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

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 Utilization Management.

What an amazing thread!

I was a born nurturer. I loved taking care of people and animals. I remember "helping" to take care of my little sister, dressing up my poor ol' tomcat in baby clothes and taking him for walks in my dolly stroller (he was my first restrained patient).

As I grew older, wounded people and pets came into my life and I loved taking care of them. But everything I did was limited. I didn't have enough knowledge to really be helpful. I was drawn to medical and social issues and read everything I could get my hands on.

I kept thinking that if I knew more, I could do more. Nursing programs where I came from were extremely demanding and I always had the highest regard for nurses because of their knowledge, their professionalism, and their ability to help so many people.

So I became a nurse. It was like coming home. It's where I'm supposed to be. :)

i have just spent a fascinating hour reading all the replies to this post and felt i needed to tell my own story. i went through several phases before nursing became my vocation: the nun phase (catholic schools), the architect phase (my father was in construction), the mother of 12 phase (hormones raging), and then the physician phase (learned in high school i was not stupid as i had always been told - by the nuns).

my first real job other then babysitting (at home and for other with pay) was as a dishwasher in a nursing home at 14 years old (you could lie about your age then). within a year, i progressed from preparing trays, to cooking the meals, to delivering the trays, to feeding the residents, to helping lift them into bed. my last summer at home after graduation, i worked the night shift in a nursing home without any training - "just take care of them" i was told. so i did what i had to do at home to care for my siblings.

i still wanted to be a general practitioner md in a small new england town and help everyone. i finished high school as college-prep and entered the university of vermont as a pre-med student. i took 21 credits and worked 30 hours a week in the college kitchen. needless to say, i burned out quickly and was placed on academic probation. as the oldest of eight, one year was all my parents could afford. my dad was dead set against college "for girls" and wanted me to make him a grandfather (never happened).

i stayed in vermont, working two and three jobs at a time in manufacturing, as a nurse aide, and bartender/waitress for the next couple years. in 1973, i realized i should be graduating pre-med but was in a rut and going nowhere fast. i nearly ended up married to a guy 13 years older then i with four kids. one day i was walking to my bartender job and passed the army recruitment office. i went in, talked with them, took an aptitude test, and signed on the doted line and still made it to work on time. i knew that i would be able to do my three years and go back to school on the gi bill to get my md.

i was stationed in alabama, texas, and then virginia where i had my first working experiences with "real nurses". one nurse, a civilian nurse in an army hospital, became my mentor and supporter. i would say, "i want to do that" and she would say "ok, but first you have to this". she would give me reading on the procedure and quiz me on the information. she showed me how to do a procedure (enemas, catheterizations, medications, etc) and how to document it in the notes. i then had to demonstrate the procedure back to her perfectly and then i was expected to do that procedure from then on without complaint. i learned to draw blood, start ivs, assist with liver biopsies, do sterile dressing changes (hour long ones), assist mds with minor surgeries, give pre-op patient education, and provide post-op care. there was never a single thing i wanted to do that she refused to teach me or insist that someone else teach me (anesthesiologist taught me the art of ivs). it was then that i realized i wanted to be a nurse not a physician.

she encouraged me and with army assistance, i started taking college courses. i tried to get into the army nurse corps but they refused me because i was already in the army. the army wanted to send me to pa school for 6 weeks with a year of on-the-job training. i refused to apply knowing that i needed more then just 6 weeks of schooling. i got married (to make my father happy), divorced two years later (husband wanted me barefoot and pregnant), re-enlisted for another four years, got an honorable discharge, and started nursing school. i was an "older" student with lots of experience and drove my instructors crazy but i finally graduated in 1983 (10 years after joining the army) with a bs in nursing and a bs in psychology. i was the first one on my father's side of the family to ever graduate from college. i knew dad was proud of me even though he never said so. i cared for him as a daughter and a nurse for the last 6 weeks of his life just five years later when he died at home from lung cancer.

i have worked in home health, nursing homes, and physician clinics. i am now a nurse manager/educator/care coordinator in a large assisted living home for elders and teach cnas at the local university. i use the same techniques in teaching that my mentor used over 30 years ago. i encourage and support the cnas to go back to school to become nurses. i have loved every job i have had in nursing. i have never had a regret in changing my profession to nursing. i believe nursing has always been my vocation and that i had to experience life to discover that. i finished my msn last year and start on my gerontological nurse practitioner certification this summer. i plan on getting a doctorate in nursing before or just after retirement (just 12 years away) just to keep learning and working in the field i love.

thanks for reading my story. i have it written up, with more detail, for my family genealogy and history.

I am 39 years old and just finished my BSN and passed boards. This is my third degree (I am a professional technical writer with a master's in biology). I went into nursing for my sanity (REALLY I did!). I cared for my Mother for 18 months as she fought (and lost) her battle with multiple myeloma at age 66. After her death, I buried myself in work, neglecting both my friends and my family. I work from home and about 3 years ago, I determined that 1) I needed to move back to my hometown to care for my aging Dad and 2) I was slowly, but surely, becoming a hermit (I often would not see another person unless I had to go to the grocery--I did EVERYTHING by email or phone). Nursing seemed the logical choice, primarily if one needs to live in an area where technical writing and scientific work is sporifice (which correctly describes my home town). So I went back to school, albeit completing my degree too late for my Dad (he died with lung cancer in April). However, I believe I have found the career God intended for me. I will be starting my career as a nurse on an oncology unit. So, for me, nursing is a new life--one that also gets me away from my computer (at least for a few hours each day).

Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.

I wanted to be a veterinarian, but single momhood occurred first, so plans changed. I wanted something that was satisfying, more lucrative than waiting tables for tips and didn't take long to accomplish. After being a CNA, I admired an LPN who seemed to like her job, so decided to do it, as it seemed better than what I was doing. I kind of liken nursing to a waitress with an education. Still taking care of people, but the science makes it more interesting. RN came later once I realized I was kind of "locked in" to the field as I was making OK money and needed to continue doing so. Really, it hasn't been bad overall. Still would've rather been a vet, but my kids came first and they have always been my real reason for being, so being a nurse has benefitted us all. I'm grateful for that.

I was an exotic dancer (best job I ever had!), but knew that as I approached my late 30s I'd need another career, so I went to nursing school. Thankfully I like nursing almost as much as stripping.

I went to college for an athletic training degree right out of high school. I then got my master's in counseling and worked as an athletic trainer for a few years. In the meantime, I had a daughter and got married. Athletic training hours were too funky for a family with only one car. Hubby (at the time) was making good money so I stopped being an athletic trainer and decided to be a stay at home mom. Got pregnant with daughter #2 who was born at 26 weeks gestation. I spent A LOT of time in the NICU and watched and learned from the nurses there. The idea of "Hey- I might like doing some of this stuff" was planted in the back of my head. Daughter #2 came home and my days were filled with therapies and developmental clinics and RSV shots. As she got older and healthier, I started looking into nursing school and what it would take to become a CNA first at that point. Got pregnant again and had a son so everything got put on the back burner. Divorced my husband about a year after our son was born was born. I decided that since child sopport was sporadic at best that I needed to be able to support myself and my children without having to rely on my ex. Working as an athletic trainer was definitley NOT an option as a single mom. I went to CNA school and have been working as a CNA for almost 2 years now. I finished up the pre-reqs for nursing school (had to take A&P again since it had been longer than 10 years since I had taken it last) and I am now in the middle of my first and second year in an ADN program. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's stories :)

:) It is really neat to read everyones' stories. My story is complicated and yet simple to explain. I had a full scholarship to Northeastern University pre-med. I fell in love december of my senior year and left school. :uhoh21: My first husband left after my first little girl died at 3 months old of crib death. The nurse was the only person in the ED(This was 1970) who held me while I wailed and didn't judge me or question if I were somehow to blame! The idea started to take root that horrible night.

I became a nurse's aide and then my very abusive second husband decided to leave me and my 2 beautiful little girls age 3 and 7. I knew I couldn't raise them on my aide's salary and though I didn't like the idea of welfare I vowed to myself I would make good on the opportunity it afforded me to realize my dream and care for my family.

I met a wonderful man in nursing school and 2 more beautiful girls and 25 years later, here I am. I have had a wonderful career as a critical care nurse.

I recently joined the ranks of the "clipboard high heeled nurses", as my FAVORITE ED doc affectionately calls me, and am learning all I can about the wonderful fascinating world of the microscopic as our hospital's Infection Control Nurse. I am also the Employee Health Nurse, Survey Coordinator, Emergency Preparedness Representative at the local and state level and the Education Coordinator of our 16 bed Critical Access Rural hospital.

The things I have loved most about Nursing is the privilege of caring for people in the worst days of their lives and having the ability to make it just a little easier to take and I have never stopped learning not one new thing a day but MANY. :balloons:

Sorry to be so long winded. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Eeyore

Nursing was not my calling! I was a confused teenager in highschool who wanted to go to art school in New York. Little did I know, I was headed down the wrong path in life and hanging around the wrong crowd. I had a vehicle to get me through school but it wasn't dependable enough to go to college too far off, my mother wasn't supportive at all about me going to any college. She told me that I would have to start working after high school. She said that she just couldn't help me with college. I ended up getting pregnant my Senior year due to some poor choices on my part. Dealing with a teen pregnancy was hard on me and my mother. It was definately not easy. I ended up on wellfare. It was embarrassing for me..I missed out on prom. All of my friends going to parties, driving new cars, attending big universities, while I stayed in our small town raising my first born. I definately reaped what I sowed. ( But my son is beautiful and the light of my life and a blessing!!!) There was a friend of our family who we new from church. She was going through the nursing program and encouraged me to go. She drove me to the college and got me an application in 1997. I started college in 1997 after graduating highschool 1996, (Background info: my mother didn't attend my highschool graduation, it hurt me that no one showed up to my graduation) My family all live out of state, and she was getting over a break-up with her boyfriend and couldn't come.

Anyway, I finished Hishschool, started college with the encouragement and the help of the really good friend. I started taking my prerequisites for the ADN program and didn't get accepted the following year because they were too full. I did however, get accepted to the LVN program. I graduated Dec. 1999, took state boards and started working Med-Surg Jan 2000. I've been working on the same Med-surg floor ever since. Somewhere between Jan 2000 and July 2005 today: I avoided the Sept. 11th New York incident b/c I didn't go to art school, I married my husband in 2002 after he returned from the Marines and I we had my second child. Still, working in the same hospital I decided to go back to school. So here I am in the transition LVN to RN program due to graduate May 2006. I have so many awesome co-workers, CNA's, RT's and RN's at my hospital that are so positive and have taught me so much over the years. That hospital is like family we all feel that way, we love our community and taking care of people. I guess art school wasn't where God intended me to be after all.

School is tough, but I know I'll get through it! Becoming an RN will benefit my patients and my family. I'll be able to spend more time with them. I don't want to miss anything important in my kids lives! ...And I want to be able to help them get through college if they choose to go.:rolleyes:

I am only starting university in September, and am 32 Y.O. I think I can trace the exact moment when I thought that I would like to be a nurse. I was 15, living on the streets, and in the hospital. I hit a tree whilst drunk and stoned riding my bike to get more drunk and stoned. I busted my kidney into 3 pieces, and spent 6 weeks in the hospital. One of the long nights of pain sticks out sticks out more than the rest. I had so much pain that I will never forget that night as long as I live, it is so clear in my mind as if it just happened. A nurse was holding my hand and comforting me, in my worst hour, I asked her "How can you bear to see me in such pain, does it not bother you. She said that not being able to help would bother her more.

Even at such a horrific time I was so impressed, by how strong these women were, and how much they seemed to care. The doctor would only come round in the morning, and always brought bad news or would rebuke me for something that a typical 15 Y.O. would do or say. I dreaded seeing the doctor, every morning he would come by and wake me up and give me more bad news and make me feel useless. When I was having trouble, the nurse would be right there by my side helping me, trying to ease my situation.

The whole time I thought would it not be awesome to be a nurse, to have such a power to help and heal, after all the doctor just yelled and insulted me. But I thought to my self, alas only women can be nurses. One day a man walks in and tells me he is the nurse for the day, and the next thing that come out of his mouth was, "Don't worry I am not gay." I had been poked and prodded so much, and had tubes going in and out of every orifice I did not care if he was Liberace.

Anyways, all through my 20s I was looking for shortcuts, a way to get a good job with no real schooling, I finally realized that for a guy like me there are no short cuts. So I had 2 choices, go back to school or, work at the same very secure, but at the same time a dead end job. I decided on engineering or nursing, and since I worked in mobile hydraulics design everybody thought I would choose engineer. I like Bio much more than math, and always got the highest marks in Bio with minimal effort, or so it seemed to me anyways. It turns out I work very hard at Bio, I just enjoy it so much I do not realize I am actually putting any effort into it. Plus there is that little incident that happened when I was 15 that I will never ever forget as long as I live.

After then drug and alcohol haze lifted in my late 20s I was able to think properly, marrying a woman who is against drugs and does not drink also helps. So after a few years with clear thinking I now know that nothing on this earth will stop me from becoming a nurse. 4 more years. I hope I get to work with some of you people when it is my time.

I hope I get to work with some of you people when it is my time.

First of all, you are NOT a loser...you are a winner! And I would be proud to work with you!

Elizabeth

Well, many things have guided my decision...I honestly think it started when I was a child...a truly "when I grow up I wan't to be a..."

Fast forward, I worked for a CPA for years...while he was sick with lung/esophogeal cancer and up until he died. He worked until he couldn't work anymore, so not only was I his assistant, I was his caretaker 9-5.

Worked as a bartender for a while...fun but not fulfilling

Worked as a corrections officer for almost a decade...fun, somewhat fulfilling but not being able to "help" people and having to being able to deal with all their meds and medical problems...not fun. I learned alot about the medical field in those years.

Worked for an optometrist for a couple years, until I had baby #4 and decided to stay at home with all four kids. Well, I sure gained alot of knowlege there!

A few years ago my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer...I took care of her for over 3 years...10 different chemo's, recurrences, so much radiation she practically glowed in the dark and finally hospice care. I fell in love with her nurses (especially her chemo nurses) and taking care of her...and was with her to her last breath-kept her at home and comforted and made her a deathbed promise that I would continue with my education and get my RN no matter what it took. She lived in a rather rural area and was only in hospice a short time so, I was her main caregiver...the nurses told me how to take care of her and medicate her and keep her comfortable and I was able to do that on my own. The nurse only came a couple times and my mom died alone with me, in my arms. I knew at that moment, that the promise I made was going to be the promise I kept. Now almost 2 years later, I start nursing school in just a few weeks and I know she is smiling at me from up above. I'm amazed at the amount of support I've gotten from my friends and "most" of my family-they are very proud as well.

I began the journey thinking "I'm going to be a hematology oncology nurse" ... now I've realized that I will not make my decision until I've experienced all clinical areas...and decided what is right "for me".

Neat stories from everyone :)

~T

Specializes in Med-Surg.

My mom is a nurse ( she just retired 2 years ago) and I just sort of followed in her footsteps I guess. I found an old picture of me when I was about 4 years old wearing my mothers nursing cap. I guess that was a sign of my destiny. I enjoy taking care of people and that is why I became a nurse and have never regretted it. :balloons: :p

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