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.

I was in my back yard one evening with a nice fat possum on the grill. I heard a noise and looked up to see a spacecraft directly above me. In an instant, I was transported into a dimly lit area equipped with strange equipment. Then a 3 ft tall being with a single eye in the center of his neck...or what I though was a neck, kicked me in the shins. As I jerked my leg up out of the way, several of the little critters pushed me back on an exam table. The next few hours were a blur as I went in and out of consciousness. Before I knew what was happening I was graduating from nursing school. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

LOL!!!!!!!:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle

Why I became a nurse by Brenda Mills.

Let's see, no it was not that, I think it was this, no that not true also.

It could of-------------

Heck I do not know, but I love it anyway!!!!!!!!!:nurse: :nurse:

I became a Rn because I was sick of having the Md's who were incontrol of my childrens health talk in terms that I could't understand. I felt out of control. I also felt becasue I wasn't in the med field I was regarded as ignorant. I love it and actually I am not a pedi nurse I am an adult ICU nurse but I have calmed down with my critizim and have asked more questions and got the answers need. "Whats in a title":monkeydance:

Specializes in pediatrics.

Why I chose to become a nurse is sort of interesting. When I was 16 I decided I would like to be a missionary. I am kind of an independent person and I knew if I were to go to a mission field, I would want to be able to help people. I decided to go to nursing school and by the end I didn't know if I wanted to be a nurse anymore or not. But after being out of school for a few months, I began to see why I had chose this. Nursing is hard in so many ways but it so very rewarding in many more ways. I work in a spcialized pediatric hospital for medically fragile children and it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. i can't wait to go to the mission field later!

Specializes in geriactric care- no place i'd rather be!.

i grew up in a house of medical professionals. mom was an RN, EMT, ACLS instructor and dad was a first responder. everyone always used to tell me that i would end up exactly like my mom, and it used to make me so angry. i had the typical adolescence, couldn't stand my parents and did everything i could to make them mad. the usual rebel that did exactly opposite of what my parents said.

but time went on, i got a job as a dietary aide my senior year of high school, and found that i really enjoyed the elderly. the wealth of knowledge they had to offer if you only gave them the time. i graduated and took the CNA course the summer before i went to college so i could work just part-time during school and make better money than flipping burgers.

i found that i really enjoyed it and before i knew it, i dropped out of school (i was studying music) and worked full time as an aide. i didn't tell my parents because i knew they would be mad. mom had made me promise that i wouldn't drop out of school to work as an aide because she knew what a physical and exhausting job it was. but the longer i worked as an aide, i began to realize that music wasn't what i wanted to do.

i worked as aide for about three years and the strain of the job was beginnig to become evident in my back. i decided to get my CMA license and try to give my back a break a few days a week.

well to stop the rambling, i have been working as an CMA for seven years, CNA for ten and decided it was time to further my education again.

i plan to graduate from LPN school in January and it has been the best experience of my life.

i couldn't imagine doing anything else. i guess i should of listened to all those people who told me from the beginning where my life was heading, it could of saved me a lot of time. but i guess the experience i have, and the fact that it hasn't sent me running in the opposite direction shows that i am headed in the right direction. my mom has become a source of inspiration for me, and when things get tough i just have to look at her and the difference she has made in so many lives.

I became a nurse because I was different from most people. I see this in every thread I read. Why do people become Nurses? Because people who become nurses see the world a little differently than other people. We accept the pain and illness and try to make it a little better. We do not cure and sometimes can not even heal. But we stand by people and try to make it better for them. We find humanity in every case and in every patient. We do not see profit in it LOL. Most of us work from payday to payday. But we are a sisterhood, Also a brotherhood, welcoming all the men who have joined us in the past years. It is a choice. I like to think I made the right choice. Welcome to everyone who chooses to make it with us.

Specializes in psychiatric..

Hello nice folks from around the world! as you'll notice,my story has something different it reflects some aspects which are particular to my country.WELL,in 1993,i was a bac-holder ,it means i got my terminal certificate after lasting my three years in the secondary school (here ,studies are composed of:6 years in the primary school+3 years in the preparatory school and 3 years in the secondary school,in this terminal stage,students have to choose between two options:moderns letters or modrens sciences).For me,it was moderns letters.After this circuit,i had to choose the faculty to study in,i went to english litterture while looking for best opportunities to get into any others colleges of professional formation(becasue it too hard to get jobs in my country even though one finish his studies at the university which take 4 years).in the summer of 1993,even i succed in my first year at the faculty,i did apply for the advertisment of nursing's school,and i also succed in the written and oral exam to get into psychiatric school of nursing because i was always curious to know about the humain being behaviours and the mecanisms included in.so,i spent three years in and i got my RN certificate(it's still a gouvernomental institution in my country).IN FACT,i've never expected to do this job because during my childhood ,i hated the smell of medecines and hospitals every time i went there,but while studying psychiatric nursing,i learnt to like it too much , i realized deeply that it's the most human career and the most supporting one for onelves and for others in need.However,after 9 years of experience in a psychiatric and public hospital(there is no private clinic here),i'm so sad to recognize that it has no deal with the long threads and courses that i'd learnt at school,there is no psychiatric approch at all while dealing with these patients,daily ,i'm more and more chocked about this fact but i could change nothing alone,i truly want to change my career but noway,i 've nothing else to do! P.S:it's unfortunatullay a sound of one reality sure not singular,and i do belive that all around the world there are many of it that i hope to hear from to keep me going on !SORRY for been so long but i needed to talk about.

Specializes in None.

I am not a nurse just yet but I can tell you why I want to be a nurse so bad.

When I turned 12 I was at a birthday party swimming when all of a sudden I felt this painful burst in my right side. I went and layed down until it was time to go. I went home bathed and went to bed. As I layed in my bed hurting and pressed on my right side to find a small knot. I got up and went and told my parents what had happened and what I dad found. My mom got up and took me to the emergency room in the middle of the night for them to say that nothing was wrong. The next morning I got up to get ready for school to find out that I was in more pain and the knot had gotten bigger. My mom took me back to the emergency room. They had saw that I was there the night before and decided to do tests. After my tests came back they told me that they were going to have to do surgery asap that my appendix had burst and I had poisions running through my body and if we waited any longer it could cause problems or I might not make it. By then I was soo sick and scared. After a few months my problems began. I was in and out to the hospital from anywhere from thinking I had cancer to finding out that pituitary gland was not producing growth hormone so I wasn't growing. I under went 3 years of flying to Washington DC every 6 months to get new shots that I had to give my self 3 times a week. Now every thing is great. I have 2 boys and so far nothing else. That is when I new for sure that I wanted to help people the same way my wonderful nurses helped me.

Another thing that led me to want to become a nurse is when I was 14 my grandmother, who I was really close to, became very ill. I few years before that she was diagonsed with bladder cancer and they had to remove her bladder and replace it with a bag outside of her stomach that held her urine. It was Thanksgiving day and my mom had to call an ambulance to come and get my grandmother. She was in the hospital for a while when she slipped into a coma. Her intestines became blocked and the had to sick a tube down her throat to remove everything from her intestines. She finially awoke one night but she could not speak to anyone. We rushed up to the hospital to see her. My mom stayed up at the hospital those months that she was there and she never came home. The day after she woke I was in school at break when I saw my parents walk through the doors. I was wondering why my mom was there and not at the hospital but it never clicked until I walked into the office and saw her eyes. I then knew what had happened and droppe to my knees and started crying.

Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I'm about to graduate from clinicals. Here's my story-

I graduated high school not knowing what I wanted to do. So I worked full time in the construction field (carpentry), and worked weekends at a group home as a direct care giver. A few years later I bought a house and moved to a different city. By that time I had decided that I wanted to be an electrician. So I took an electrical apprenticeship job and things were going well until a few months later when I was suddenly out of work. There just weren't any jobs to do, and I ended up laid off collecting unemployment checks for weeks at a time. Unemployment checks don't really pay that much, and the job prospects for an electrician with practically no experience were very slim. I couldn't find a job working carpentry either. I got tired of being broke and decided I really needed a change of scenery careerwise. I also came to the conclusion that I should probably get a college degree as well. So I went up to the local college, spoke with the counselor, and picked nursing. I remembered back to my days working at the group home, and the job the nurse there did, and thought it was something I'd be willing to do.

So now 4 years later I'm getting ready to graduate (I'm 26 now). I think becoming an RN is probably the best decision I've made in the past 5 years. I never realized how much I enjoy learning and I really enjoy the work I do. Even if it is confusing and overwhelming at times, hey I'm still learning. Nursing combines what was my favorite part of construction work, problem solving, with a fairly flexible schedule and good benefits. I can't complain about that heheh. Plus having the opportunity to take college classes is definitely something I wouldn't complain about. Oh yes and not working with a bunch of construction worker nimrods is good too. In all fairness, not all of them are nimrods, just some of them. The crews I worked with seemed to have a disportionate amount of the latter though.

I became a nurse because for as long as I can remember I have wanted to be one. I am a LPN now, but I am in RN school. I don't have a lot of experience nursing yet even though I have been a LPN for 8 years. When I graduated nursing school I was pregnant. During the delivery of my baby she passed away. The nurses that day were terrible to me. They seemed to have no sympathy. That day I decided I did not want to have that kind of impact on anyone's life. I went for about 4 years feeling that way when I kind of fell into a nursing job caring for a quadriplegic. The very first day I went to work for my client I remembered why it was that I wanted to be a nurse. I enjoy caring for those who need help or can't care for themselves. I decided that I would be the best nurse I could be and I would always try my best to make my clients feel that their feelings and concerns were important and validated. So here I am trying to continue my education and graduate RN school.

Specializes in psych,emergency,telemetry,home health.

i took up nursing upon the advice of my parents(i wanted computer science or business management).they said i would have better job opportunities.by the way, i am foreign trained nurse.when i was taking the course, i had friends who were very studious. i was then encouraged to study also(although i was told by my parents that if i really wouldn't like nursing, it's ok for them to shift course).anyway, i graduated BSN with good grades and am now here in the us. i have told them lately if not because of nursing, my family would not have an opportunity to go to the us. my kids have brighter future here.thanks to my parents and thanks also that i listened....

Specializes in ED (Level 1, Pediatric), ICU/CCU/STICU.

My brother was killed in a terrible car/ motorcycle accident when I was 12. He was 18, just in the Navy for about 8 months. My parents were obviously devastated. I learned at that early age how fragile life was and that your whole world as I knew it changed in a flash. That experience gave me such compassion for people who were ill/dying. My mother went to pursue a nursing degree and I guess I followed suit.

+ Join the Discussion