There seem to be many fellow nurses on this forum. I am a nurse life care planner- I plan and coordinate care for those with catastrophic injury or illness. A lot of life issues. Who else is a nurse here?
I've been a nurse for 36 years. Just heard this story a couple of years ago. When I got accepted to nursing school, my mom, who is a nurse, had this conversation with my dad. "She can't be a nurse! The first terrible thing she sees, she'll get her purse and come home. We can't afford to waste this tuition money." My dad, who was always my greatest champion, said, "Of course she'll fail, but we can't tell her that! We just have to waste the money and let her find out for herself." What they didn't consider was that they had taught me that quitting is not an option. If you sign up for something, like piano lessons, you just have to finish, even if you don't like it. And as it turned out, if you just keep going, eventually, they will make you a nurse! It's really true - 90% of success is just showing up!
Hello all, I have been nurse over 20 years! I work in mental health and have seen many many things... I have now and always worked with the homeless, mentally ill- I cloth the naked, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty and help the sick... just trying to do my part.
Great story Kathy, I have a colleague who had her application submitted to nursing school by her sisters, she was kind of on a bad path in high school and just wanted to work in a retail store when she graduated though she was very bright. She was accepted, did go, and is now a prominent pediatric nurse practitioner and nurse life care planner. I agree it is all about showing up and being willing to serve- nursing gives us so many ways to do that!
Fantastic- my daughter just graduated nursing school and will be sitting for her boards next week. She wants to work in mental health- she has a chronic illness and has had her own struggles and she wants to give back. I really admire nurses who work in psych- as a rehabilitation nurse there is an overlap but I am not sure I would have the patience. I love hearing everyone's stories!
I have been a nurse for 34 years! Hospital nursing 25 years and 10 years of School Nursing (overlap one year in hospital per diem)....
My whole family thought I would never make it as a nurse, too, Kathy! They had good reason.....I am a wimp and can't handle blood and injuries.......good thing I don't have to deal with those things in the NICU!
I am a nurse. A wife and mother first, but also a nurse. My speciality is mental health. It's a very spiritual field!
Yes, it is a very spiritual field! I worked at an inpatient psych hospital in my second year after graduation. I was a whopping 21 years old, and it was staffed with one RN and several Texas A&M football players (combination psych techs/bouncers) on each shift. Looking back, I wonder how many of the psychotic patients were possessed. I remember one 70 year old woman who showed more strength than all the football players combined! I've noticed that the best hospice nurses come from mental health and OB/NICU backgrounds. I think hospice is where old nurses go out to pasture - after all the excitement of acute care, it's really nice to sit and hold hands and sing kumbaya.
I went to see the movie Calvary this weekend. I loved it. My friends hated it and thought it was demonic. It was worldly..... a microcosm of what I am faced with daily in my vocation as nurse. I seek spiritual direction on this. I am told I am an "example" to them. Just like the priest in Calvary. Something (God) they so want but are too embittered to work for.... Go NURSES, it is a vocation....as was previously said secondary to my first vocation wife and mom!
I agree Donna and also Kathy- what we do is a vocation and we see spiritual pain up close and in person from a very young age if we started our careers as young adults. We are out on the margins every day. So many strong women of faith that I know are nurses and now I see there are many here too as well! Like Mary we comfort and care for the Body of Christ.
