What's your story? Why did you take up nursing?

Every nurse has their own story to tell about how or why they chose to enter the nursing profession. Some may have been inspired by a personal experience with healthcare, while others may have been drawn to the idea of caring for others. Some may have stumbled upon nursing by chance, while others knew from a young age that it was their calling. Whatever the reason, each nurse has a unique narrative that led them to become a caregiver. These stories are a testament to the diversity and passion within the nursing community and the profound impact that healthcare can have on our lives.

Please be as detailed or as short as you wish. It'll be interesting to hear everyone's stories.

[zaleah]

Final grade of high school with no idea what I wanted to do other then being a Vet, but I failed physics and they would not take me......

My best friend was filling out an app for nursing school at a technical college, I said "give me one of those and we can go together". I had never thought about nursing as a career.

I got in, she did not.........

Here I am and she is living in the Bahamas making great money and living on the beach.

[tatgirl]

My mother, great-grandmother, and great aunt all were nurses. But what inspired me to go into nursing school at the age of 36 was my son. Back in 1990 my son was born with a rare genetic disorder, Hirschsprungs disease, and Cerebral Palsy. Needless to say he spent alot of time at the CHKD in Norfolk VA. The nurses that took care of my son encouraged me to become a nurse. Fast forward to 2004 and another child, I was applying to LPN school, I graduated in March of 06 and have never regretted becoming a nurse. I only wish I had done it sooner!!!!!

Wendy

LPN in LTC

[Maine Critical Care]

Gabby, You can interview me. I've been a nurse since 1982 and wanted to be a vet, architect, doctor and nurse since I was little. Nursing won out because 1. I could have flexible hours and still have a family (unlike doctors)2. Animals wouldn't understand if I did something painful to them like people and 3. I hate math so doing blue prints was out of the question.

24 years as a nurse and I still like it.

[cjmdelavic]

well honestly speaking... it took several thunderstorms before i decided to get into nursing school. hahah

For 13 years, I have dedicated and reserved all my dreams for medical school. I really wanted to become a doctor. That was the main reason why I took BS. Medical TEchnology as my initial premed course, and stayed in that course for a year. It was in the summer of 2003 when there was an opening in the nursing department.. I took my chance for the greatest nursing advantage in congruence with my great "american dream". I got in. It was such a great double-back, 'coz me and my family migrated to the United States in 2004. :)

Just early this March of 2006, I was granted the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and was licensed the same year after I passed the local board exam. (oooh.. felt proud..) And it was at this time I have felt, that my great desire for medicine, has eventually faded, and was replaced with the image of Florence Nightingale! oooh.. I'm proud to be a nurse! I'm currently working as a psychiatric nurse assistant, while waiting for my NCLEX-RN eligibility.:)

[obynna]

I have an aunt who is a nurse,wears short (above the knee) white starched uniform and walk noiselessly in a low heel always.Then I use to picture myself in her shoes(mine you I WAS in primary school then)Then when it was time to do it,I decided I was no longer interested in it,but my dad said no way and insisted that I must go to a nursing school,then off I went,without a choice though,but I thank God I became a nurse.Without any regret,am proud to be a nurse today.

[Morgan314]

I wanted to be a nurse so I could wear the white starched uniform, the funky lace-up shoes, white hose, and the cap. At age 15 in my first NA job, I wanted to be the nurse all dressed in white, with the cap, who either sat behind her massive desk in her own office with her "nurses call the shots" coffee mug or walked around with a clipboard giving the rest of us orders.

[ns lpn]

My mother took nursing and never finished b/c she didn't like it. Anyways she still had nursing books in the home when I was growing up. In grade 5 we had to do public speaking and my mother still teases me today that my topic was "bursitis"....I've always been interested in human conditions. When I graduated I was in the top of my class but didn't know exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and because I'd recieved a bursary in computer sciences I fiqured that was what I should do...so I took a tech course and did really well but never did anything with it ...it wasn't what I wanted. A friend of mine had taken the LPN course and was telling me about her work...it sounded good....and here I am doing it. Ideally if I could go back I would have taken extra courses in grade 12 and applied for scholorships into a BSN program but I am content being an LPN and I still enjoy learning about the human condition.

[meannana]

I wish I had a great story to tell, but I don't. Did I want to be a nurse when I was 6, no I Wanted a BeBe gun like my brothers had. Did I want to be a nurse because someone close to me had a dramatic illness, no. I wanted to join the Navy when I finished highschool, but my Mom said no, decent girls didn't do that, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a decent girl either. So, I got married and went to work in a factory and I hated it, so my sister-in-law said go to work at the nursing home with me. So I did and I made $1.25 an hour, wow. See how long ago that was. But, I loved it and did it for most of the next 19 years. I went home from work one day and told my husband[ not the first one, because I was a widow at 22, and not the second one , he was an abuser,but the third one , he was a keeper] that I just could not take care of my pts. anymore because it was too hard and I was too old. He asked what I would do if I could do anything I wanted and I said go back to school. He asked what I wanted to be when I "grew up" and I said an LPN. He picked uo the phone and called the local VO-TECH and started pushing me through school. Was it hard? Yes, We had two teenage daughters, but they got me through. Have I ever regretted it , no, I love what I do . I have spent most of the last 18 years in LTC. I have thought about getting my RN, but they don' have nearly as much fun as I do. But that fun will end before I am ready I fear. You see I am a bad arthritic and Probably want be able to walk many more years, but I guess I could always get a scooter lol. So all you gals and guys that are just starting out, hang tuff, it's worth every pain, every insult and every missed Holiday.

[Gromit]

I liked it! It seems nearly all of us have come at nursing in a rather roundabout way -I know very few nurses who actually started out their working career wanting to be a nurse (hell, look at my own -I've been a printer (pressman and all other aspects of the printing trade except sales and delivery) and drove tractor trailers, fire rescue, then finally into my current (and final) career, nursing. :)

As it says on one of my helmet stickers -what a long, strange journey it has been!

[Kashia, ASN, LVN]

I was diagnosed with hep C. My doctor wanted me to start interfuron for treatment. I read up on this medication and also the liver and how it and the body was affected by this drug. When I saw my dr again I told him I had done some research and decided not to take interfuron and to treat this is a natural alternative way. In a degrading way he told me there was no way I could understand the complicated liver or treatments or side effects and was angry with my assertiveness.

I went to a holistic dr, healed myself and went to nursing school. My first job was in the hospital he had residency in.

He was shocked to see me there and I was happy to be there to save patients from him and drs like him that removed all of a persons power from them with their egotistic ideology...basically to become a patients advocate.I have little interest in the science of western medicine.

[Gromit]

"I have little interest in the science of western medicine."

Be careful that you don't become just like him -too full of the arrogance of your own position and ideals that you close your mind to the benefits of the 'alternative' (as opposed to your own desired type of medicine).

[WestWingFan]

I'm not a nurse yet... I start nursing school in September (just got my acceptance yesterday). I just posted this on another thread, but I though I'd post here as well.

I really need a job where I'm helping people. I was a high school teacher for 6 years and loved it. Then, 5 years ago, I started having children, and left my job to be home with them. Now I really want to go back to work, but want something more flexible in hours, but still feel like I'm really helping people. My husband works from 7am-3pm (same hours as a teacher, except I got home a little later). I really wanted something where I could be home with my kids in the early morning, and give them breakfast and get them to school.Teachers usually have to be at work well before the students arrive-- I was always at work by 6:45/7:15 at the latest. But now, working night shifts and weekends is actually very appealing to me. I thought about being a realtor- and went to real estate school. Though I enjoyed the school part (that was fun) I told my husband that it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life, but I would do it so we could start saving for the kids' college. He told me I had a few years to figure out what would make me happy-- whether it's going back to school to keep my teaching certificate valid, or going back to school for something else. I need to feel like I'm doing something good. My oldest has asthma, and between delivering my babies and being in the hospital with him-- the nurses have always been a godsend to me. Between helping me nurse my children (which never came easy for me), to educating me on asthma treatments for my son-- the nurses were just wonderful to us. I started thinking about being a nurse a few years ago, and realize that's really what I want to do (though I'll always miss teaching). I just found out yesterday that I was accepted into the nursing program I wanted (and luckily I got the evening/weekend program so I won't have to put my youngest in daycare). I'm thrilled!!! I can't believe in 2 years, I may be a nurse!!!