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 Endocrine (Diabetes), Pediatric Psych.

What an interesting thread!

I'm a 19 y/o nursing student, and it's interesting, actually - I never really intended to go into anything medically related, even though I was always the one handing out medicine, dishing out the bandaids, and now that I'm in college, friends knock on my door asking what medicine they should take, and I'm like, "Guys, I'm not an RN quite yet, you're a few years early!!!" Ah well, no one's gotten sick from my Advil recommendations, so that's got to be a good sign, right? :chuckle (when I was little, I always thought that I'd be majoring in violin performance at some elite music school somewhere...boy, was I wrong!!). The thing that made the difference was that I was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 6, at a blood glucose way past 800 - definitely not the best of times. At the time, I was like, "I want absolutely nothing to do with this at all,", and the nurses would be like, "You need to be doing this, this, and...yadda, yadda, yadda," and I'm like, "Right, that's nice, lucky you, you don't have to do all this crap..." Such a bitter child I was, eh? :rolleyes:

Then, I was in a bad car accident when I was 8 (drunk driver), so then, of course, it was all the nurses who kept me going through the surgery and the physical therapy afterwards for a dislocated hip, not to mention taking care of the rest of my family...

(And back to the diabetes team...) As the years went by, I guess it's more than safe to say that the diabetes team grew on me, lol! Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was interested in the whole "planning" process of diabetes, like putting the insulin together with what blood glucose, what time for what type of insulin, and all that...I'd always make suggestions to the doctor about what dose she should give me (this is like, when I was 9 or 10), and she'd look at me, look at the logbook, and then look at me like, "Why do I feel like I'm talking to another endocrinologist, and I don't see anybody else with a white coat in here...she's reading my mind, I swear!!" One of the diabetes educators on the team...well, I have to laugh because when I was 8, I definitely didn't appreciate the fact that she would tell you the flat-out truth even when you don't really want to hear it ("Your A1C is 10.0%...yeah, this kinda sucks, what happened?"), but can also give words of encouragement to get you back on track - now, it's one of the things that at 19 I most appreciate about her. My doctor eventually switched me to an NP that she had just hired to help her out on the team, which I was pretty upset about, but to make matters worse (or so I thought at the time), she says, "The new NP has diabetes as well, so I think you will get along really well!" And I'm like, "OMG, she is going to be the most strict, uptight person in the world, and I am going to be so freaking screwed..." Turns out, the new NP happens to be one of the coolest people I've met in my lifetime - who also manages to tell me everything I'd somehow missed in the first 8 years that I had diabetes, like "This isn't your fault," "You aren't a bad person because your BG was 491, it just means the PLAN is out of whack," and "You're normal, and yes, you can be cool and have diabetes...think, be like your cool NP and everything will be just fine!" :chuckle Needless to say, the first adult T1 diabetic I ever met left quite the lifelong impression on me.

So why do I want to become a nurse? Because I want to help other kids with diabetes like myself. In a way, I just wanted to return the gift that I got from my diabetes team of just being there for me, when I never really expected them to put up with me for a good 13 years. No, I have to admit, I'm not in it for the rush that one gets after saving a person's life in the ER (been in the ER as a patient, done that, never want to go back again, although obviously I'd do it if I had to - see above explanation about car wreck), but as to make people feel like their life is worth living because they think they stand a chance, and to know that as someone living with diabetes, the experiences and knowledge that I have might be able to help someone live a happier life - THAT is what I'm in it for.

Whew! Sorry so long, guess I needed to get that out!! :)

i saw "meet the parents" and just knew i had to be a male nurse.

actually, i always wanted to save the world, involved in green politics, the union movement and such. and realized the only way to help people was to get hands on.

9-11 played a big role too, i wanted so bad to help but realized i had no skill to help. i realized my psychology degree would not enough. now with the asian tsunami i am convinced that i must do nursing and help when another catastrophe occurs.

my ultimate goals are to get into doctors without borders and really get my hands dirty and get my heart pumping, i figure to save the world around 2043 or so, if it all goes according to plan......which it won't.

Have you thought about joining the Navy? I read this thing in Parade magazine about the Navy Medical Ship going to help out with the tsunami and other places in the region that needed help. My fiance is in the Navy (engineer though) and I might still do it too someday. I think it would be a perfect fit for you. If you get your BSN you would be an officer and everything. They also pay really well. Look into it!

One of my aunts was a nurse and my two sisters are nurses too. When i was a little girl i was fascinated by their stories as a nurse.i was attracted by their dress with white frock and the cap.

In my country there is an unfair exam that all the high school students have to take in order to attend university. after taking this ridiculus exam, students have to make about 24 preferences ( which universities they want to go) according to what they want to be. I did all these procedures and I found myself in a nursing school. but I always wanted to be a teacher of chemistry. Now I am in the USA.

Specializes in Long Term Care.

When I was 5 or 6 I remember the day my Aunt Pat found out she had become a nurse. I remember standing in the living room and watching my aunt rub ointment on her oldest of 6 kids shoulders (he had just got home from boot camp so my aunt had to have been around 30) My dad said to her Pat I think this would be your first act as a nurse. Then he hugs her and whispers to her I am so proud of you. Of course at the time I didn't know what kind of impact that would have on me. A few years later I guess I was around 9 years old, Mrs. Janey that lived next door to my grandmother had just lost her husband and had a stroke in the same month. I don't know what/or if the family done anything for her. I never saw them there. I would be out playing with my cousins in the yard and I would here SUUUUUUEEEEEEEE and i would come running. SHe would want a sandwhich or chocolate milk sometimes I would have to run to the store for her, and a couple of times I emptied her bedban. I don't believe my mom realized how much I was doing for her because later in life when we would talk about Mrs. Janey mom said she would not have let me do "that" much for her that she would have rather done that.

Anyway, in the neighborhood I would visit all the elderly people and talk to them. At 10 I could sit with retired school teachers and salesmen for hours. I loved talking to older people. We moved away from that town and mom got a job at a local nursing home. I was 13 I would come to that nursing home and help feed the residents and take them to activities. As soon as I turned 16 I got hired there and Loved it I would have worked there for free. (practically was started at 3.45/hr). I worked all during high school and for a while after that. Then I got into it with a nurse and put in my notice I wanted to try other things. In the mean time I didn't graduate HS I lacked 1 history credit. SO I fumbled around for years I worked in restuarants and convience stores I liked doing those jobs but my heart wasn't in it. After I married and had my first child I went back to my old nursing home. And a year later (from fighting with nurses) I quit again. A couple of years later I went back to same ole nursing home and again quit (it was the nurses again) For some reason I couldn't get along with them. I vowed I would never be a nurse until I moved to another state and went to work in a wonderful, wonderful nursing home. The nurses were so different. Like for one thing one of the nurses came to me and said that so and so was trying to get up. Now as accustomed to nurses as I was I said "fine I will go get her, thanks for your help" the nurse floored me with her next statement she said finish what you are doing I got her up she is in the DR. OMG I was shocked where did that nurse come from. Turns out all the nurses were like that. Meantime my son started school kindergarten and he was so excited. They started talking about college early on, before his first report card came he asked me how come I didn't go to college. I didn't really know what to say to him. I didn't have a high school diploma and didn't know how to go about getting GED. So when he got his first report card on the back cover was an advertisement for a local school that was have GED classes. I went and after the first day the instructor asked me how come I was wasting my time in the classes. She signed my 32 hours of class work off and sent me to take my GED the next week. I made a 96 over all. History was my best score. I applied the day of my test for The LPN program and got the paper work to do my financial aid. My husband and I were fighting at the time and some kind of miracle happened while I was at work, somehow all of my tax papers got put in the dump. (To this day I can't figure out how the one bag of trash was taken to the dump while the rest of the garbage sat there till I took it out, any way that is another issue) So I moved back to my home state and another 2 years passed. I went back to my old nursing home and this time with the attitude of just do my job and go home. Things happened pretty fast after that. My sister in Law and I went one day to the community college to apply for school. (we were using that as an excuse to get out of the house). Anyway we both started in Aug. I got alot of my pre req out of the way and start the ADN program this Aug. My immediate plans are to become a nurse like my aunt, loving and caring and humorus. Eventually I would love to be the DON of my own Long term care facility. (maybe even the one I work at now). I don't want to get my first experiances as a nurse in my LTC. I saw a thread in about cna's and fellow coworkers will forgive anything but some one that comes up from the ranks to become a boss ( I figured she knows which LTC I work at). So I am looking into commuting maybe to Nashville or Memphis on those weekend warriors things.

Sorry so long. Believe me there is a lot I took out and a lot more I wanted to put in here but I am very tired and bless your heart for being able to sit thru this ramble.

Sue

Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, Home Health, Oncology.

HiMine is also kind of a long story.

I grew up in the 50's & early 60's. My younger sister had always wanted to be a nurse, just like our older cousin. I think that Dolores graduated nursing school in 1950. I NEVER wanted to be a nurse. As I was in high school, I took all the right classes to go to college. As time marched by, I decided I wanted to be a mechanical engineer.

My Dad and my school councilers all said to be---"But Mary, women don;t become engineers". Well, at that time, women were either nurses, secretary's or teachers apparantly. I was pretty timid and of course would never buck the system. So, well, I then decided at the last moment just to go to nursing school--why buck the system. So I did that and graduated in 1966. My sister followed behind me & graduated in 1968.

Well, I have been nursing since 1966 with time off only for 2 hip replacements!! I love nursing & am so glad I "HAD" to do it. I really & truly found my niche!! Now my little sis & my cousin who both just wanted to always be nurses----neither one of them stayed with it. They each worked about a year or two, had kids & never worked again!! Go figure!!

If I had my life to live over, tho, I think I would be a Vet. Over the years I have truly fallen in love with all animals!!

Mary Ann

I guess I have wanted to be a nurse as far back as I can remember. My mom is a nurse and I always loved to hear stories from her about the patients she took care of. I've worked as a CNA in both hospitals and LTC and loved it, but I really have enjoyed being a nurse the lst 4 years and I'm sure I'll enjoy the next 30. :) :) :) :)

I like many never thought about being a nurse. I only thought that it was for the smart people. I was a ballet dancer since the age of four and always knew that is what I wanted to be. However after getting married and my feet screaming in pain I deceided I wanted to do something to make a difference in someones life. My mother in law is a live in carer for people. She is the most wonderful person I have ever met. So while my spouse was working I went to be an Health care assistant. One day I had a nurse refuse to come to a patients aid who had fallen on the floor because 'that wasn't her patient' that night I went home in tears. I deceided right then I was going to be the nurse because at least I cared. Now three years later I am. :balloons:

I became a nurse because I was sick of living in a ratty trailer, fed up with the excuses my then-husband was feeding me about why he couldn't work full-time, and in desperate need of a mental challenge. I loved nursing school, clinicals, even the nazi instructors. I am in the right profession no matter how crazy it may become. I'd like to be able to say that I initially had this heart-felt burden to help people, but that isn't what was on my mind then. It was the need to find a good wage, and a stable profession. My, how I've grown since then.

Specializes in er, pediatric er.

I first decided I wanted to be a nurse in high school. My father had lupus and was in and out of the hospital. I saw that the nurses were the people who did the most caring for him. They were there 24-7; the doctors came in for a few minutes every day and left. When my father died, it was the nurses who cried with our family.

I went to college straight out of high school for 1 1/2 semesters. I had a 4.0 G.P.A., but I lost all of my financial aid (my husband and I made $10000 that year together which was too much!!). I got frustated and quit school. I was nineteen and too dumb to see there were other options, like borrowing the money or tranferring to a cheaper school. I went to work at a card factory. Where I made a good living for almost 8 years. The company announced thier intentions of closing the factory, and I started looking into going back to school. The company changed their mind and stayed open, but I started getting my pre-reqs at night and working there during the day. I quit the factory in January of 2003 to attend nursing school. I graduated from nursing school on May 7th with a 3.953 G.P.A. I take the NCLEX on July 7th, everybody say a little prayer!!

I first decided I wanted to be a nurse in high school. My father had lupus and was in and out of the hospital. I saw that the nurses were the people who did the most caring for him. They were there 24-7; the doctors came in for a few minutes every day and left. When my father died, it was the nurses who cried with our family.

I went to college straight out of high school for 1 1/2 semesters. I had a 4.0 G.P.A., but I lost all of my financial aid (my husband and I made $10000 that year together which was too much!!). I got frustated and quit school. I was nineteen and too dumb to see there were other options, like borrowing the money or tranferring to a cheaper school. I went to work at a card factory. Where I made a good living for almost 8 years. The company announced thier intentions of closing the factory, and I started looking into going back to school. The company changed their mind and stayed open, but I started getting my pre-reqs at night and working there during the day. I quit the factory in January of 2003 to attend nursing school. I graduated from nursing school on May 7th with a 3.953 G.P.A. I take the NCLEX on July 7th, everybody say a little prayer!!

Wow! Good for you! I'll be thinking of you! :p

Keely

:rolleyes: as i said before i guess sometimes it just happens to you.....i am very proud of all those who do ..... it was one of the hardest things that i have ever done..my twin girls' are both finishing with their cna programs now , i am so proud of them... one just took her final exam yesterday an recieved an 87%..and she never thought that she could do that....she is smiling now. so remember to all of you there is joy and hope out there...so keep on keeping on... "we are what we repeatedly do..Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit" - aristotle
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