Why Did YOu Want To Be A Nurse?

[nightingale]

How many times did you hear, " Don't Do It"? Well I heard it a lot 9 years ago when I began my coursework to become a nurse. I was determined; I followed my dreams and did it! Here I am, almost 4 years after graduation and thinking, "Now why did I do that"! lol No regrets truly but it is very different then what I though it would be like.

I first dreamed of becoming a nurse after a long hospitalization (auto accident) when I was in my 20's. Twenty years later I did it! I followed my dream of becoming a nurse because I knew I would love caring for people (and I do). I love the challenge of medicine and people interactions of patients and (yes) families.

I love getting into these amazingly personal interactions with patients and becoming a spoke in their wheel of success.

Why did you become a nurse? :)

B.

[micro, RN]

nurses look great in pantsuits is also legit reason for going into nursing.....

I remember nurse Dixie from Emergency also.........

and all the beeps and whizzers......machines and science......

thanks for making me LOL.........hehehehehehehe

[cbs3143]

I never in my wildest dreams (or worst nightmares) envisioned myself as a nurse. My family was essentially healthy while growing up, and other than fighting half the ER staff while they stiched up my face, and getting polio shots before the sugar cubes, I didn't have any memorable experiences with nurses.

When I joined the Army, they didn't need heavy equipment operators or truck drivers, they needed medics. That was my first experience with the healthcare field. Following a hitch in the military, I decided to give nursing a try, and applied for acceptance at the local diploma program. My fiance received her acceptance letter the same day as me. She ended up in the OB department and I ended up in the ER.

It's been difficult at times, and still can be, but I've made peace with most of the demons we accumulate during our nursing experiences. It has clothed, fed, and sheltered our children, and allowed us to live a fairly pleasant life, as well as do some good along the way.

[nightingale, RN]

Micro you are so funny.....

These have all been such nice stories.... thank you for sharing....

Bonnie

[micro, RN]

Originally posted by cbs3143

I never in my wildest dreams (or worst nightmares) envisioned myself as a nurse.............

It's been difficult at times, and still can be, but I've made peace with most of the demons we accumulate during our nursing experiences.

cbs3143.....hope you don't mind me shortening your statement.....it all sounded great and thanks for sharing........

wish I didn't have such fond memories of early childhood and great nurse and doctors......but we are each dealt the hand dealt us.................so I have no qualms now.........

cbs3143.........thread more.....us old crazy micros and such.....well we need some new blood to keep us in line........

nightingale.....thanks.........for the complement.........funny as in funny.................what a complement :kiss :kiss :kiss

micro:p

[cbs3143]

Hey Micro,

Feel free to plagiarize any of my posts. This is a semi-public forum and I claim no rights to what I post. Thanks for the welcome. I'll try to lend some new blood to the discussions. By the way, I got over not being a heavy equipment operator years ago. It may take me a little while to figure out all the bells and whistles associated with this rather remarkable forum.

[maire, ASN, RN]

My story sounds similar to many others. :) On the occasions I spent time in a hospital (usually for childbirth!) I was in... well "awe" sounds so corny but it's as good a word as any...in awe of the nurses there and their compassion and caring and competency. I would think to myself "I can do this...I really want to do this!"

Ever since high school anatomy, I have been fascinated by the human body and how it works. When I got pregnant for the first time I got so into how a woman's body changes, how a fetus grows and develops, and the whole process of labor and birth. My love of obstetrics and the desire to be involved somehow put me in nursing school and here I am! :)

[jedijennie]

Well, I have always been interested in science and I wanted to be a marine biologist. When I was 17, I was hospitalized for appendicitis and since I was 17, I was put in the pediatric unit. I hung out with some of the other kids, really sick ones at that.

I was trying to get out of bed, and I was having a hard time cuz my stomach hurt so bad, and a nurse or CNA or somebody (I didn't know her title) came in my room and showed me a little secret: turn to your left side then push up, that way you don't use your abdominal muscles-and it worked! I said thanks, and then she looked out the door, closed it a little, and said "I know how you feel, I had mine out a long time ago and had to have a bigger incision than you did" and she showed me her scar (I had a laproscopic surgery, so I don't really have a 4inch scar). I just thought that was so kewl, and she was so nice and she had the same thing done.

I was a senior in high school at the time, and I knew there really wasn't a career in the field of marine biology, but I loved medicine, so I knew then I wanted to be a nurse. I was thinking pediatrics at the time, but I am such an adrenaline junky that I'm headed towards the path of flight nurse (I'm still in nursing school).

[lisadavis]

i became a nurse because i thought it would be a quick and easy solution to my financial difficulties at the time. i thought i could , get through school, work as a nurse making decent money, while i figured out what else i could do with my life. well gang that was over 16 years ago and i am still a nurse and have not regretted the career one single minute though i wish i could have been some place else during certain moments. i have worked every where from cardiac surgery to county correctional facility. it hasn't been easy but it has been interesting:eek:

[donmurray]

In the olden days in the UK hospitals had their own training schools, working to a national curriculum. I had been drifting from one job to another, and ended up as a kitchen porter in my local Psych hospital. One particular Enrolled Nurse (LPN) Would nag me every time I made a delivery to her ward, about wasting my life in a dead end job, without a career, and one day she marched me down to the Nursing School to pick up the information. I had to go to night school for a time to collect enough qualifications to start the course, but never looked back.

A dear friend had the best story though. He was a chef, and after a busy summer season in a coastal resort town, he was looking for a job to see him through the winter before returning to catering for the next tourist season. A friend told him that the local hospital might be hiring, so he went to see them. This place had been the old "County Asylum" a Victorian pile, built in the sticks, on the "out of sight out of mind"(pun not intended) premise, and recruitment was always a problem there.

To cut a long story short, he started the next Monday on an induction course, and though he was a little curious about the depth of the content for a basic job such as porter/handyman he carried on until the middle of the second week, when he asked the tutor how long the course took. He was stunned to be told three years!

He enjoyed Psych nursing, and went on to complete his Adult nurse training too. He was an excellent nurse, sorely missed.

[nursnancy, LPN, RN]

As a preemie, I was a sickly kid - in and out of hospitals several times with different illnesses. The nurses were so wonderful that I was just star-struck, and thought for many years that I wanted to be nurse when I grew up. I outgrew all my little girl illnesses and when I was 18 I started to college taking pre-nursing courses in a 4-year BSN program. After a year, (having taken no nursing courses), a nurse I met talked me out of it. Told me all these horrible things about what a nightmare it was. Scared the living daylights out of me. So I went into the legal field instead - became a legal secretary - did that for 15 yrs, then went to school & got my paralegal certificate - did that for 6 yrs. I really liked the legal field, but always felt something was missing. Then my Mom started having strokes. She became a shell of her former self - unable to ambulate, her short term memory was fried, and she became almost totally blind (she had already been legally blind before the strokes.) As her only child, I couldn't handle all the caregiving myself, so I ended up placing her in a nursing home. And that's where it happened. I practically lived there myself, going there every day to tend to her & make sure she got good care. I became very close to the good nurses and very angry with the bad ones. I found myself wanting to care for the other residents, too. I recognized a great need for caring nurses in LTC. And I love elderly people. I won't say I made a mistake going into the legal field first. I did like the work I did in the legal field, and maybe I just needed to become more mature to be able to handle the challenges nursing brings. But while I was visiting that nursing home, I felt a pull that I can't explain. I really felt right there - like I was meant to be there and be a caregiver. So I became a CNA, did that for a year and then went to LPN school. I quit my job, we rented out our home & rented a small apt to make ends meet, and I spent my days going to school, then going to the nursing home to visit Mom, then going home to study. Sometimes I studied at the nursing home. My mom passed away on New Years Day, 1999 - 4 months after I got my nursing license and began work in a LTC facility. A few days before she died, in a rare lucid moment, my mother told me why I became a nurse. She said, 'I'm glad you became a nurse. I guess God decided he needed you to do that now.'

[judy ann]

I can't remember when I didn't want to be a nurse. My mom tells of the many times that I gave first aid to my accident prone younger sister, because Mom "lost it" when she saw a hurt kid. I was the one who not only took care of kids, but I took care of stuffed animals, dolls, and neighborhood pets. I idolized my aunt, who married a real doctor. He took me on rounds with him sometimes. I was totally enthralled by the nurses! They were like angels. I can remember the dates that I entered into my nursing program, that I was capped, that I was pinned, and that I graduated. I remember the dates I took boards and the date that I got that letter telling me I was a real nurse-- an RN. I wanted to be a nurse for the same reason I still want to be a nurse. I can't imagine doing anything else. What else can one do that gives the satisfaction of nursing? What else can one do that allows us to feel that we are doing the work of God? It is not a job, but a calling. It is a priviledge to be a nurse.

[nightingale, RN]

Deffinitely a fullfillment of a dream too! What lovely stories. Thank you to all the posters.

Reading these stories have helped me to remember how much I loved the nurses that cared for me when I had my auto accident 20 years ago. I too was in awe of their expertise, kindness, and generosity. I was in thehospital 7 monthes. In today environment, it would not happend that way (get you out and get the billing to stop).

While at the hospital, I learned how to roll the wheels of a stretcher for I was on in a body cast (broken hip and femur). I answered call lights at the front desk. One of the CNAs (I called him an orderly back then) would come up and play chess with me because I was so bored.

I too dreamed of helping others and just love those days where I have made a difference!

Bonnie:)