Why did you choose to go into nursing?

Published

Why did you guys go into nursing. I am a caring person and have always been fasinated with the human body. I surround my self with anything medical. Every tv show i watch is about doctors or nurses( hawthorne nurse jackie scrubs house greys anatomy private practice nip/tuck). This isnt all i watch but the majority of my shows are health dramas. Its an obsession. When i go online if im not on facebook im on allnurses.com. I am on my phone right now typing this. Lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am the same way with the medical shows. Hawthorne rocks!!.

I knew when I was around 15 that I wanted to be in the nursing profession. Everytime I went to the hospital rather for me or with family, my attention always drifted to the nurses, rarely the doctors. I've always thought that a nurse's job was the most fascinating (sorry not a great speller).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC.

I was an exceptionally bright child and a prolific writer growing up, so the adults around me all expected me to go to an Ivy League school and perhaps become a novelist, columnist or journalist. When I graduated high school one year late with a very low GPA (I just didn't give a $h!t), their expectations shifted to the medical field. I was told that I should be a veterinarian, or an acupuncturist, or a massage therapist, or a nurse -- but I wasn't having any of it. I started pursuing an ethnic studies degree with the intention to double major in a foreign language, but as time went on I gradually became more practical, first choosing communications and then flirting with the idea of programming before finally settling on nursing.

I too enjoy medical shows -- House, Nip/Tuck, Scrubs, Three Rivers before it got canceled (but only to watch Daniel Henney; it was a terrible show) -- and I never found anatomy or physiology boring. I also happen to have an iron stomach; long before I considered nursing I had already been urinated, defecated, and vomited on and exposed to all kinds of fluids and smells (mostly from working directly with animals for most of my life), and I've been surprised by what I can handle.

Several of my friends have gone into nursing, and I was under the (false) impression that going into nursing would ensure that I found employment and would have job security and a decent salary. Even though I quickly learned that due to the state of the economy the field is no longer like that, I guess I decided to stick with it for lack of anything better to do.

I like working with people and I prefer to be on my feet and actively moving and working over standing or sitting in one place all day. The one thing that really makes me nervous about this decision is that I do NOT like working in a female-dominated environment. If that doesn't wear me out, I imagine I'll stick with it indefinitely...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

When I was younger, I got a BA in history, realized there was nothing I could do with it - haha, I didn't have the best foresight as a young college student - and I accepted a job as a CNA on a med/surg floor at my local hospital out of desperation. They have their own CNA training program, so I didn't need any medical experience and I accepted thinking there was no way working in a hospital would be a good fit for me, but I needed a paycheck and they wanted me. Almost 3 years later, I'm in love with healthcare. I love my hospital, I love my patients, my nurses, my docs. I loved furthering my education to become a monitor tech and now a cardiovascular tech. I know now that medicine is what I was meant to do - I just took the long route to figure it out. :)

I'm applying to accelerated BSN programs and masters-level PA programs right now with the goal of starting sometime next summer or fall. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In my life right now i cant see myself doing anything else.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CNA.

I volunteered in the Dominican Republic with my church. This sealed the deal for me. On our free time, a few volunteer members and I visited an orphanage that housed children suffering with HIV/AIDS. This is where I met a little girl Maria. Maria's mother was arrested with drug charges and was in a half way house, she then went to live with her dad who soon passed away from AIDS. La Casa Rosada, the orphanage I visited, takes children off of the street and keeps them until space in other orphanages permits them to be distributed to a loving and welcoming home. Maria's illness reached a point which required tedious care preventing her from leaving. I helped the nurses take care of her and held her hand and they distributed her meds. As I was departing from the orphanage, she kept grabbing my hand, not wanting me to leave. It hurt me to go because I knew Maria would suffer alone, and I couldn't bear to live with that. That experience changed my outlook on life! I am so happy I took that trip ( I orginally was not going to go) because now I am very close to being a nurse! It is funny how fate works and I truly believe that trip put me on the path to nursing! :nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Your story really touched me

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

Money, money, money.....Now back to reality...I swore I've seen this topic already.

But, I wanted to go into nursing, because I've always wanted to be in the medical field since high school. I was a bit too scared that I wouldn't be cut out for it so I took a different path when I entered college.

Now, a little older and ready to face all the unknowns, I'm ready to be a nurse. Long term goal is to be a FNP, so I can have the options of treating and educating everyone! I'm not looking at the state of the economy, I'm looking at what I want to accomplish in my life and that is to be a great nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.
I volunteered in the Dominican Republic with my church. This sealed the deal for me. On our free time, a few volunteer members and I visited an orphanage that housed children suffering with HIV/AIDS. This is where I met a little girl Maria. Maria’s mother was arrested with drug charges and was in a half way house, she then went to live with her dad who soon passed away from AIDS. La Casa Rosada, the orphanage I visited, takes children off of the street and keeps them until space in other orphanages permits them to be distributed to a loving and welcoming home. Maria’s illness reached a point which required tedious care preventing her from leaving. I helped the nurses take care of her and held her hand and they distributed her meds. As I was departing from the orphanage, she kept grabbing my hand, not wanting me to leave. It hurt me to go because I knew Maria would suffer alone, and I couldn’t bear to live with that. That experience changed my outlook on life! I am so happy I took that trip ( I orginally was not going to go) because now I am very close to being a nurse! It is funny how fate works and I truly believe that trip put me on the path to nursing! :nurse:

Just read your post. My church goes to Antigua every year on Missions and we do a health fair there. I most look forward to participating in the health fair as a nurse!!! Next year they plan to visit orphanages.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

So what do you do now mzchas?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

I use to work for a research company. I went back to school to do my prerequisites last year and completed them in June. I'm still waiting to hear back from a ABSN program I applied to for the fall (believe or not). If I don't get in, I'll try for the Spring 2011. I want to start already.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Long term care.

Well, for me because to become a physician it is $300,000 and up to obtain an education...nursing is the next best thing. For me, it is not about the money or location as long as I am in medicine I am going to be happy. I figured this out well deciding and switching my career ideas multiple times...but the one idea that I always fell back on and felt comfortable with was to be in healthcare. And I have been told multiple times that I would be a good nurse. I work as a NAR and I love it ((most of the time, tonight was an exception though...it was horrid)). Anyways...I just know that this is the path for me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion