December Talking Meme, Last question.
Dec. 26th, 2013 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
midnightsjaneCornerofmadness asks why I chose nursing as a career, and for my thoughts and insights on my career choice.
I don't know that I actually chose to be a nurse. I mean, I don't remember a moment when I thought, "aha! I want to be a nurse when I grow up!" It just kind of happened. In the early 1960's, when I was in high school, the career choices for girls were fairly limited: teacher, nurse, secretary; that pretty much summed up what the guidance teacher had to offer. I didn't really even consider that there were other paths. My older sister went into nursing school 3 years before I did, and my favourite aunt was a nurse, so I had some role models. The other issue was financial; by going to a hospital centred nursing school there was no tuition, and we lived in the dorm, ate in the hospital cafeteria and received a small stipend of $14 a month for personal stuff. In return, we worked in the hospital during the three years of training. By the second and third years, we student nurses formed a major part of the hospital staffing. Training in a hospital based nursing program gave me an excellent foundation for my future work. We got a lot of experience in the real world of hospitals and sick people, saw the good, the bad, and the OMG. I think that today, most nursing students that I encounter have a much more limited exposure to what nursing really entails; I have met nurses who have never been present when someone dies. The first death I saw was about 2 months into my first year of training; an old man died while my classmate and I were making his bed. We turned him over, and he died. We thought we'd killed him.
I digress. Thoughts and insights into nursing as a career? I have some.
I think I was a natural born nurse. Over the 45 years I've been doing this, there hasn't been a time when I seriously considered leaving nursing for another career; I would hate working in an office, I'm not really a good teacher, and I find that I'm one of those people who like to take care of people. I'm pretty sure that is a fairly important characteristic of a good nurse. The other thing I have is a very strong stomach; nursing can be pretty icky, what with the copious body fluids and such. Not vomiting when a patient is doing the same, that's a good thing; important quality in a bedside nurse.
Over the years, nursing has evolved and developed, and we have taken on more complex and complicated roles. We do so much more than just carry bedpans and give bedbaths; we assess our patients' condition, watch and react to symptoms, make decisions about treatments, and yes, even teach the medical students. ( As my brother, who is an anesthetist, told his med students: "listen to the nurses, because they know what's actually happening with the patients, and have the experience and expertise to know when things are going badly. Also, they can make or break your rotation. Wise man, my brother.) I take care of extremely ill people, a job that requires me to think critically, to react quickly to emergencies, to use complicated pieces of equipment, and to always remember the reason for this: to help someone who is ill recover and get back to living his or her life.
It's a hard job, physically and mentally. I know so many nurses who have been injured on the job, who find the work emotionally stressful, and who have to deal with years of shift work. For me, the work brings more rewards than negatives; there is nothing quite like having someone who was on the brink of death come back into ICU to say thank you and goodbye before going home. That is what keeps me going, and what makes my career choice so satisfying.
It's also been a financially stable career; I have never been unemployed, unless by choice, the wages have risen over the years, and the benefits are good. I have a good pension plan, and I'm grateful for that in these difficult times.
All in all, I think I chose well when I chose nursing as a career. I've never regretted it, and I think I've been a good nurse.
I don't know that I actually chose to be a nurse. I mean, I don't remember a moment when I thought, "aha! I want to be a nurse when I grow up!" It just kind of happened. In the early 1960's, when I was in high school, the career choices for girls were fairly limited: teacher, nurse, secretary; that pretty much summed up what the guidance teacher had to offer. I didn't really even consider that there were other paths. My older sister went into nursing school 3 years before I did, and my favourite aunt was a nurse, so I had some role models. The other issue was financial; by going to a hospital centred nursing school there was no tuition, and we lived in the dorm, ate in the hospital cafeteria and received a small stipend of $14 a month for personal stuff. In return, we worked in the hospital during the three years of training. By the second and third years, we student nurses formed a major part of the hospital staffing. Training in a hospital based nursing program gave me an excellent foundation for my future work. We got a lot of experience in the real world of hospitals and sick people, saw the good, the bad, and the OMG. I think that today, most nursing students that I encounter have a much more limited exposure to what nursing really entails; I have met nurses who have never been present when someone dies. The first death I saw was about 2 months into my first year of training; an old man died while my classmate and I were making his bed. We turned him over, and he died. We thought we'd killed him.
I digress. Thoughts and insights into nursing as a career? I have some.
I think I was a natural born nurse. Over the 45 years I've been doing this, there hasn't been a time when I seriously considered leaving nursing for another career; I would hate working in an office, I'm not really a good teacher, and I find that I'm one of those people who like to take care of people. I'm pretty sure that is a fairly important characteristic of a good nurse. The other thing I have is a very strong stomach; nursing can be pretty icky, what with the copious body fluids and such. Not vomiting when a patient is doing the same, that's a good thing; important quality in a bedside nurse.
Over the years, nursing has evolved and developed, and we have taken on more complex and complicated roles. We do so much more than just carry bedpans and give bedbaths; we assess our patients' condition, watch and react to symptoms, make decisions about treatments, and yes, even teach the medical students. ( As my brother, who is an anesthetist, told his med students: "listen to the nurses, because they know what's actually happening with the patients, and have the experience and expertise to know when things are going badly. Also, they can make or break your rotation. Wise man, my brother.) I take care of extremely ill people, a job that requires me to think critically, to react quickly to emergencies, to use complicated pieces of equipment, and to always remember the reason for this: to help someone who is ill recover and get back to living his or her life.
It's a hard job, physically and mentally. I know so many nurses who have been injured on the job, who find the work emotionally stressful, and who have to deal with years of shift work. For me, the work brings more rewards than negatives; there is nothing quite like having someone who was on the brink of death come back into ICU to say thank you and goodbye before going home. That is what keeps me going, and what makes my career choice so satisfying.
It's also been a financially stable career; I have never been unemployed, unless by choice, the wages have risen over the years, and the benefits are good. I have a good pension plan, and I'm grateful for that in these difficult times.
All in all, I think I chose well when I chose nursing as a career. I've never regretted it, and I think I've been a good nurse.
