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 LTC.

Hi All, I Always Heard People Say That Nurse Was Good,the Nurse Was Bad Or I Have To Hang Up The Nurse Is In The Room . I Always Loved The Way The Nurse Was Never Forgotten (except For Her Name) I Was On The Waiting List To Enter School And When My Number Came Up I Was Married Raising My Stepsons So I Put Off What I Wanted. Later I Found Out I Would Need Ivf To Have A Child Of My Own So I Did. I Became Pregnant And Five To Six Weeks In To The Pregnancy I Started Having Small Pains And Very Light Bleeding After Doing Avag Ultrasound The Doc Could Find Nothing Wrong But Said If The Symptoms Persist To Call Him. One Week Later It Started Again I Called And Spoke To The Nurse And Was Quickly Dismissed By Her. I Called Her Again The Next Day And Was Told Take Two Apap And Dont Worry! The Next Day I Was Sceduled For Another Ultrasound To Hear The Heartbeat (still Hurting And Popping Apap) During The Exam The Docter Turned 3 Shadeds Of Blue When He Saw It Was A Tube Pregancy And What Was In The Uterus Was A False Sac. He Scolded Me Asking Why I Did Not Call With Such Important S/s I Told Him If What Happened And He Sent Me Off To Surgery. The Next Day He Informed Me That Nursewas No Longer Employed There However, It Lit Something In Me B/c Less Than 6 Mths Later I Was Enrolled In Nsg Class And I Vowed To Never Dismiss A Pt C/o And Always Keep The Md Informed. I Love Being A Nurse. Some Pt S Even Remember My Name!haha!!!

Specializes in Home Care, Hospice, OB.

well, as a horse-crazed little girl, i wanted to be a vet. when i found out what vets got paid, i started college as a pre-med major at age 16. when i realized how long med school was, versus my then bf, now dh of 30 years, i switched to a business degree to get commissioned in the us army, then got married.

as a mommy, i found out that if i went to the dispensary and told them than my little guy had a temp and was pulling at his ears, i was told he had a virus and sent home with tylenol. if i said "my child is febrile and has all the signs of recurrent otitis media" they looked at his ears and treated appropriatley.

so....i became a nurse because everyone kept asking if i was one.:D

Specializes in ob/gyn.

can't remember now why it was the third grade that I decided to become a nurse and then I was one....I do remember somewhere in high school that my mom said how important it was for women to have a career they could fall back on in case they needed to support themselves...must have been psychic......sure was glad after divorcing after 18 years of marriage...of course, I had been working all along...

Specializes in CTICU, Interventional Cardiology, CCU.

GOD I don't even know where to strat with my story. It's going to be a ADDfest when reading it and while I write it...So here it goes

When I grad HS in 98 I went to The University of Scranton. I was dead set on not being a nursing major. My orginal major was BioChemistry. I wanted to do Medical research. After a butt load of classes and being placed in an advanced chem class I was way over my head, and the fact that my fresh. bio teacher had alzheimers literally, and also the fact that I ended up with a 1.9 GPA. I rethought my major and moved onto my 2nd choice.

I changed my major to Psych, ahd that didn;t work out too well. So I changed my major yet agian to Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. That worked out, I graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in CJ and a Minor in Sociology.

Only for me to get a job in broadcast communications when I graduated. I worked that awful job for a few years. During that time my boyfriend at the time, now my fiance, became a police officer. He said to me one night, you should be a nurse...I said why?..he said you have a way with people, and you are one of the most caring people I know. I thought if anything were to happen to hhim while he was on duty I would want to be the one to take care of him. Also my one of my best friends from HS who also graduated from Virginia Tech was going back to school for Nursing.

My friend from HS was also terminally ill, she passed away a few years ago, but she also gave me the inspiration to apply to Nursing School too.

I applied last minuite to the Nursing Program in my hometown, which is extreamly hard to get into. I took the Net test with only 2 days to study for it, got all of my paper work in. At the same time I was trying to get a better job in broadcast communications and applied for a primear company in Philadelphia region, b/c I hated the broadcast job I was at at the time.

I take the NET test, I had applied for this other job in broadcast communications. I find out I passed the NET a few weeks later. Now I was waiting to see if I was accepted to the Nursing program. It was some time in MAY that I got a call from the broadcast company for an interview, the interview lasted 3 hours. I went home feeling like I nailed the interview, but was hoping that I had gotten accepted to Nursing school at the same time.

The very next day, I woke up, went to work, got a call about a follow up interview for the job that night. I called home while I was at work to see if any letters had arrived in the mail from the nursing program, nothing. So I was on may way to the job interview and I decided I will call the school to see if I can talk to some one about if I had a seat for the fall semester. I am pulling into the parking lot of my follow up job interview, as I am on my cell I get the nursing department recruiter. She says, "Ang, I have been meaning to call you, you applied for evening weekend program, well you are wait listed for that, BUT I do have ONE SEAT LEFT in the day program and I was saving it for you, so what do you think, I need you ans. NOW?"

OMG IT was like fate or destiny smacked me in the face, I knew I had nailed the job interview the night before and was going in for the second interview for them to offer me the job, and it was a darn good job too, but I thought is broadcast what I want to do?? I just spent 1 month non-stop trying to get into various nursing programs, stayed up nights on end trying to get all of my ducks in a row for nursing. Do I decline the seat, and take this job, or do I go back to school, have a poor income for a bit put my student loans on deferrment, I have a car payment, bills, ect...WHAT TO DO..

I said with out hesistation to the Nursing Department recruiter, "Sign me up I am in!!"

I had to go into that interview, and tell them how I literally just took a seat in Nursing School for the day time program that start in the fall. The woman who intervied me was so upset. She said I had the job, but she know I would make a great nurse, to my suprise she was an ex-nurse. She also said if nursing dosen't work out for me I will always have an opportunity at that company.

I was excited but scared. I started my classes. Meanwhile my bestfriend from HS was not doing to well. She has gotten her BSN in nursing about 2 days before she died. I had talked to her 1 day before she passed, and she said ,"Ang do what I couldn't do, be a nurse I know you can do everything I am notgoing to be able to do." This si another story for another time. She passed away the next day, she was only in her 20's.

I start Nursing school, and I loved it but I stunk at it. After a few failed tests, my Aunt who is my savior and a ER nurse with 25+ years of exp. said, let me help you. From that day on 3 times a week we would meet to study and she would kick my butt into nursing shape.

Well, when I graduated last year my whole family started crying b/c they were so proud, I am the only child in the whole family.

I passed the boards the frist try, got a job 2 days after passing the boards.

One year later I look back and have no regrets about my decision I made 4 years ago in that parking lot on my cell phone. AND yes I do take care of my finace, he has been hurt numerous time in the last year while on duty, he's been in a mojor car accident while on duty, he's had the worst case of poison oak I have ever seen that he got on duty, and I can't even tell you the other things I have taken care of with him.

I also think no matter how awful my shift is, my best friend is smiling down from heaven and is there to help me.

Also my dad says to me when I am going off on a rant, "Ang what do you do for a living??" I say, "I'm A NURSE" and it always makes me feel better b/c I know I put my hear and soul into what I do!!

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
I became a nurse because I had some really bad nurses and it p***ed me off. It was when I had my first daughter. The first nurse had been assessing my progress all night and had me start pushing when I was 10cm dilated. The OB came in 10 minutes later, took two seconds to realize that my baby was butt first and I ended up having to have an emergency c-section. The next nurse clamped my foley and left it clamped for several hours until my bladder was so full I was crying from the pain of it (and I don't cry about pain). 1600 cc out when it was finally unclamped. Another nurse spent an hour trying to convince me my baby had heart problems because she was "blue" and ordered EKGs and other tests that I ended up having to pay out of pocket for--my daughter and I both have very visible veins and she is very fair. This same nurse discharged me with a lovely story about how she saw a decapitated baby once caused by a car airbag. They didn't get me up out of the bed until the 4th day, I was never bathed in that time and felt horrible, and I wasn't given breastfeeding education. I was so mad about my experiences that I decided to be an L&D nurse so that someone else wouldn't have to go through what I did. I ended up hating L&D in school (I think partly because I was pregnant at the time and seeing babies born brought back all the memories of pain and horror my labor-induced amnesia had suppressed). Loved ICU, love it still and I am very grateful to those nurses who with their mistakes helped me to find a career I could love (accounting really didn't do it for me). BTW, I did have some very good nurses who cared for me as well, like the one who, instead of just giving me the pain medicine I was begging for, checked me for the cause and discovered the clamped foley.

As an OB Nurse for 35 years, I am startled and deeply disturbed about your experience! Please write the administrator at the hospital where you were!! No one else should ever experience the malpractise you did. The sooner you write it, the sooner those nurses will be off the floor until their skills are acceptable (and their lips sealed about earlier gruesome experiences).I think having a patient sign something that falsely assures her that those caring for him/her will not talk about you - or others, seems to place confidentiality on the patient instead of the professional. HIPAA is a scourge on the medical scene, and is now known as the Health Insurance Portability Assurance Act!

Send a copy of your letter to the OB suoervisor, and name names, if you remember them. Either the staffing pattern at that place is abominable, or the rush to have babies when you were there, was highly unusual. That, however, wouldn't excuse the miscarriage of professionalism.

As far as the Foley drainage (or lack thereof) is concerned, you probably know now that a patient doesn't excrete 1600 ml in a few hours, unless several liters of IVs went through quickly, before and after the Foley was clamped, prior to removing it. The danger of a post partum woman hemorrhaging with a full bladder pressing against her uterus, is great. Also, urine could back up into the kidneys, and infection there might have occurred.

Unless you had your c/s before 1960, the need has been known since before then, to ambulate post operative patients, to prevent blood clot formation due to stasis of blood in the legs, and makes it necessary to get people up to the bathroom within 24 hours of their surgery or sooner.

Babies can turn to breech position during labor, if the head wasn't "engaged" before, but that is almost never. Therefore, your doctor should have known she was breech (through palpation/ultrasound). The Nurse would have had a clue when applying the uterine/fetal monitor, as the baby's heart sounds would have been higher than usual. She should have asked you where you experienced kicking, and that would have given it away, too.

Specializes in ER.
I decided to become a nurse the summer I turned 7. My dad was diagnosed with brain tumors and spent most of the summer in and out of the ICU. My mom decided after two months of fighting and him only getting worse that it was time for him to come home and spend his last days with his family. The last three weeks that he was alive I helped my mom take care of him. I knew I wanted to be a nurse and not a doctor b/c the nurse is the one who spends more time with the patient and their family. I am planning on specializing in neonatal intensive care when I graduate and look forward to taking care of my patients and developing good relationships with their families. I am also hoping that I will be able to help others that may be facing the same situation that my mom did. I want to be able to make a difference in someone's life, even if it is only one person.

wow.... :yeah:

Specializes in ER.
As an OB Nurse for 35 years, I am startled and deeply disturbed about your experience! Please write the administrator at the hospital where you were!! No one else should ever experience the malpractise you did. The sooner you write it, the sooner those nurses will be off the floor until their skills are acceptable (and their lips sealed about earlier gruesome experiences).I think having a patient sign something that falsely assures her that those caring for him/her will not talk about you - or others, seems to place confidentiality on the patient instead of the professional. HIPAA is a scourge on the medical scene, and is now known as the Health Insurance Portability Assurance Act!

Send a copy of your letter to the OB suoervisor, and name names, if you remember them. Either the staffing pattern at that place is abominable, or the rush to have babies when you were there, was highly unusual. That, however, wouldn't excuse the miscarriage of professionalism.

As far as the Foley drainage (or lack thereof) is concerned, you probably know now that a patient doesn't excrete 1600 ml in a few hours, unless several liters of IVs went through quickly, before and after the Foley was clamped, prior to removing it. The danger of a post partum woman hemorrhaging with a full bladder pressing against her uterus, is great. Also, urine could back up into the kidneys, and infection there might have occurred.

Unless you had your c/s before 1960, the need has been known since before then, to ambulate post operative patients, to prevent blood clot formation due to stasis of blood in the legs, and makes it necessary to get people up to the bathroom within 24 hours of their surgery or sooner.

Babies can turn to breech position during labor, if the head wasn't "engaged" before, but that is almost never. Therefore, your doctor should have known she was breech (through palpation/ultrasound). The Nurse would have had a clue when applying the uterine/fetal monitor, as the baby's heart sounds would have been higher than usual. She should have asked you where you experienced kicking, and that would have given it away, too.

I agree Lamaze... holy cow! Though this is funny, I went through a HORRIFIC labor and delivery process that inspired me to go to nursing school when my son was 4 months old. I was in labor for 36 hours and had to have a C-section. It was a chaotic experience and no one explained anything or took care of my basic needs. I suffered with that for a long time, but had an elective C-section with my second child and it was the best experience. Though the L&D nurses didn't check on my ONCE while I was in there with my second child. They took great care of him, but they didn't offer stool softeners, pain med or check my incision - YIKES! I suffered with a huge infection after my first with home wound dressing changes and all that jazz. I knew a lot more the second time around. It was much better.

I am so sorry that you dealt with ANY of that - OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those nurses shouldn't be working where they are to forget what they did and say what they did. Period. There's no excuse - no amount of stress would make me say those things or forget my standard of care. I'm glad you and your little one made it out ok.

Cheers!

greetings from canada any nurses wanting to come to canada let me know. sincerely from regina canada

Specializes in LTC, Alzheimers unit.

Im sure all of us remember that instant we knew we wanted to be a nurse. For me I sure do, I was in a very severe motorcycle accident in 2001 and was in the hospital for a while. I remember being in the ER with the nurse giving me morphine constantly because I was in severe pain. I had to have plastic surgery done on my face because I was not wearing a helmet (stupid I know) and all of my wounds had to be scrubbed and wrapped with gauze.

Anyways I had one nurse that was so rude to me, I had just had my face completed and my arms wrapped when the morphine was starting to wear off and I was getting really cold. I asked the nurse for a blanket and she said you have two hands can't you do it yourself. I started to cry and just looked at her and said please give me a blanket, and she did. Then they sent me up to the floor and I told the charge nurse what had happened and needless to say she was fired. Then I had the most wonderful caring nurse that was on a 7 day stretch with me, she always told me how beautiful I was, even though I didn't look it and she would sit and talk with me when she had time.

It was then that I knew I couldn't change the world but atleast the people I took care of would not feel the way the nurse made me feel in the ER that I would treat them the way the nurse on the floor treated me. When someone is hurting we need to be there for them and try to help them through their time of need, no matter how busy we are.:heartbeat

Specializes in Geriatrics.

To this day I'm STILL wondering why I became a nurse. LOL Seriously, all of my growing up years all I ever wanted to do was to be a school teacher...2nd grade. I even "played" school teacher before I ever started to school. Of course, that dream never came true. The main reason I became a nurse is because, literally, my cousin talked me into it. He gave me the song and dance about I would always have a job so I could raise my kids. I would never have to worry about not having a job, because nurses are always in demand. Right now, with the way the economy is right now, is actually the FIRST time I have been truly thankful to be a nurse. I've been in geriatrics since 1989, and I think I'm just burnt out. Sure, I have raised my kids. They are now married and have lives of their own, and being a nurse has supported me...barely. I'm an LPN, and it's not what it's cracked up to be. The money isn't that great, I make LESS than $20 hr and I've been doing this for what seems like forever. I do enjoy nursing, and now that I'm single and have no responsiblities except myself, and seriously thinking of getting my RN and go into teaching, since that really is my first love. I'll soon be 50, and sometimes I think I'm just too "old" to go back to school. I have talked myself into it, though. A person can only take so much of working in LTC, and it's really time for a change.

Am I too "old" to go back to school? Can I hold down a full-time job and study? Actually, I work 3 & 4 12hr shifts, so I'm pretty sure I can do it. I guess I'm just scared. Oops...I was only supposed to say why I became a nurse, and got off track. LOL Sorry. :yeah:

Specializes in ICU of all kinds, CVICU, Cath Lab, ER..

You most certainly are NOT too old!! Go for it! Keep in touch so we can be your cheering section!!

Specializes in ER.
To this day I'm STILL wondering why I became a nurse. LOL Seriously, all of my growing up years all I ever wanted to do was to be a school teacher...2nd grade. I even "played" school teacher before I ever started to school. Of course, that dream never came true. The main reason I became a nurse is because, literally, my cousin talked me into it. He gave me the song and dance about I would always have a job so I could raise my kids. I would never have to worry about not having a job, because nurses are always in demand. Right now, with the way the economy is right now, is actually the FIRST time I have been truly thankful to be a nurse. I've been in geriatrics since 1989, and I think I'm just burnt out. Sure, I have raised my kids. They are now married and have lives of their own, and being a nurse has supported me...barely. I'm an LPN, and it's not what it's cracked up to be. The money isn't that great, I make LESS than $20 hr and I've been doing this for what seems like forever. I do enjoy nursing, and now that I'm single and have no responsiblities except myself, and seriously thinking of getting my RN and go into teaching, since that really is my first love. I'll soon be 50, and sometimes I think I'm just too "old" to go back to school. I have talked myself into it, though. A person can only take so much of working in LTC, and it's really time for a change.

Am I too "old" to go back to school? Can I hold down a full-time job and study? Actually, I work 3 & 4 12hr shifts, so I'm pretty sure I can do it. I guess I'm just scared. Oops...I was only supposed to say why I became a nurse, and got off track. LOL Sorry. :yeah:

go for it - 50's the new 30. Have fun! Now's the time for you to think about you, you've raised your kids, now you're single... go for it. You'll know all there is to know about being an RN by now and maybe you can move into something else after school.... good luck! I hope this thread isn't 10 years old, if so, nevermind, you're probably already in a Master's program....

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