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 Community Health.

ok i've never actually told anyone my real reason because it’s so personal…and i don’t want to make people uncomfortable. but the bravery of other people here has inspired me. and maybe my story will change the way someone looks at one of those patients that you think is a lost cause, because that was me 10 years ago…

i was a wild teenager. drugs, reckless relationships, stealing cars, i was basically hell bent on self destruction. when i was 16, i ran away from home and ended up in a teen shelter. i ran away from there, and met up with the wrong person, and was raped.

it was the worst experience of my life, and to top it off everyone treated me like i was a criminal. the cops just looked at me like another juvenile delinquent and didn’t even pursue the case, my group home just gave me extra chores as punishment for running away, and my parents weren't even in a place where they could deal with what i was going through. my boyfriend dumped me because he couldn’t deal with the fact that i “had sex” with another guy.

the only person who treated me with compassion and talked to me like i was a human being was the nurse who performed my rape exam. she was gentle and kind. she let me cry, she took her time, and she did little things like putting a blanket over me, brushing the hair out of my eyes, giving me tissues and food…so many little things that just made me feel a little tiny bit better even in those darkest of moments. i will never forget her, as long as i live.

a few years later when i got pregnant with my daughter i realized i couldn’t be a bartender forever and i had to find a career. i though back to that nurse, and decided that i wanted to be the person who could make the worst day of someone else’s life a little tiny bit better… and the rest is history.

As a very immature and un-focused college freshman in 1987 I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Didn't know this was an MD degree and when I couldn't find it listed as a major in the college catalog I went to an organizational meeting of the Psychology Club to get the 411. During the meeting of about 100 other freshman in a big auditorium-style classroom the prof conducting the meeting went on and one about this specialty and that specialty that one could do with a Psychology degree. At the end he asked if anyone had questions. I poked my hand up and said that I wanted to be a psychiatrist and wondered why he hadn't mentioned that as an option. Well I guess back then Psychologists had an inferiority complex or something because I think I hit a nerve. That guy humiliated me in front of what felt like the entire freshman class by very sarcastically telling me that I had come to the wrong school since Psychiatry required an MD degree. Then he look away and took the next question. Anyway after that I was so demoralized that I just sort of messed around until the beginning of junior year when I really needed to declare. I picked Communications because it sounded easy, graduated with a double major in media advertising and broadcasting and a minor in dance and promptly went to work in the family business as a book-keeper. Fifteen years later when I realized that I was really unhappy and unfilfilled I have decided to get into the medical field. I have decided after seeing my good friend go through many psychological issues including bi-polar disorder that I am not interested in the field of psychiatry. I feel the field does a grave disservice to the patient by sending him or her to one practitioner for meds and another for counseling. It's hard on the pocket-book and creates a disconnect for the continuity of treatment IMHO. Anyway, that's why I want to get into nursing.

im still pre-nursing (hoping to get accepted fall '11!) but here goes nothing

i never, ever gave nursing a consideration. Yet when i look back i seem pretty destined for it. When i was seven, my mom was in her Biology graduate program and had to dissect a frog, bring it home and label it, and then bring it back. In front of me and my four year old brother she dissected the frog and showed us all the organs and described them. I remember thinking how cool that was. (We also watched a lot of discovery health and i was fascinated with the shows about women giving birth)

When i was in the seventh grade, i dissected all the fetal pigs in my class (yes, ALL 26 or so of them, not sure what my teacher was up to or why he didnt stop me) because they grossed everyone else out. I proceeded to explain the different parts to my classmates as best i could.

I took human anatomy in high school as an elective and thought how cool the human body was. However, i didnt believe myself smart enough to become a doctor so i just kind of went to college not knowing what i wanted to do. Figuring i'd end up a teacher or writer or something along those lines.

I was at a friends house and her mother was yelling at us. My friend's mother was, of course, a nurse. She was grumbling about how we had no direction and needed to get our heads on straight and why didnt we become nurses like her? Why not indeed! She was (is) a traveling nurse and raved about how we could go where we wanted and specialize in almost anything.

We shrugged and changed our majors the next day

Stupid, yeah probably, i had done some research and it seemed good enough, steady income and all that jazz

it wasnt really until i took human anatomy and my science based classes that i realized that this was for me (the science teacher mostly teach as if all of us are going into nursing because most of us are) i know the pre-reqs are anything like nursing school or real life but that doesnt change how i feel

i came by the profession kind of half-heartedly but now that i'm here i cant imagine trying to become anything else

~readerwriter

wow, didnt realize i'd be that long, sorry :D

Specializes in Rehabilitation.

When I was 10 my mom was killed in a semitruck-automobile accident. My brother and I were in the vehicle he walked away unharmed and I spent several days in the hospital. The day I left the hospital was also the day of my mothers funeral. There were so many people at her funeral that not everyone fit in the building. She was a nurse. I believe I got my sense of compassion from my mother and I wanted to share that compassion the best way I could. I wanted to touch as many lives as my mother did.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

My Mum told me from the age of 4 years old, I always told everyone I would become a nurse - and apparently I used to say it with conviction.

I got engaged, went into the 1st year of my nursing, broke up the engagement after dropping out of nursing (in those days we had to work away for our clinicals and that put a HUGE strain on my relationship, plus other things), got told I would regret it and that I was stupid, worked in hospitals for 20 odd years in non-nursing jobs (ie: theatre coordination), and gave up on my dream.

I did decide to go back after a lull in employment and b4 I got too old, finished 2 years, had to drop out because I was in a serious car accident where I was lucky I wasn't killed, failed a subject, went BACK into the external nursing course at university, passed the failed subject (after many, many hours of burning the midnight oil, determined NOT to fail this time), failed my last drug calculation test, worked all night that night to pass THAT the next day, worked and studied full time to do all my clinicals which we got no money for and finally got my parchment in the mail. That day I sat down and stared at that piece of paper in wonderment.

The day I went to register as a nurse, there was some confusion re my paperwork and whether I'd done all the requirements to pass the course!! It got sorted out and when I was handed my RN license, I just sort of smiled, the girl behind the counter said 'Congratulations', and that was that. It seemed such an anti-climax! So I took myself off shopping and bought myself some presents, and cake and coffee :)

But I knew even then that the road ahead in nursing was going to be a hard one, and would never be easy.

Specializes in Medical Assisting.

Like Mahatma Ghandi stated: "Be the change you want to see in the world." I feel that if I go into nursing, I can be the nurse I'D want taking care of my family, friends, and myself. I feel a calling, so to speak, to do this thing called "nursing". I know it's what I want to do, at least for the time being.

When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be in some form of the medical field. Unfortunately, I dropped out of high school, got pregnant, and had to move back home. Right after I found out I was pregnant, I went and got my GED. As soon as my GED came in the mail, I enrolled in the local CC. I still wasn't 100% sure on what I wanted to do.

My first semester of school, I was on bed rest for having pre-term labor. I ended up having my daughter 6 weeks premature. While I was in labor, I ended up getting sick all over my hospital room. And while apologizing to the nurse and her student nurse about having clean it up, she told me to get back in bed and not to worry about it (all with a smile on her face).

When I got moved after delivery, my nurse I had was actually a student completing her Master's. She was very nice and told me all about her school experience. She was even sneaking me Dr. Pepper's in to my room! :heartbeat:heartbeat

When my daughter was born, she got transferred to the NICU at the local Children's Hospital. As soon as I was discharged, I went to see her. This was a Friday, and I just happened to meet her nurse, who only worked weekends. She was more than helpful with any questions or concerns I had. She even bought (yes, with her own money) ALL of her patients baby books and put their foot prints on them for the parents! During the week, I had met some nice nurses, and some not so nice nurses. One even had the nerve to tell me that my daughter wouldn't be going home when the Dr. said she would! :madface::scrying: (I called the Dr. and told him what this nurse said, and I believe he told her manager, because I never seen her on that floor again). Anyways, that very nice nurse was back the next weekend when my daughter got discharged.

All the nurses I came in contact with over that week and a half, have touched my heart. They always went out of their way to help me and be there for support, even emotional support. Ever since that experience, I have wanted to be a nurse. All three (or four, if you count the nurse student) have touched me. I only hope to be as nice and supportive as they were!:redpinkhe:loveya:

I graduated high school 20 years ago with no career goals or path. I worked retail and at a dental office. After 5 years, I realized my job prospects were dreary without a college degree so I enrolled in a local college. Well life happened after two semesters, got married, moved out of town, had kids etc. My brother by now had graduated college, and medical school and was a doctor. I have two children with chronic conditions, epilepsy, hypoglycemia, allergies, asthma, ezcezma, etc. I spent many nights/days at the hospital with them. I would be there with them, and was wishing I could help with the crying baby next door, lonely child without visitors/parents, etc. Well in in Nov -2009 my dd got swine flu and ended up spending 10 days at the hospital with 3 of them being in PICU. I was concerned but calm. I was amazed at how well she was treated by the nurses, RT's, doctors, etc. It was at this time that I felt that if I can handle my own child being critical and not lose my cool, then I could be a nurse. I enrolled in college within two weeks of her being discharged. I managed to complete 33 hours in 4 semesters, while maintaining a 3.93 GPA and got accepted to a ASN program here. I start in Fall of 2011. I'm so excited about my future, I'm 40 and I know I'm not the youngest, but I hope my age will help me.

My brother and his wife have been one of my biggest supporters and he has said all along that I was meant to be a nurse. I look forward to when I can sign my name with RN at the end.

Well, aside of money matter. This course is my greatest ambition. I like taken care of a sick people specially the babies.

Wanted to be a nurse after high school, fell into the party scene and didn't finish my pre-req. In my twenties, I got married(horrible idea), got pregnant(the greatest gift of my life), and then I got a divorce. I went back to school did very well in the pre-reqs, was accepted into the nursing program and I just graduated at 30 years old. My daughter is about to begin kindergarten and I feel we have finally made it.

I grew up with a mother and aunt as nurses and a father and aunt(same as nurse aunt) as veterinarians. I wanted to be a veterinarian. At 19 I had been married less then a year and had a newborn...and I watched my mother die. I lived 10hrs away from her when I got the call that she was on hospice (2 weeks before she had been working still) I honestly didnt expect her to die. It never even occurred to me or to most people because of the person my mom was. It was the 3rd time she has cancer so we all expected it to be the same as before. I was back home in less then 24 hrs after getting the call about hospice. By the time I got there my mom was no longer responsive. 24hrs before she had been laughing and in decent shape. 12hrs after I got home I watched my mother take her last breathe. I was very much alone. I was the oldest child and I had to take care of the farm, my 15yr old brother, and all of my mothers end of life details. Everyone was turning to me for answers I did not have. The only people who were there for me to rely on were the hospices nurses.....I would of lost my mind if it wasnt for them. They gave me the emotional support and guidance I needed. The next few months were awful and the next few years were almost as bad. As I went through my mothers things I found all sorts of awards for pt care and notes from her pts about how wonderful of a nurse she was. That combined with the memories the hospice nurses left for me gave me the push to go into nursing. My mother died in the Spring of 07 I enrolled in school Fall 07 and I graduated this last may with my ADN, this last july I passed my NCLEX. I love nursing, it is definitely what I was meant to do. I hope my mom is proud.

I grew up working at animal hospitals. The first major surgery I assisted in was a lower lung lobe removal. As soon as the Dr split the ribs I saw the lung inflating and deflating right in front of my eyes . It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen! I was instantly addicted to assisting in surgery. I loved it so much that I decided to switch to human nursing so I would be able to work in the OR all day every day and assist in more complex surgeries :D

I have my LVN license already and am applying for RN programs this fall. It makes me really happy to know that I found my calling in life. I cant wait to get my career going!

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