Why Do You Want To Be A Nurse?

Abibigail · Dec 31, 2013

I do want to help people. ? As much as that, though, I want to work in a field that requires me to constantly learn.

RN_Mo · Mar 30, 2014

I want to be a nurse because I feel that it fits my personality to my core. I thrive in stressful situations, I have worked on my feet as a waitress for many years and could never work a desk job, and I have a passion for the science of nursing! I'm sure that many others can agree, helping others in some of the worst situations they may experience helps you see a little of yourself in them which is a powerful thing.

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2014

It's funny that you say it's not because I want to help people -- anyone who asks what I am doing tells me, "Oh that's great. You like to help people and are compassionate." Hahaha, nope. That's not it. I like that nursing gives us the mental ability and the corresponding skills to look at someone's situation, make an educated assessment and implement a plan (plus add in quality control of that plan through evaluation and revision) to possibly make their situation better. It's true, I like helping people but I like that I can do so in such a skilled manner. The constantly evolving nature of our curriculum is also a plus. Ultimately, though, I want to research and teach. I want to carry on the legacy of the tremendously amazing professors and mentors I have had by guiding and inspiring the newbs. Maybe I'll help aid and heal some people along the way but teaching is where it's at. That's why I am interested in becoming a nurse.

NicoleLynch, ADN, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2014

I never could answer the question, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" as I was growing up and older. As a child, I wanted to be like my aunt Kathy, who is a nurse, but never really thought about it after getting a little older. I always thought I was too stupid to be a nurse and didn't even think to pursue it.

After high school, I went to college to try my hand at getting an Animal Science degree because I do love animals, especially horses, and I thought that sounded pretty good since I didn't have any other idea what to do and have a lot of experience with horses and other large animals. That did not pan out because it turned out that I was not passionate about it and I did not care enough to try my best in school, to be honest. That combined with some not so helping advisors and teachers who would rather pull me down and destroy my self-esteem instead of trying to help was not a good equation. My self-confidence, never very high anyway, completely tanked. Talk about feeling like a complete failure... I quit school and jumped from dead-end job to dead-end job until I started working at a hospital in my area as an environmental services and linen technician, another seemingly dead-end job. Little did I know it would open an amazing door for me.

I made some wonderful friends and admired the nurses at this hospital but never thought I was cut out to do what they do on a daily basis. My turning point came when my 4-month-old daughter (at the time) was a patient at the hospital I worked in. The love and care given to her by the CNAs and the nurses was just such a wonderful experience, and it was not biased because most did not know I worked there too. Being friendly with the CNA as a co-worker, I asked her what it takes to be a CNA. She assured me that it was something I could do easily, and well.

Not long after, I was taking the CNA course through the same hospital. I loved everything about it. The patient care, the camaraderie with fellow CNAs and RNs, the constant learning, the fact that you are selflessly giving your all to benefit another person... To top it all off, I became very close with the CNA instructor. She is such a wonderful, strong woman and nurse, and I look up to her to this day and hold her in very high regard. I spent hours in her office, talking to her about everything we had in common from families and interests to her own personal experiences working the nursing jobs that led her finally to our Education department, just down the hall from me. She instilled in me a very firm belief that when, not if, I became a nurse, I would do great things and would be doing myself a huge disservice if I didn't pursue it. I know she was placed in my life to give me that gentle nudge in the right direction, and I will forever be grateful to call her a friend.

After that, I finally knew what I was destined to do, with the loving guidance of my friend and my family supporting me. From my brief time working as a CNA and my extended time at that particular hospital, to the patients that touched my heart, I was finally passionate about something.

Fast forward to now... I am in the last quarter of school working on my final pre-requisite course before I can apply to nursing school. It's been a long road, with the years I thought were "wasted" on a degree I didn't even want, never knowing they would give me the background I would need to be a nurse. And then finally figuring out, at 26 years old, where I was being led throughout my life.

I know deep down that this is what I was meant to do from the very start, not just for the money and to better my family's lives, but because I feel like this is my calling. It's funny how God works. You just have to trust the process and know that your life will work out how it's supposed to! It may not always go like you planned, but He knows what He's doing. I am 27 now, and know that I will be entering the field later than a lot of nurses, but I can not wait for that part of my life to become a reality. I finally know where I'm going and it's only just beginning. This is why I want to be a nurse.

Stephlynn · Apr 1, 2014

I have dreamed of getting into nursing since my early 20's. I have Crohn's disease and spent a lot of time in the hospital and at doctors offices since I was 12. The people that made my hospital stays miserable or really not that bad considering the circumstances were the nurses. I would look forward to when certain nurses would be working because they would really brighten my day! I want to be able to brighten my patients days like some of the nurses did for me.

Also when I was 12 and first got sick the doctors were not sure what was wrong with me and for the most part no one believed I didn't feel good. It even went as far as me being put in an eating disorder unit at 12 because my doctor thought I just didn't want to eat. But I remember a couple nurses that I felt like they really listened to me and believed me. I know how frustrating it can be as a patient to not be heard. So as a nurse I hope I can make make patients feel like I am not just brushing them off and that they are not being heard.

Another part of medicine that really interests me is that I feel like a detective trying to figure out what's going on and in this case I am referring to myself. I am still trying to understand my disease because it's constantly changing and I have different issues. I definitely wish I didn't have Crohn's but I find the human body so fascinating I how it works as I read up constantly about my own disease. So I would love to get into research one day.

Another reason I want to get into nursing is the preventive side of health care. I am all about working to prevent problems and diseases before they start and would love to possibly get into holistic healthcare.

I like that in nursing we can work in so many different settings. I would love to work in the ER because I love the fast pace and how intense and hectic it can get. But who knows once I am in school and going through clinicals I may fall in love with a different area of nursing.

All I know is that I have had a lot of obstacles that I have gone through and many hardships in my 20's but i haven't once let that change my mind about my goal of becoming an RN.

Nurseworks, ASN, RN · Apr 6, 2014

I decided to pursue nursing due to the significant health problems my autistic daughter suffers from. She is non-verbal and has relied upon my wife and I to not only advocate on her behalf, but also often figure out precisely what is wrong with her so that HCPs can prescribe effective treatment. This has led me to realize that as this population continues to grow, they will need skilled, empathetic HCPs that can provide the necessary treatment they all too often are not afforded.

Working in a hospital as a CNA has opened my eyes even more to just how little many in the healthcare field understand when it comes to treating special needs populations. I know that I will be able to make a difference, albeit small, in effecting change.

redhead89, LPN · Apr 26, 2014

I went through a period of several years after I started college where I was chronically ill. Worsening of allergies, asthma when I'd never been asthmatic a day in my life, chronic pelvic pain, discovering I had interstitial cystitis, contracted mono, was diagnosed with anemia. Basically my body rebelled and decided it didn't want to be a healthy young person's body. Because of everything I've been through and now that I'm mostly better (aka not housebound), I'd love to be able to be there for people when they aren't feeling well. I know what it's like to be in pain, to be depressed, anxious, and not know what to expect from life next. The people that made my days at the doctor's and hospitals pleasant or unpleasant were more the nurses than the actual doctors. Being able to say I've been there and things may be tough now but you'll pull through it is why I want to be a nurse. I've become much more compassionate and patient with people than I was pre-illness. I hope that by working as a nurse I can sooth people's trying days and make them smile through the pain.

ashdrift12 · May 28, 2014

@missmollie: I am in your boat. I have a bachelor's in English that I started in 2002 and the only thing I regret about it is that I no longer have access to federal and state grants to help pay for nursing school. I had an astronomy teacher who once said that the vastness of the universe was required for our Earth to hit the jackpot and create little ol' us and our fellow creatures (in response to a query on his view of extraterrestrial life). Similarly, the decade of my 20s and its accompanying experiences was required to create a desire within me to work in the medical field as a nurse. Without that time and those experiences, I would not be here today.

helena1211 · Jan 13, 2015

I wanted to be a doctor at first. Of course, when I decided this I was about 7 years old, playing with a plastic medical kit. As I grew up, my ideas changed. I realized that I didn't want to be in school for 10 years, and that I was too lazy to become a doctor anyway. But I still never deviated from the medical field in my head. I never even gave any thought to all the other possible careers out in the world. So when I graduated high school, I automatically chose pre-nursing as my major. I didn't have a real reason to. "I want to help people" was far from the truth (I'm not a people person at all).

I really couldn't tell you why I wanted to become a nurse. But I got older and so did the people around me. People like my grandfather and dad. I do remember the first physical feeling of desire to become a nurse. I was 15, my grandfather was in the hospital because his liver was hardening (I didn't understand it then). There were nurses who walked in and out of the room with cold looks and stiff shoulders. Really it was most of them who walked around like that, as if they were forced to be there, forced into that career. It made me uneasy and angry. They treated my grandfather, an 87 year old man who was clearly in pain and scared, but never rude or mean to anyone, as if he wasn't even a human being. He spoke no English, but the rest of my family did. They made it seem as if each question we asked or smile we gave resulted in a tooth of their's being pulled.

It was horrible.

But then walked in a bright face. A young nurse with green eyes who made my grandfather smile. She made everyone feel like he was being taken care of as a real person, not just another chart. I felt it then. A little tug at my heart, almost a push from behind me into that direction.

He passed away a few months later, and it was devastating. But I was 15, and not thinking about college applications just yet. I never did forget the feeling I got that day with that nurse. But somehow it stuck with me.

Now I'm 22, and my dad has mild Alzheimer's. It's hard. I cry about it every now and then. But I know that I want nothing more than to take care of him and make him feel loved. He's 74 years old. I want the best treatment for him, and as an adult I can be involved and I understand the human body much better than when I was 15.

I see too many doctors and nurses who act like they are just trying to get through the day without any problems. I always get the urge to ask 'WHY did you choose this career?' I'm afraid the only answer I'll hear will be about a paycheck/salary. It makes me sad to see people like my grandfather and dad get treated like a file instead of a person. I myself have experienced cold shoulders at my own doctors offices. I can't stand it!

Healthcare has changed so much over the years, and not always for better.

Maybe it's just where I live (Miami, FL), or maybe I just have bad luck with physicians.

Either way, I'd like to make a difference. I want to make someone feel the same way that nurse made me feel that day. She made me want to pass on that kindness and care to someone else. I don't want to take someone's blood pressure and walk out the room without a glance back. The person you are treating is exactly that, a person. A human being that reacts to the things around him or her. Someone who might be scared or confused. I want that person to know that I know that.

It may not make complete sense, but this is the only answer I have to that question.

HumbleB9 · Jan 13, 2015

I want to be a nurse to be an advocate to the patients and be able to apply my knowledge in areas that would improve their health. It's a challenging field but with the right attitude you can help save lives. I want to make my patients feel good about themselves and putting the effort to move forward with them in improving health needs is good for enhancing that individual mental, spiritually and physical well-being. :)

duaneconnell7, RN · Jan 13, 2015

Love this thread. Glad I'm not interviewing anymore and I can, again, say I do it for the people!

But for the students... no that will definitely not work :-)

Shan801 · Jan 14, 2015

I want to be a nurse because I like making people feel comfortable and help people triumph through difficult, adverse situations. I want to lend my strength to those who need it most. I am the oldest sibling of 6 kids so I have always been the nurturer. I cannot imagine doing anything else.