This is my journey from S.N to R.N

I love your reason for going into nursing! You’ll be an awesome nurse because you went into it for the right reasons. Not that others who go into the profession for other reasons aren’t awesome nurses, too!

I always wanted to go into journalism. I wanted to work for a magazine in NYC. But then I took an A&P class my junior year of college and decided I wanted to go to med school to become a pediatrician. Specifically, I wanted to work with premature babies because I was one.

After starting undergrad as a bio major, I decided I wanted to get into technology. Informations Systems was a new field back in 1999 and it was so interesting. So, I majored in that with a minor in psychology and got a job as a systems analyst. While I like what I do, I don’t LOVE it and I always had a nagging feeling that I should return to healthcare. So after much consideration, I decided to go for it and started the process of applying to nursing school.

Ok, i think I’m done rambling now! =)

Good Luck travelistarn, I am in the same boat right now trying to get into nursing school.

Laney, I bet you make a good nurse because it sounds like you always just wanted to help someone even going into journalism and film

I grew up in accounting offices. I was good at it, and thought that was what I was always going to do in life. Then when the economy started to turn, I started thinking that I needed to get into the health field because of the job stability. I got a job at a chiropractors office and fell in love with my job. I got to help with a lot of the therapies and got to help people feel better, but I wanted to be more hands on. Thats when I decided that accounting was something I was good at but nursing is something that I would love.

good edit

i like your reasons as well

<3

If you had told me when I was 10 or 12 that I would be a nurse I would have just laughed at you.

Insert 30 years in the computer industry, mainly in the software field, here.

Then I end up in the hospital in a small town needing gall bladder surgery. Not only was all the care fabulous, but the nurses in particular and especially the male nurse (even the little student nurse who looked like she was ready to pee her pants at any second-lol). I was able to see first hand how a nurse used many of the talents and skills I used as a developer and analyst with the added addition of actually knowing you made a difference in someone’s life today.

I knew I wanted to make a career change and there it was right in front of me.

I then went through several more situations with other family members needing medical care and continued to observe the nurses and, as someone already noted, saw that nursing is where the real care resides. That was it. I was hooked.

And now I’m halfway through nursing school about to start a summer job as an NA which will be my first official health care job.

Awesome! I love how volunteering at the hospital brought you to nursing! I forgot where I read/heard it, but someone once said that “nurse” and “doctor” are two different nouns, just as “nurse” and “doctor” are two different verbs.

I have a similar base reason: I want to help people. I started out with a Sociology degree because I really wanted an International Relations degree but the college I could afford to go to didn’t have one. Over the decade after my degree I fantasized quite a bit about getting a Masters in Social Work but that never took shape. That was when I realized that I could probably handle being a nurse. In fact most people really encouraged that idea while everyone I ever spoke to with very few exceptions was down on the MSW and told me I would burn out and could not handle it. So in a way it’s me “safety” choice but now that I am this far down the road, I think it was the right choice all along.

I liked your reasons too. I’m actually a 3rd year med student who ran across your page because I was trying to find the lab values for the Chem 7 skeleton (and you nicely explained it in one of your old posts!).

I agree with your saying that “doctors treat the disease, and the nurses treat the patient.” I’m glad you found that out when you did – I truly only believed it once I hit the floors and realized that as a med student, I spent more time than all the residents combined (because I didn’t have to do all the paperwork they did, and didn’t have to spend as much time charting and presenting patients to attending physicians). It’s a pretty sad state of things, and I’m always very grateful when I run across a helpful nurse because (a) they know everything about the patient and (b) they’re the ones who are going to carry out all the orders you put into the computer system.

I hope you have a fulfilling time with your patients! As for me, I’m going into out-patient family medicine, where I can see my patients face to face, and hopefully be their doctor across their lifetimes, allowing me more than enough time to get to know each of them well.

I always wanted to be a doctor growing up, before the realities of practicing medicine became apparent to me. I even started as a pre-med student when I began college. Luckily (at least career-wise) I had some really frustrating medical problems early on in my college years and couldn’t even dream of getting into med school with the way my grades slipped. I ended up getting a bachelor’s degree in classical literature and photojournalism and worked as a photojournalist for several years. Loved it and hated it. I was doing something worth doing, but it wasn’t enough. I hated not being able to do much or anything to help the people in need whose stories I was telling. Really brought me some unhappiness at times.

Luckily (again, at least, career-wise) journalism as an industry took a total nose dive and I was forced to reassess my long-term goals. I had a BA and had been seriously considering reentering a health science track, though I no longer had any desire to go to medical school – I’d realized long ago that I wanted more patient interaction, more long-term involvement, more focus on whole-person wellness than illness, and less politics. I wanted to be a nurse, in some sort of role where I have some autonomy and a supervised diagnostic/prescriptive role. (Basically, I want to be an NP, preferably in a specialty area like neuro.) So I applied to the ABSN program at my alma mater and, on a lark, at my dream school. Alma mater said no thanks – dream school accepted me. Go figure.

Nothing I’ve ever done has felt as “right” as this path I’m on. I’ve never been more confident that I’m headed the right direction. The advantage to changing careers well into my 20’s is that I absolutely know myself now in a way I never could have at 18 years old, and I know what I can and cannot, will and will not do. It’s a great feeling. I can’t wait to start school.

(Man, this got long. Sorry!)