Why did you take up nursing? What's your story?

UPDATE: Changes: New Log In Requirement

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 ICU/ER/TRANSPORT.

I was a army medic and around alot of fine nurses both military and civilian. Just being around them and watching what and how they did it made me want to be like them. And plus I wanted to expand on my reponsibility with pt care. So I traveled the road from Army Medic/Paramedic to Rn.

My mom was nurse, my aunt, a cousin or 2, so I guess it made sense that it was something I could do too.

I was in college to be a teacher and needed a PT job. I got a job as a NA for the summer and when I went back to school, got another close by. Every break I had I went back home and worked at the original place.

Then I decided I shouldn't be in college anymore, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I then moved to a big city and did a temp agency's HHA job. I learned my way around and met some incredible people and think I made a differance in their lives as they did in mine.

Got into a private nursing school, but it was tough while supporting myself, so I quit. Got a great job at a chronic care hospital. Left because the love of my life left me so I moved back home, worked in a hospital (one I volunteered in as a candy striper in high school), and took a job as a OT aide, then worked on the geriatric unit, then as a Rehab aide while I was expecting my 1st child.

Then I worked in a NH, then back to the hospital where I was laid off. It was then I decided, health care was my calling, but I wanted to be in a position where I wouldn't get laid off anymore, could support my son and I a little better, and I had these wonderful mentors all my NA career who taught me so much, they involved me in what and why they did what they did. I heard their tales of what nursing had evolved from, what they used to do. I knew I was part of something big.

I have my Associates in Nursing, and want my Bachelor's, but I have to wait until my oldest son and my husband get done with their schooling 1st.

I've been in healthcare for 23 years, and 12 of those years as an RN.

I was a Unit Manager for a year at the 1st NH I worked at, but decided that was just NUTS! hahaha. I didn't do too badly, but I was only a nurse for 4 years at that time, and it sucked up my life. I'm too much of a perfectionist in the paperwork end of the job, and it took up alot of my time. I'm perfectly happy being a staff nurse and doing my share of supporting/gathering info etc. for my supervisors and DON, working behind the scenes so to speak. :typing

everyone has his or her own story about how or why they became a nurse. what's your story?

please be as detailed or as short as you wish. it'll be interesting to hear everyone's stories.

took up nursing as soon as i graduated from highschool. due to unacceptable way of teaching and behaviors of my professors, had a head on collision of ideas with them. pride got into the way. i flunked in their subjects, and got kicked out of school. when i tried to talked it over with our dean, she told me nursing is not for me. and its not the only life i could have... worst, she told me i could not really make it! :angryfireand its time for a graceful exit. at a very young age, i was so foolish... i believed her. took up another course, b.s in occupational therapy. was able to graduate, but never practiced it. one day,(11 years after) i dont know what got into me, i found myself submitting myself for evaluation in this nursing school. thank god, i followed my instinct, and i will never let anybody stop me now... graduated in 2006, took my first licensure exam in dec. 2006, and passed!!! with an average of 83%., not bad for someone who could not finish nursing. now im preparing for nclex. moral of the story.... dont let anybody snatch your dreams from you, (i just took mine back!!) .... and anybody who angers you, conquers you!!!!!!:nono::nono::nono::nono::nono:

Hmm....thank you for this story...mine is somewhat similar to that I was also kicked out. However, I'm just applying now to go back (and hopefully, I get accepted to the university as my first step)...

Thank you...

Specializes in Surgical trauma ICU.

I was working at a piston manufacture as a moldmaker that was not doing well due to the economy. A good friend of my wife suggested I try nursing a RN herself. So at 45 I went back to school, graduated passed boards and went to work in a level 2 surgical trauma unit. Retired one year ago after 16 years of working with some of the best.

lot of story ,,

every story diffrent from the others ..

actually im still student and i hope graduate soon ..

how or why i chooe nursing ?!

in my family , theres my father was nurse . and now my sister , my aunt , and 3 of my uncale sons >>>> all of them are nurses ..

so u can saied that my family history of nursing and also my desire to become nurse all of these make me want to study nursing ..

i like this job and i interested on it ..

Specializes in L&D, OR, postpartum, pedi, OBGYN clinic.

This is going to sound formal but it is part of my Statement of Purpose but it sayd the right stuff :)

My first motivation in my career path was never nursing. I wanted to be a high school history teacher. I got BA in American History. I tutored and prepared to take the CBEST. Being a teacher required so many things that I need to be happy in career choice; emotional satisfaction, good people skills, the ability to pass knowledge on to another, the opportunity to take pride in your work, and most of all, the ability to make a difference in the lives of the people you come in contact with. However after I really started researching the aspect of teaching and tutoring I found that it wasn't my calling. I also found that I liked history lectures but they never ignited excitement and enthusiasm.

After I graduated I went searching for a career that had the same values and opportunities that I loved about teaching but in a field that I found myself impassioned with. I thought about business, marketing, art, even goldsmithing, but an incident in Abilene, TX with my pregnant little sister helped me decide that a career in healthcare was where I could shine.

It was 9:45 pm and her water broke. We were so excited! Her first baby was on the way, my first niece! We got everything ready and drove to the hospital. We walked up and said "Her water broke!" and the first nurse replied "Well, we'll just see about that." Wow! I couldn't believe we had heard such pure impoliteness. I was completely taken aback. The rest of her stay of two and a half days had a similar feel. With the exception of one wonderful labor and delivery nurse, everyone on staff was indifferent, cold, and sometimes flat out offensive. They all seemed to have an "I've seen this a thousand times, you are not special" attitude. Having children myself and knowing what a good delivery experience is like I found her experience utterly disappointing. The lack of interpersonal communication skills, the lack of sympathy, excitement and helpfulness was so inadequate that I found myself, for the first time in my life, wanting to find a way to truly make a difference.

I have one year left and L&D is my passion. I want a birthing center one day...

Specializes in ER, tele, vascular.

Sat with an elderly lady in the ER one night during my EMT/P rotations. She was in from a retirement home for being combative with Alzheimer's. She had a period of reality I listened as she told the story of her life. I had to leave to go help set up for a trauma case we were getting and told her I would be back to ride up with her to the floor she was going to. Two hours go by and I come back to find her only to be informed that she had passed away. When I inquired as to when this happened, the response was; "About 2 hours ago". Her last words to me as I left her ER room were, "Thank you for listening to me". It was the first time I felt like I had made a difference in someone elses life and knew that I would go on to be more involved in the health care setting. That night has not left my memory in over 15 years. Now I am a nurse. What else can I say?

Craig

Specializes in Licensed Practical Nurse.
Everyone has his or her own story about how or why they became a nurse. What's your story?

Please be as detailed or as short as you wish. It'll be interesting to hear everyone's stories.

Well my most of my family is in health care & when I was young my mother used to take my to work with her in the hospital. But thats not the real reason why I became a nurse. Im a people person, and I know just how to relate, adapt, and try to understand everyone, especially when their sick!. I also loooove the high tech and fast pace of the hospital! and lastly Its a great paying job

When I was in my first and only pageant at seven years old, they proudly announced that "Tara says she wants to be a nurse when she grows up" I don't know what made me want to be one back then but I apparently did. I then grew up and changed my major a bazillion times. Having my first daughter is what got me interested in Nursing again. I had toxemia, severe anemia, and a blood tranfusion with her, pre-term labor at 28 weeks with my second daughter. (she made it to 39 wks though!) I can't get enough pregnancy/baby talk. Now I am having quite a few issues with my Crohn's Disease. Been hospitalized twice in less than a year. For some reason the many doctors visits and hospital stays i've had in the last 4 years of giving birth and being sick has really made me anxious to begin my nursing career and make a difference in people's lives as much as they have in mine! It just "feels" like the right career for me. :)

Specializes in ER and Hospice.

My Mom was paralyzed from the waist down when she was 27 and I was 7. My grandmother was a LPN until macular degeneration took her sight. I always tell people at this point in my career..."Nursing isn't what I do it's who I am!"

in about 1975, my then husband and I both enrolled in RN school. Fideltity was never his strong suit and towards teh end of our first year of school,,he had yet another affair. My nerves couldnt hadnle it and I flunked that semester by 3/4 of a point. I could have repeated but just couldnt take teh strain of a failing marriage. He graduated while I worked to support us and after about 2 years, he dumped me. (Glad I didnt' out him thru medical school,,lol,,thank God for small favors!)

I continued to work in the health insurance industry,,reading anything medical I could get my hands on,,,kept abreast of nursing issues, worked with reviewing medical records, histories and physicals of enrollees, etc. Everyone always told me I should go bck to school. I remarried about 2 years after my divorce and had a child. After nine years of marriage, I divorced,,raised my child,,all the while,,everyone kept tellilng me I should go back to school. My Mother died in '01 and I moved in with my ailing Father adn became his primary caregiver until his death in March 05. The community college in my area started up an LPN class at one of its other campuses and I was accepted, so I started in March 05 and graduated March 06. I"ve always belived that nursing was my 'calling',,,it just took a while to come to fruition. I"m 52 now and couldnt be happier and I'm so very proud to say,,I am a nurse. Never give up your dreams!

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