It’s a tough, life changing decision whether or not to get into the nursing profession.

credit: Random Ideal

In fact, when I first considered studying nursing, I really didn’t have any intention of following through and making it a career…!

After finishing school I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, but had a short list of:

- Info Tech (1st on list)
- Teaching, and
- Music

So nursing didn’t even really get a mention… I ended up doing 2 years of IT at uni before realising I wanted to keep computer stuff as a hobby rather than a profession (not enough ‘people interaction’? Maybe also because I was losing interest in computers after sitting behind one all day every day!…)

Anyway - my swing into the medical world really happened at that point because I had a vague nagging interest in blood, guts and hospitals & wanted a bit of an introduction to it all. I also thought about getting into the ambulance side of things, but was a bit put off with the idea of getting posted out to some remote country town for my first few years…

So I enrolled in a nursing degree much to the laughter and disbelief of my family and friends (males + nursing = we still have a long way to go as far as public perception goes!). I discovered that in your first year of nursing, you don’t really get into a hospital at all (well I didn’t anyway), so I really had to tackle second year to get a better idea of the job…

photo credit: littlenelly

By the time I finished second year, I was beginning to realise the scope of the nursing profession - I had done some clinical work in aged care, community health, medical and orthopaedics ward nursing, and been in & out of theatre to watch a couple of operations… so the lure of blood & guts and that constant alco-wipe smell, coupled with the multitude of work choices that nurses have proved to be too strong. I finished out my third year and began the foray into what I was later to fully discover, was this crazy world of nursing.

(Addit: I don’t often like to admit it, but I also have a few other qualities that leant me towards this profession: I’m pretty good at staying calm when people are screaming and freaking out, I can handle juggling several tasks at once, and I have a fair degree of empathy for people who are hurt and broken - all things which I spose work well with nursing)

(Addit #2: Blood and guts and hospitals sounds way better!).

So that’s how it all began for me, anyway….

If you’re interested in nursing as a new career, here’s a couple of links to get you started (also see this post, should I be a nurse):

becoming a nurse or midwife
why be a nurse
what is nursing, and
benefits of being a nurse