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Specializes in mental health.

P.S. I read on this website that there is now a national nurses union. I have NO experience working under a union. Let me know what you think. It appears at work, that the majority are pro-union. I get comments like "Under a union patient safety will improve". "We will get better working conditions", etc. etc.

Thanks for any input.:specs:

I've some experience with unions.

If you work in an area with only one employer you don't have competition for your services. This gives the employer a lot of power. A union is a good way to answer that power.

Are there problems with patient safety and working conditions where you work? If so, why are people waiting for a union. There is a state BON, there is the joint commission, the state entity that licensed the facility, politicians...lots of places to apply pressure to correct problems that can't be corrected internally. Are there other places you could seek employment?

National healthcare puts you in the situation of having only one employer. So, yes, you'll need a union. However, it will NOT be better than it is now. Unions can be very oppressive. If THE union requires open voting...then you will have NO individual voice. Everything will be 'majority rule' and we know that the majority seldom represents the best and brightest. "How?", you say. With open voting, the majority will feel you are against them if you do not vote with them and you will be a social outcast within the union. You lose individual choice. It's like 'the majority likes Mconalds so we're shutting down burger king and McDonalds'. YOU WILL HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO GO! This is what a national employer and a national union will get you....But wait, there's more....The union politicians will end up in cahoots with the government politicians and in the end the employees and the patients will be much worse off.

In my experience with unions, the union officials had no concept of what it takes to run a business and how the finances work. They put the business out of business and the union workers out of jobs.

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Specializes in Progressive Care.

I am a career-changer. I have worked in a clerical position in a medical office for several years now. I was interested in medicine, but I really needed a solid career with descent pay that wouldn't take YEARS of schooling. And I do like that the focus of nursing is on caring for the whole patient, and not just looking at the patient like some sort of science experiment. It really helps me to feel like I'm doing some good in the world. Gives me a lot of satisfaction in my work. Yeah, it's a majority female profession, but medicine in general is like that anyway, so I'm used to it. Besides, I like ladies ... and they don't seem to mind me.

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Specializes in Progressive Care.

PS - I, for one, am distrustful of unions. I still feel like they are run by a bunch of greasy Mafia guys who take your dues and don't really do anything.

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I have been caring for my youngest daughter who was born with Spina-Bifida and parapalegic for 24 years. Our oldest daughter was involved in a severe auto accident almost 7 years ago 48% burns and bilateral BKA's . I did all her nursing burn care when she was released home. She told me one day that I have been working as a Nurse for the past 24 years now I needed to go to school so I could get paid for it.

I am about to enter my second semester of RN school, I love everything about it!!!!!!!!!!!:loveya: I only wish I had tried to be a Nurse years ago instead of waiting until I was 48 years old.

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