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Question:
The new question is: what made you go into nursing? Was there an inspiring person who led you to nursing? What about role models? Was this something you have wanted to do since childhood, or was this a recent decision?
Answer:
I have my degree in environmental science and I wanted to go into medicine. I wanted to help and cure people. After being in the hospital as a patient, I could see that you never saw the doctors. The nurses were the ones who showed the compassion, had the skills and taught me how to get myself well. Two nurses in particular helped me make my decision. An ER nurse at Mount Sinai in Toronto who helped me out when I was scared by reassuring me and keeping me company when I knew she had a lot of work to do. The second nurse was a nurse at a neurologist office in Sudbury, Ontario who gave me great health teaching and advice.
I don’t know if they are out there, but I want to thank them for inspiring me to become a nurse, and thanks to them, a great nurse. They do not know the contributions they made, but I just want to say thank you.
I love this question because my family asks me the same thing every time I go back to TN to visit. Growing up, nursing was NEVER a consideration for me. Through my entire life, I ped out instantly at the SMELL of a hospital or doctors office, not to mention the sight of needles, tourniquets, syringes, etc. The whole medical atmosphere rendered me unconscious time after time. So, after high school, I attended a Baptist liberal arts college and received my B.A. in Spanish. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the degree, but I did know that I was good with foreign languages so it came very easily for me. The day after graduation I married my high school sweetheart (we had been long-distance for 4 years and were tired of being apart!) and I moved to his college town while he finished his engineering degree. Cookeville, TN is a very small town and the Hispanic population is nonexistent, so there was no job for me to be had where my degree was concerned. SO, I took a secretarial job in a home health care agency and that’s where it all started for me. My favorite part of the week was nurse’s conference (they let me sit in) and I just loved to hear about the kind of care these nurses were giving their pts and the obstacles they had to overcome with each. I suddenly realized that nurses were more than white-uniformed, needle-carrying psychos. (I assumed you must be psycho to put people in pain). I saw firsthand that there was actually a huge knowledge base behind what nurses did and that it was a difficult, but very rewarding job. I was JEALOUS!!! Instantly, I started trying to figure out the fastest way I could become a nurse. LPN school? My husband’s college had an RN program, but we couldn’t afford for BOTH of us to be in school at the same time. So I waited. As soon as he was offered and accepted a job, I started looking for the nearest nursing schools to the town we would be living in (Spartanburg, SC). I was fortunate to find USC-Spartanburg and learn that they have the best nursing program in the upstate of S Carolina. Now I am full-speed in the program and loving all of it. It was the entire staff at the HH agency that inspired me I admired all of them, the aides, the LPNs, the RNs, the administrators, the audit nurses, ALL of them. I spent the past summer working as a PCA (pt care associate) a glorified CNA who also has phlebotomy, catheter, and wound care skills. After spending the better part of my life ping out at the sight of a needle, I just spent 3 months tying on tourniquets and drawing blood. A HUGE move for me and a very difficult reality for my parents to accept! They were, after all, the ones who were there with me so many times when I was unconscious in the doctor’s office/dentist office/hospital. For those of you who made it this far, thanks now get back to studying!!! You’ve procrastinated long enough!!
I have a degree in Computer Science and when I graduated I worked for a while in that field and decided I did not like it. I did not like being in a little room with very little person to person contact. I moved to Colorado about 8 years ago not sure what I wanted to do with my life. After three years of working as an Administrative Assistant for about 74 scientists/researchers and having no place to move up in the company I made the decision to go back to school. I decided to go into nursing because I enjoy meeting new people and have that desire to help them with whatever ails them. Around this time my Aunt (who worked as an RN in the mental health field) who I greatly admired passed away suddenly. It made me realize that what I really wanted to do with my life was to become a nurse and help take care of people, even if I couldn’t cure them I could at least make them comfortable and at peace.
I was a rowdy teen and a sociologist thought being a candy-striper would keep me out of trouble for the summer. I fell in love with a little boy burnt from the chin down by pulling hot grease on himself. I rushed to be the first in every morning so I could get peds and take him to the whirlpool. I tried journalism and computer programming, but I eventually went back to nursing.
I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was 5, but then I got side-tracked in high school and decided to pursue a degree and career in printing. That was 10 years ago and I finally realized that I should’ve listened to that little kid in me that wanted to be a nurse.
My mother was a nurse. When I was 1, I received a doll I named Dodi (like Dianna’s boyfriend). When I was about 4 I decided I wanted to be a nurse. I used to give her shots in her rear with safety pins. I still have her and even considered bringing her to my pinning, but I couldn’t find a white nurse’s uniform small enough for her.
When I started going to school, they said I was smart enough to be a Dr. So for many years that is what I wanted to be. Then I had 6 kids forgot about all of this until I became a CNA and remembered about nursing.
I decided I didn’t want to be a Dr. because they don’t seem to have enough hands on time with people. The profession of nursing has grown so much, there are so many decisions we must make in a day… we are no longer the hand-maiden of the Dr. I like this.
To have an excuse for not cooking, cleaning, or entertaining over the holidays!
(Sorry, I gotta work on Christmas )
I couldn’t type!!!!
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