What made you want to be a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

This is my first time posting, so hi everyone!

I'm trying to decide if I want to start nursing school this August or if I should major in something else. I love the idea of being a nurse, but at the same time, I'm worried I won't be good enough or that I'll hate nursing. What made you decide to be a nurse? What's the thing you love most about nursing?

Thank you to everyone who answers!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Because I wanted to become a lactation consultant, and at the time, becoming a nurse was the easiest/fastest way to do so.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Hi and welcome! There is a recent thread about what nurses love about nursing that you might want to check out. I did it as a second career thinking it would offer a a variety of work settings, flexible schedule plus a decent income and it has exceeded my expectations in all three. I was very interested in medicine but didn't have a burning desire to become a nurse or help people however helping people is a very pleasant aspect of what I do. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
What made you decide to be a nurse?
At the time, nursing seemed like the quickest route to a career that offered a solid middle income, flexible schedule, occupational mobility, and the potential for educational advancement.

Thus, I entered nursing for practical reasons. My heart was not oozing with altruism or a yearning to ease the suffering of humankind.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

My oldest son died of cancer at the age of 13 and I needed a way to carry everything that happened to us through that journey and to feel as if all that pain and suffering we went through was not for nothing. I was empty and scared and didn't even really know how to relate to a life without hospitals anymore. Four months after he died I started my pre-req's. It has been ten years now since his death. I have been an RN for five and just finished my MSN.

What I love about being a nurse is being present for people in a meaningful way when they need it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Hi Molly!

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/what-do-you-1083608-page2.html

Here's a link to my reply on another thread; the first part refers to the original poster who was told she would by faculty that she would have no life outside of nursing school (or something to that effect). The second paragraph lists what I enjoy about nursing.

Why I decided to become a nurse was a combo of wanting to help people and job security (at least more secure than that of a classical musician.) I had worked as a CNA since graduating high school; my school offered the class as an elective so I took it. I needed to make more money than what my church oraganist position/freelancing for weddings offered, but I didn't want to work in retail or food service. But I digress. I really enjoyed being a CNA so decided to continue my education in that direction.

I highly recommend becoming a CNA. You'll get your feet wet with performing very basic nursing tasks and at the same time see the RN/LPN working in their roles.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

I loved first aid as a Boy Scout, wanted to look into medicine (too long), paramedic (low pay), when my BIL was admitted for T-cell carcinoma when I was 13. I saw male nurses who weren't gay (sorry, realize that the 70's were a whole different time, don't judge by today's standards) and functioning in what appeared to be an autonomous role. I chose to be a nurse then. It was difficult in high school given the aforementioned prejudice and I wasn't even allowed to join the future nurses club in HS. I was one of two males in my class and the only one that graduated. Wouldn't look back. Should I not need to work tomorrow, I would volunteer as a nurse, nothing I would rather do.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac/Tele.

Overwhelming fascination with medicine and health care since early childhood... and a strong aversion to the bureaucratic bullcrap physicians deal with in their roles. Briefly considered being a PA, but the more nurses I observed in the hospital, the more I liked the nurse's (and NP's) role and went the RN route. Love it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

I needed surgery. I encountered nurses who made my hospital stay and my recovery easier and I encountered nurses who made me feel bad. I wanted to be one of the "good" nurses. Having said that, now that I am a nurse, my perspective on my time in the hospital back then has changed, as has my assessment of what makes a nurse "good" or "bad".

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
At the time, nursing seemed like the quickest route to a career that offered a solid middle income, flexible schedule, occupational mobility, and the potential for educational advancement.

Thus, I entered nursing for practical reasons. My heart was not oozing with altruism or a yearning to ease the suffering of humankind.

This this this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.
My oldest son died of cancer at the age of 13 and I needed a way to carry everything that happened to us through that journey and to feel as if all that pain and suffering we went through was not for nothing. I was empty and scared and didn't even really know how to relate to a life without hospitals anymore. Four months after he died I started my pre-req's. It has been ten years now since his death. I have been an RN for five and just finished my MSN.

What I love about being a nurse is being present for people in a meaningful way when they need it.

(((not.done.yet)))...sniffle...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment