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.

The factor that influenced me to take up nursing was when I was 13 years old, my father got hospitalized for a very high fever. After a day of hospitalization, he died. The reason? When he was already shivering, he was injected Valium twice! A nurse already gave it to him and some other nurse also injected it to him... I didn't know the truth until 3 years ago. My agenda was to find what really caused his unexplainable death so that's why I took up nursing... plus, I adore children.

I'm currently reviewing for nclex, hope that I pass.:nurse:

i took up nursing for five reasons:

1. I believe that this is what God planned for me.

2. I want to be like my tita who are working in new york for almost 25 years and she is in a higher position.

3. this is want my mother wanted me to be.

4. I want to serve sick people.

5. and also i want to work abroad.

i believe that through this profession it will give me a better future.

I took up nursing after losing my first child. He was delivered with forceps, and lived for three weeks before passing away from cerebral edema. I remember how absolutly hopeless and helpless I felt when he was in the NICU and then the PICU, and I vowed to never put myself into another situation where I didn't know what to do besides give CPR.

I am sorry. :( hugs. (I know this isn't a support thread or anything, I have just come across so many posts where you guys have lost a baby, child, or someone close, and it is hard for me not to post a reply to some of them because I feel like if someone shares their heartache, they may appreciate a response. Although, I am sure they did not intend to get one. I am just so saddened to hear that so many people go through such loss. So *HUGS* to you all. Because I cannot reply to them all.)

I do hope that when I get to start working as a nurse, I will show the compassion that is so very needed when patients are having a tough time, which is usually the case in a hospital.

Specializes in Hospice, ONC, Tele, Med Surg, Endo/Output.

I came from a nightmarish background. Both parents beat each other up and fooled around on each other on a regular basis. Grandfather molested every girl in the family, including me. He told me i should be a nurse after fondling me one day. I told the nurse who lived up the street from me that grandpa often molested the girls in the family after discussing sexual issues with her when i was twelve. That nurse was in her 70s, retired, and had a daughter in her 40s who was also an RN. Next day the welfare dept was at the house questioning me, my sister, and cousins about the abuse. Grandfather was interrogated but not arrested because my mother scared us all out of pressing charges. She said we all lied about it. Anyway, i used to read that nurse's RN mags and became interested in nursing. She told me i did not have the compassion to be a nurse. Later on, in college, i had taken lots of science classes and was talked into the RN program by a career counselor. I really with someone would have talked me into medical technology or pharmacy instead, because i have an inherent distrust of people, and when people are sick they and their relatives can be so mean and/or needy, and this is the hardest part about being a nurse. I also see all management as being similar to my mother--nothing is ever good enough and they don't believe your side of the story.

Still pre-nursing, so I have a long way to go. My deciding factor? I want to do something honorable with my life. What I do now is not dis-honorable, but I want to wake up every morning knowing that I can help heal and/or save someone. I want to know I am making a difference.

Specializes in ER/HomeCare/Admin/Insurance/DATA.

I was driving a cab, which is a bad job in Chicago. A friend got me a job in a hospital, and I liked it. Then, I realized, that in nursing school, I would meet a lot of women.

At the time I was graduating, it was either nursing or teaching. Granted, I came from a very limited background.

Took prerequisites, worked in a nursing home; realized I was good at it.

Loved nursing school, graduated top of my class, am VERY good at what I do.

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

(warning - The length of this story is not for the feint of heart)

When I was 12 years old, my beloved grandma was failing in health, and had been for 3years since she fell while babysitting my brothers and I during a chaotic time in our lives. My poor grandma was shuttled about from nursing home to daughter's home to nursing home and back again. All the while this lovely, dignified lady had to endure the knowledge that her children were fighting over who would be saddled with her care and the decline from doyenne of the Catholic Daughters to wheelchair bound and forcibly dependent.

For reasons I can't really explain, my little 9-12 year old self actually preferred to sit with her for hours watching Lawrence Welk and General Hospital and getting her warm cloths and fussing over her comfort level. At least once a day she would ask me why I didn't dress more like the Lennon Sisters but I really didn't mind. Though I didn't realize it at the time, the first little brick had dropped into place. A care-taking mindset and an observant nature.

My high school, a Catholic girl's school of 400 students, was snuggled up close and personal with the hospital next to it, run by the same order of nuns. This allowed me to observe some of what the life of a nurse was like. I loved science but didn't really have the focus to become a world-renowned geneticist so that nursing thing looked like a good way to work "science" into a job. I became a volunteer at the hospital and shadowed a nurse for a career exploration program sponsored by my high school. I never felt a "calling" though and really hadn't decided for sure on nursing. I really liked my part-time job in a trendy clothing shop.

Just as the last semester of my senior year began, my 4-year-old brother was diagnosed with leukemia. For anyone who has gone through this you know the feeling of your former life stripped away like that one scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. We ate, slept and breathed Children's Hospital. Spending time there re-kindled my interest in nursing. Everyone there was phenomenal but two nurses in particular pushed the ball forward - the first was Betsy - who waltzed in with some vile concoction in a little cup with a straw - little bro was having none of that so she offered to dance for the entire time he sucked down the nasty. He accepted the offer and she was true to her word. The nurse danced around for the kid. You can do that? As a nurse? Cool!

The other was Deb the oncology patient liaison and all around smoother of feathers, easer of fears and decipherer of torrents of medical-ese. She just had that perfect combo of warmth and smarts and charm. I was very conveniently laid off from my sales job at that time and the coast being clear ahead decided to try to actually be one of those people and started nursing school about 4 months later and finally at long last this story ends.

Little Bro celebrated his 41st birthday in September. :)

Pff...I don't even know. Haha.

Wanted to be a singer, artist, doctor, teacher, geneticist, novelist, journalist, FBI agent, spy, anthropologist, crime scene investigator, interior designer, handbag designer, boutique owner, bookstore owner, coffee shop owner, lawyer, international relations specialist, blah blah blah

Finally, I decided needed some sort of career where I could be all kinds of things at once. The boy I was dating at the time's mom was a nurse as were his aunts, cousins, and grandma. I looked into it and it sounded intriguing. Changed my major the next semester and absolutely fell in love with the field. Now, I get to be a nurse and a teacher and a friend and a life-saver and an investigator and bed bath giver and a IV starter and all these other things that add up to nursing. Honestly, there aren't a lot of fields where you get to be so diverse and have so many options for your career. Its great and I'm so glad I chose it. =)

I actually never wanted to be a nurse. Always wanted to be an art teacher, and thought I had a weak stomach. After I graduated I decided to take one semester off from school. My mom ended up getting really sick. Had a hernia operation and after they did that her wounds started opening up. Ended up having 3 surgeries from July to the next April. After the second surgery 2 days later my Grandmother died. We were very very close, and it was unexpected. She died in her sleep. Mom was so sick that she could have died. I ended up taking care of her and then decided to go into nursing. So, that's how I got here! And I LOVE it!

always wanted to be a nurse. I have a very enabling personality. Wanting to make everything better. Stop the hurt, the pain, the bleeding. Always wanted to be the shoulder people could cry on, in their time of illness. Having a healing heart, I wanted to have healing hands to match. Learning all the intricate details of the human body, just fascinated me. Learning to start IV's, making hospital corners in occupied bed making 101, and the first time i heard a heart murmur. I also knew that as a nurse, I would always have a job. After 4 years as an LPN, and recently getting my RN license, This was the best decision that I have ever made.

I always knew that I wanted to be a nurse, but life just kept getting in the way. After i graduated from High School I went to college...but then my boyfriend proposed so I moved in with him and got married. He was in the Military, so we moved away from home at 18 yrs old. I kept telling myself that I could go to school wherever we ended up. Well that never happened because sleeping all day and drinking all night seemed like a better idea to my very immature self.

A few years later we had our first son, and moved to a new town. At this point I had decided that I would go back to school when my son started Kindergarten. It was not the best plan, but it worked. 18 months after the birth of my first son came the birth of my second son. We could not have been happier...or so I thought. 3 months later my husband of 8 years called me and said that he could not handle the pressure of being a father and a husband anymore.

I was completely devastated... and didn't know what to do. My first thought was that I had to go to school. So I did!

Being a mother has taught me many lessons...some were good, and some were bad! But in the end being a mother has made me a better person! I know now that I will be a great nurse someday, because I work hard, believe in myself, and have the best motivation in the world...My BOYS!

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