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

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

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.

Specializes in LTAC, Homehealth, Hospice Case Manager.

I love this thread! I'm always curious about why people get into nursing. For myself, my story is pretty run of the mill, but I'd like to share it anyway.

From my very first memories I've always wanted to be a nurse.

I started in a 4 year program straight out of high school. Got pregnant, got married & due to finances college was history. About a year or so later I enrolled in a LPN program &, for the same fianacial reasons as before, had to give that up, too.

After my duaghter started school I went to work in a small shop as a dry clean presser. After that I did housekeeping, custom cabinet finishing, & kitchen/bath design for a well known home improvement warehouse.

Over the years I tried to discuss the idea of college with my now ex-husband, but he would say he wanted to go & we couldn't afford for both of us to go...he never went. I woke up one morning when I was 33 & decided I was tired of the physical/mental abuse I had endured for more than 15 years. So I put in for a transfer with my job & left him behind.

I managed to find the time & got a student loan to a local tech school for Medical Assisting. I loved my job, but it still wasn't nursing. So I tried to apply to a local CC for their RN program. I had to put it on hold again due to threats from my employer about taking too much time off to see counselors, etc.

Finally, when I took my daughter to that same CC to get her enrolled in the Dental Assisting program she talked me into going back to school with her. I told her I would not give it up this time & she encouraged me all the way. In the mean time I also found a wonderful man to share my life with & his belief, support & encouragement has been immeasureable!

I'm a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason. I'm happy to say that I never gave up on my dreams...after 4 attempts at college & 23 years of waiting...I graduated this past August & passed boards in September. I am a nurse!!!

Specializes in LTC.

I grew up in a family that told me I could do anything I wanted to do; I could either be a teacher or a nurse. I rebelled & became a librarian. When my newborn son became ill with meningitis, the nurses were wonderful; especially the night nurse - very supportive and funny (I know this is weird but he made me laugh, which I needed for stress release since I couldn't cry because I was too busy watching for more seizures).

I kind of knew, in that hospital room, that nursing would've been a better "fit" for me career wise; but I pushed that off because I was anxious. In libraries, if you screw up, somebody might not find the information they want. In hospitals, if you screw up, somebody might die.

Then 911 happened, and I realized, "Just because you're busy doesn't mean you're useful." I went into healthcare as a case manager (QMRP) for disabled folks, but wanted more and became braver, so enrolled in nursing school. (Way harder than library school but Shhhhhh ... don't tell the librarians)

Mom was right. SIGH*

I've always found the human body fascinating, enjoyed biology and anatomy. While in Jr. High school, one of my best friend's mom was a nurse, and the idea of being a nurse intrigued me. I also new a flight paramedic and his stories always peaked my interest as well. While in High School, I made my mind up that I wanted to be an ER nurse and eventually become a flight nurse.

I went to nursing school, started out in Geriatrics, became very interested in Nursing Informatics, which at the time was fairly new. I was amazed at how little the Nursing Home and Hospitals used technology, and I loved using computers to save time. I never did anything with my interest in Informatics directly. I then moved to the hospital, worked Telemetry, and then I went to work in CCU for several years.

Back in 1995, I started a nursing website as a hobby when I was in nursing school back in 95, that hobby became a passion, and then became a business for me. That website is now called allnurses.com (this website ;) ) has grown to significantly since it's early days. I've never for one minute regretted becoming a nurse!

While I never became an ER nurse or a flight nurse, I am very happy where my nursing career has taken me :)

I'm very happy for you.

I am a nurse and MD in the same time. I used to work in ambulance for 2 years. And now I want to work in USA, (I live in Russia) i need some help to do it.

Specializes in Medical.

The whole time I was at secondary school I wanted to be a psychologist (except for three months when I was doing really well in debating and thought I'd like to be a - urgh! no longer my idea of a fun time - lawyer). Then I got to uni, hated it and dropped out.

My parents gave me six months, then told me I had to have a job by Christmas or they'd kick me out. After dithering about I headed down to the CES (Commonwealth Employment Service, now defunct work agency) for inspiration. There were more pamphlets on nursing than anything else.

I had never considered nursing, even in passing, as a career, even though my mother, aunt, a cousin, and six great-aunts were nurses. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like something I'd enjoy.

I only applied to two hospitals, and was accepted by the one my mother and aunt had trained at, thirty years earlier (just making it before hospital training was wholly phased out).

Before I started nursing I was shy, introverted and no good with strangers. Nursing has without doubt being the making of me - I am more confident, outgoing, interesting and (of course!) knowledgeable.

Without nursing I would never have returned to uni, discovered the joys of academia and teaching, known what it is to truly love what you do, been a bridge between the world of health and the rest of the world (ie interpret for friends and family!), learned the difference a sympathetic ear and a mouth toilet can make to someone's life, or stumbled across allnurses.

Almost all my friends are current or former nurses. I can't imagine what my life would have been without nursing, but I know it would have been bleaker, less filled with colour, and infinitely more dull.

Love this thread! Thank you for listerning :)

wow some of your stories are great, me....I just needed a job and a career at 33, so I graduate in May 07 to be a Rnurse, it was a Career choice for me, and I know I will get blasted for that one, who said you had to go into Nursing because you wanted to be a Nurse, I looked over my options as far as jobs and pay and where I could work anytime anywhere, Nursing won. so here I am

just like abooker, I'm a librarian and my father has been trying to convince me for years to go into nursing. Of course, I rebelled and got my masters in library science. However, with the death of both my grandparents and volunteering for hospice made me realize the important role nurses play in death and dying, it was a very eye opening experience. My father would also say that the nursing skills are very essential to have.

Now at 32, I have just enrolled in a CNA class hoping to get my RN in the future.

WOW, I love reading all the stories!! :)

I'm acutally BARELY just starting with school but I know this is my "calling". Since I could remember, I was just always intruiged by hospitals, the human body, medicine, etc... When I was younger, because my dad was in the Army, we had free medical. I'd always make up some illness or over do my cold just to go to the doctor's. I LOVED hospitals.

Anyway, in 7th grade, I got really sick, and the docs said it was just the flu. I told my mom there was something wrong with my lung, but the Doc said no, I was fine. I was in the ER 2 days later with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. I was hospitalized for over a month, all through Christmas and New Years with chest tubes. It was two nurses there that I will NEVER forget. One was a very pretty lady with LONG eyelashes. She'd hold my hand when they were doing spinal taps or inserting my chest tubes and she always spoiled me. If she was on shift no one could touch me unless she was in the room with me...she called me her baby. I loved her! Another was a younger man studying to be a surgeon. He taught me to jump right as the elevator takes off, and right before it stops. He'd bring me magazines and tell me about his "cool Army life" when he'd have the night shifts. It was so fun and he was really cute! They probably made the biggest impact on me knowing that I wanted to be a nurse. The LITTLE things they did for me made me feel wonderful, especially when I'd be hurting so much. I really loved them because they LISTENED to me when I said something was wrong. 9 times out of 10, there was something wrong, and they were the only ones that seemed to really comfort me. Throughout my life I've had too many physicians not take me seriously, and I vowed to never do that when (not if) I became a doctor or nurse.

Well, my buget can't handle being a doctor. That and from what I've heard, it's not for me. I want that patient to patient care. My plan was to join the Army and be a medic, doctor, nurse, whatever. Those plans went downhill when I found out I'm medically (how ironic) disqualified from joining the military. So, now I just hope that I can get through all this school and be in what I like to call "my second home" (a hospital...seriously, I don't know why I love them and feel so comfortable in them.) someday, and maybe I can get to work in a military hospital since DH is in the service.

I've always picked up and absorbed anything medical...I'd always be telling people what was wrong with them, or what I felt they should have "checked out" with very surprizing results! Even in middle school they'd be amazed at "how did you know about that?". It was cool! LOL. I hope that memory and absorption of info sticks with me through nursing school! :D

Well,i am very new to this site, and really enjoing it! I started working in a nursing home 1975 as a nursing assistant. The assistant administrator encouaged me to get my LPN training. My boys had started school, so did i. i graduated in 1977, and worked in hospital, as an LPN. In 1984, i graduated from nursing school and had my RN degree. I worked part-time for a number of years in the hospital, and ventured off and on into home health. My husband is a minister and we have 2 sons, married, and now six grandchildren. I am between jobs, recently left the hospital due to 12hr. shifts. I am interviewing for school nurse position, ready for a change. I always felt it was a call on my life to work as a nurse, and have been blessed to do so. It is a great profession with many options. :balloons:

i loved the nursing field sice my child hood because my sister is a nurse.thats why i selected nursing

Specializes in MedSurg, Telemetry, Cardiology.

This is not my story but my wifes:

We are both Computer Engineers; I am little more experienced and she was just starting up. Everyday she went to her office, she felt scared what her boss might want her to start working on. It was really small company and she was the only software engineer and had to do a lot. It is lot difficult when you are new and don't know a lot about how the system works. She got pregnant and had to quit her job. When ahe was pregnant with our second son, she started going back to school for her Master's Degree in Computer Engineering. On her final day of the semeser (she had a paper presentation) she fainted on her way to the school while waiting for the subway(she was 8 months prenant then).

We rushed to the hospital and found a wonderful nurse. When she knew how we came to the emergency; she was so kind and helpful. Her words were so hevenly and my wife decided that she will change her career to Nursing and I supported her decision !!! Now she is in Accelerated BS->BSN program and expect to graduate in May 2008.

I want to be a nurse not for the fame, fortune or women... OOONO... I wanted to be a nurse because I felt I could help people... ever since I was younger, I always felt this need to help others and I don't know where it comes from within me but I have this feeling that I'll be happy doing this sort of career. i was always into the medical field from watching all these shows on t.v. but besides the point, right now I'm in college... I already took a nursing coorifice because I got accepted into a nursing program... the thing is that I failed the 1st coorifice and now I got kicked-out of the program:o ... I really don't know what to do since this failure in nursing is going to show on my college transcript and the other colleges will look at it and not accept me even if I shaped up my grades... should I pursue with my nursing career? I plan to take the LPN program in March for the meantime but till then somebody, PLEASE HELP!!!:uhoh21:

Specializes in Alzheimer's Disease, Geriatrics.

Well I am in my 2nd level of LVN school and thought I would tell my story...

When i graduated HS, i went to a community college with a full ride through nursing school. Well I got married a year into my prereqs and moved to The Woodlands, TX. Well there went my scholarships and nursing school. But that was ok. I was going to a university and was going to go to med school or be a biology teacher or somthing like that. ( They did not have a nursing school). I was not fond of the university setting. I knew that i wanted to be a nurse... I found out that the local hospital had a nursing school. I applied, and passed the entrance exam, and the interview was great, but a few weeks later I got a letter in the mail and it said that " I needed more experience". Ok, I said. I went to CNA School. Got a job... quit that job. and went to work at this LTC faciltiy that was just AWFUL!!! I left in the middle of my second shift, knowing everything that i was risking... and went to work at Target. A few weeks at Target and I got a phone call from an assisted living facility, I reluctantly went to work for them as a CNA. I loved IT. It was the best thing. I went back to school at a community college with a nursing program. I applied and applied for 2.5 years to every school in the system that had a nursing program, they told me i needed more experience. I said OK. I went to CMA school. I loved that too. I was fascinated by medications and what they did and all that. I continued working at the AL Facility until my husband was transferred, when we got here I got a job as a CMA and went on to apply to nursing school and I got in, and I am going into level 2, and cant wait to graduate. I plan to continue on to get my BSN-MSN.

I told this story for all the potential nurse who are at times discouraged bc of denial letters or what ever seems to be holding them back. It will be a very rewarding career for someone that is caring, loving and wants to help people.

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