Why do you want to be a nurse?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I was just curious, why do you want to be a nurse?

Specializes in Critical care, Pediatris & Geriatrics.

i've always wanted to be a nurse, i was going to join the army alongside my husband and be a field medic, but decided two parents in the army with a small child wasent' such a good idea. then years later my son was born & was born very premature at 27 weeks, which just got my heart even more determined to become a nurse. now that all three of my children are at an age i feel like they can do without me as much, 14yrs, 8yrs, & 7yrs, all in school, i started my schooling. i'm 32yrs old and feel i have plenty of time ahead of me still!!

nurse2b_amy

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Specializes in Tele Step Down, Oncology, ICU, Med/Surg.

Long story...will attempt to be brief:

6 years ago I was actually going to start pursuing an MBA. Had a rewarding career in business/marketing for a major No.California company, but was already thinking of volunteering as a birth instructor or lactation consultant after attending several difficult births, and then having my first born with a mid-wife, and experiences from helping many friends thru nursing their babies.

Then I had to leave that whole life behind to help my mother die of cancer and help my son live with a misdiagnosed seizure disorder. My son's complex medical care and insurance issues somehow lead to a job offer as a pharma rep. Think it would've been a wonderful job and I would've stayed there if I hadn't discovered I was pregnant with my third a week after I accepted the offer.

A year later, I discovered a lump while trying to nurse the new baby. Breast Cancer. Then, helped my father to die a good death of cancer while I was in the thro's of chemo.

While I loved my "other life" It seems like a memory of some other person now. I've risen from the ashes of my life to feel, for the first time ever, that I've finally discovered what I was really meant to do with myself.

Plus, I need all the hell I was put through for the last 6 years to mean something good and positive. Currently, I volunteer with the local hospital in the NICU and Mother/Baby and feel like seeing all those babies recharges my batteries. Helps me focus on the big picture and see every day as a blessing.

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Bertolozzi said:
Long story...will attempt to be brief:

6 years ago I was actually going to start pursuing an MBA. Had a rewarding career in business/marketing for a major No.California company, but was already thinking of volunteering as a birth instructor or lactation consultant after attending several difficult births, and then having my first born with a mid-wife, and experiences from helping many friends thru nursing their babies.

Then I had to leave that whole life behind to help my mother die of cancer and help my son live with a misdiagnosed seizure disorder. My son's complex medical care and insurance issues somehow lead to a job offer as a pharma rep. Think it would've been a wonderful job and I would've stayed there if I hadn't discovered I was pregnant with my third a week after I accepted the offer.

A year later, I discovered a lump while trying to nurse the new baby. Breast Cancer. Then, helped my father to die a good death of cancer while I was in the thro's of chemo.

While I loved my "other life" It seems like a memory of some other person now. I've risen from the ashes of my life to feel, for the first time ever, that I've finally discovered what I was really meant to do with myself.

Plus, I need all the hell I was put through for the last 6 years to mean something good and positive. Currently, I volunteer with the local hospital in the NICU and Mother/Baby and feel like seeing all those babies recharges my batteries. Helps me focus on the big picture and see every day as a blessing.

Thats a really great story thanks for sharing your life experiences! You will make a fantastic nurse. I wish you all the happiness and success you deserve.

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I hate to sound selfish but Job security and pay is #1. 2nd is taking care of people. Why because there are other jobs that can help save people's lives. Nursing is just so diverse and there are different fields to specialize.

A nursing degree is so versatile. For example: my cousin has a master's degree in social work. It's crazy to me b/c she believes that a high school drop out could do her job. She deals with child protection. When children are being abused what profession is more qualified to assess the wounds of an adolescent. A nurse would be more qualified to do so.

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Here's my story: I'm active duty Air Force; hubby's a teacher. Our daughter was born May 9, 2005. A flight on Dec 3 (to meet her aunts and uncles for the first time) landed us in the NY Hospital of Queens. Rachael stopped breathing while the plane was circling La Guardia; she had aspirated on the plane when I had given her a bottle for the descent. We were rushed to the hospital, and a 1.5 hr connection turned into a 9-day stay with a diagnosis of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Type 1; before the Air Force medivac-ed us back to Utah. (SMA is a type of Muscular Dystrophy and the only type that affects infants. SMA is also the leading genetic killer of infants. Most babies affected with SMA 1 will not live to see their 2nd birthday.)

After the Air Force arranged for our air ambulance back to Utah, we spent the next 11 days in Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. We finally got to take our little angel home Dec 21 and we had a wonderful Christmas with her. We tried to make it as special as we could since it was likely her only Christmas. We basically had a hospital room in our bedroom with BiPap, suctioning (oral and nasal), oxygen, Cough Assist, oximeter, feeding tube... But pneumonia hit as it often does with SMA kids, and she got her angel wings on Jan 6.

Through all of our "adventures" with Rachael, I realized that I am a stronger person than I once realized. Medical equipment didn't scare me; I enjoyed doing what I could just to make her comfortable. I've always enjoyed taking care of people, but I love the fields of science and medicine too. And more than anything, several nurses along the way made such an impact on me, they will never understand what their presence meant. I remember their faces, and the kind words, and the many times they went out of their way to help us, comfort us. The nurses took care of Rachael AND us.

So, now... I want to do for others what they did. I want to take care of babies in the NICU and Special Care Nursery (where I currently volunteer). I want to help patients be more comfortable, and I want to support those parents when they need it most. I'm more interested now than ever about medicine, and the body, and how it works and how to improve it.

I already have a BA but have 2 pre-reqs to go to apply to an accelerated BSN program...so I'm on my way. :)

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I always thought medicine was interesting. When I was little I wanted to be a surgeon. I also wanted to get married early and have three children. Well the second came true :). I met Mr.Right and married when I was 20 (after three years of dating) and are still happily married 9 years later. In that time we moved a lot (he graduated Tulane and then went into the USN) and had three children. I had completed two years of college before getting married and had some other classes at the different places we were stationed. I wanted to be a nurse but I didn't know when the time was right and I didn't have that drive yet. I lost a baby before my first was born. After that I grew closer in my faith. I am and was a SAHM and loved it. I also knew that it was my calling to be a nurse I just didn't know when. I felt like God was telling me it was the right time last year. I know I am supposed to work with women after they have babies especially those who have had difficult pregnancies/deliveries/losses. I just know. It is just this unbelievable peace in my heart. :). Its awesome. I love being able to be a mom and a nursing student!

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...because I'm very interested in the medical field and the human body, and what I like about the nursing field is that your opportunities are so broad. You can move up as high as you want and choose from so many different fields, whereas in other occupations you always do the same thing every day until you retire. In nursing you can move around, and I think you'll never get tired of it. And if you do decide to do something else you can go anywhere in the medical field with a degree and experience in nursing. This is my main reason since I am a person who needs and likes change a lot and love to do different things all the time. Plus, I also enjoy helping people, and the money is good too

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For the money. Good pay, benefits, and flexibility. Abundance of jobs (something my old career simply does not offer). Gotta support all these kids of mine somehow. Certainly I have interest in the field, but if the pay weren't there I wouldn't go for it. BTDT. Being poor is for the birds.

Eh, some'll say that's a horrible reason to go into nursing and that one should have unyielding love for their job. To that I say that passion doesn't necessarily pay the bills. I don't advocate going into any career solely for the love of it.

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It took me a very long time to come to the decision to apply to NS. I wanted to go to med school, pharmacy school, I wanted to get my masters in editing, I even got apcepted to an MSW program. I was sooo confused.

My current job really put things in persepctive for me. First and foremost, I learned that what I currently do is not a career but a stepping stone for me. My job allows me to observe nurses 5 days a week and I never cease to be facinated by their level of skill, the things they know, their compassion and the fact that they enjoy what they do. While everything I do is purely administrative, I'm right there in the mix of things, when my unit is running smoothly, I go in patient rooms and sit and talk to my patients. Sometimes while the nurse is starting lines and hanging the chemo I sit in the room and get to watch what they are doing and the patients never mind me being there, infact, I talk to them while they are getting their lines started to distract them from the stick. I hand out lunches, I get them coffee and tea, blankets, clean the rooms when housekeeping isn't around and when we are super busy I help make the beds with the nurse again when housekeeping isnt available. I do the teeny tiny tid bits that the RN's may not have time to do at that moment, and they appreciate my help. Me being there, I want to do more, and I feel like finially there is something out there that I can do and be sucessful at. Ive observed clinic nurses, and pharmacy nurses. Ive met international nurses. Its just such a diverse and exciting career in my opinion and I could kick myself sometimes for not looking into it sooner. I could have been a nurse years ago when i attended my local CC and again at my uni, which both have excellent Nursing programs but I was too hung up on being an MD to make my parents happy.

I also don't want to be poor for the rest of my life and I want to be able to take care of my mom, be able to give her stuff and help her with a house so she doesn't have to work so hard. My mom is still young, but it kills me that she works 7 days a week, every week.

I know there is alot more to nursing than what i am able to observe on a daily basis, but from what I have seen over the past 2+ years, its the way to go for me

cheers

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Why do I want to be a nurse? I can't really give a pat answer; I don't want to say 'to help people' because that isn't the reason why. If all I wanted to do was help people, I could do that without going to nursing school. If all I wanted to do was learn about science, there are courses better suited to that than nursing. I suppose with me it's the whole idea of it...I like science, I'm fascinated by healthcare issues and the human body, and I want to help people achieve and maintain good health, or comfort them/their families when they're dying. Combine these factors and nursing seems like a good fit, because it combines my desire to help people with my interests in science and healthcare. That's probably the sort of answer that would make interviewers cringe, but there you go; it's honest.

I can't answer the question without saying why I'd want to change to nursing from my present career. Right now I'm a DB programmer and I've thought about getting a degree in software engineering, or getting certification as a database administrator...but every time I read up on programs I just can't whip up any enthusiasm. I sort of like what I do, but it doesn't really blow my skirt up. I'd be lying if I said I was passionate about it, and if it paid less than it did I wouldn't do it. I got into I.T. for the money and because I didn't know what else to do with my life. I'm good with computers and I was in the right place at the right time, during the dot.com boom. I acquired the skills I'd need to get jobs in the real world after the boom ended, but after less than a decade in I.T. I've got itchy feet. Plus, the threat of outsourcing looms large and it guides pretty much every decision I have to make about my career. I don't want to live this way anymore. I'm sick of underqualified Indians constantly threatening to take my job away by offering to do it for a quarter of the pay (and a quarter of the quality, hahaha).

I don't really care what nursing pays. It pays a little less than what I'm doing now, from what I've been able to find out; but I don't care. The added job security makes up for that. The secure, recession-proof aspect of a nursing career is part of what made me consider it as a career; I'd be lying if I said otherwise.

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I always dreamed of becoming a nurse..I feel that I am a compasionate and caring person, (there are alot of nurses who lack that)

There is a tremendous feeling of fulfillness knowing that you can help someone...I believe I will be a great nurse some day..

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my top reasons are;

-i want to help people

-i want to travel around the world

-i want to be an educated activist

-i want make a decent wage if i have to

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