geordie mandy

The above question has come up in my OU course, Communication in health and social care, so i thought it would be interesting to see if the answers i get from people on here, tally with the resposes the work book gives me.
As i haven't got any study group to discuss this with i thought nurses on the forum would be kind enough to give me their views.

I personally trained as an EN in 1988 straight from 6th form as i always wanted to be a nurse from being small. Worked as a voluntary worker at my local hospital aged 14 -18 and loved it. I never felt academic enough to do the RGN training and was happy to be the hands on caring nurse(that was how it was described to me in the 80's).
Thanks in advance to any one who answers
Mandy

rmac

Hi
Had my appendix out when I was 6 yrs old and told my mum that I wanted to be a nurse when I got home just like the lovely nurses that looked after me, and never changed my mind! Still love the job now!! Sad eh?

debbieuk

haha

same as me..but i still have my appendix

i got hit in the face with a brick when i was 6 (the boy fancied me apparently)
went to A+E and fell in love with the nurses..told my mum i was gonna be a nurse..and voila..her i am...just not in A+E

debbie

p.s i also wanted to wear the hat and cape but by the time i got around to doing it they had stopped wearing them

geordie mandy

Very interesting that you both as children had exposure to being patients in hospital, which cultivated the idea of being a nurse.

I got to wear the cape and hat in my training, god did i feel like the bees knees wearing my cape. Hated having to hand it back at the end of training.

Mandy

Huggkat

Hi Mandy,

I wanted to be a Nurse as a child also but when it came to leaving school, couldn't be bothered to go onto further training, so took option of getting a job at our local Bank. Did this for 8 years and got no job satisfaction whatsoever so decided to take the plunge and apply for Nursing (aged 28). Have never looked back - if I'm honest, I also looked on it as a good career to choose to move to Australia!

Kat xx

ourjane211284

Hiya,

I became a nurse once i finished school. My head teacher in first school said i should become a nurse. I wanted to be a prison officer but was too young to join up so i went into nursing. Love it!!! Wouldnt change it for the world!!

geordie mandy

Great replies, i think all the good nurses are usually ones who have wanted from a young age.
Mandy

Watt Dabney

I always wanted to be a nurse when i was very little, I think it was reading Nurse Susan and Doctor David in the Teddy Bear Annual!!!
Then as I reached high school in the early 80's my mum was very scathing about nursing saying its just being a glorified maid!!! I wanted to take child care as an option ( this was the option to take to get into any 'caring' industry) but my mum would not let me as apparently this was the course girls did if they wanted to get pregnant at 16, go figure!!

Needless to say I did not choose nursing, I did art, as that is what my mum wanted to do when she left school!! It all came to nothing and I met my husband got married and ended up doing office work.

When I had my children in the late 90's it aroused my interest in nursing again. Then just as the gov in the Uk started giving a study allowance to student nurses we moved to NZ when our youngest was 4.
In a country with no family support and young kids meant no study for me, when my youngest was 8 and I had a network of friends to help I attended a pre-nursing course in NZ. Then husband wanted to move to OZ, this time I wasn't letting go of my dream so I applied to Uni from NZ, and got in.

So now at the grand age of 39, I am studying for a nursing degree at QUT Caboolture. I am an NZ citizen so I don't get HECs and have to pay as I go and I am not entitled to austudy....ouch!

So there you go the scenic route to becoming a nurse!!!!

Paula

Gill and Rob

Many years ago there were some T shirts with the slogan "I wanted to be a nurse, so I could see lots of mens willies"................ however that is not the, main reason for me being a nurse. I also was a patient as a child and decided that nursing was the career for me. Later as a young teen, I watched that TV programme Angels based at the fictious St Angelas hospital, and those nurses seemed to have such a wonderful time, it was definately the career for me. My son is a nurse too and hubby is a student nurse, both having seen what a great career I have had.

Gill

Bernieboy

Saw a lot of shit going down in Rwanda and decided there and then to dedicate my life to caring for sick kids

terese677

Hi
Had a good job in the Civil Service but wanted a job that I could take anywhere, so was looking around. It was at this time that my Mum suddenly became ill and died,
The night she lay dying I was on my own with her and no-one checked her or me to see if all was fine ( I was 24), she was clearly taking her last breaths so I went to find a nurse ( there were 2 of them in the office, this was an acute ward at the local district hospital) they came and confirmed that it wouldn't be long and then left me to it.
I went into nursing so that anyone in that situation when I was there would be supported and the patient would be treated as a person.
I'm in ICU and deal with many dying patients and their families and feel that I am doing what I promised myself I would, making people feel that they matter, treating them with kindness and respect.

Terese

geordie mandy

wow thank you for those interesting replies. Once ive finished this subject i will let you know the results and how they tally with what the OU say are the reasons for being a nurse. This really has brought the subject to life for me as reading what other people have gone through is amazing.
Right back to my books now
mandy

charlie-k

If you're interested in Midwifery?
I had a couple of rough experiences re childbirth and thought - I can do a better job than that! So I did, and I do!

geordie mandy

Any experiences with in the nursing or midwifery field, infact any branch of nursing is all useful towards my course work. If any one would rather pm me the info that would be fine to. Im almost finished the research part of it and will be comparing the OU's finding with my own
Mandy

nightnurse2

I was made school first aider when I was in Junior 4 and knew that is what I wanted to do