Why did I decide to become a nurse?

I thought I'd write this as a sort of 'background to me' post.

I suppose the simple answer, and one that not everyone will identify with, is that I felt called to be a nurse, called by God. Put into other words perhaps more easily understood/accepted, it's who I am, through and through, and who I was meant to be. It's not a just job, it's not something to make money (because no one would become a nurse for the money!) it's the person that I am and even if I were to win the lottery and never have to work again I would, because I love what I do.

I first decided I wanted to be a nurse when I was a very little girl. I wanted to be a nurse who looked after old people and did their hair as well! I continued wanting to be a nurse until my mid-late teens where I dabbled with the idea of joining the police force, and when I left school with just AS-Levels that was what I intended to do once I had worked for a while. By this time I had realised that I was good with children and I'd done quite a lot of voluntary work with children of all age groups. I liked children, and they liked me.

My first job was temping in a Child Development Centre in the Occupational Therapy department doing administration. When I was filing I'd quite often browse the notes learning about various medical conditions and looking others up later when I got home from work. After 6 or so weeks there I was offered a job as the Chlamydia Screening Programme Co-ordinator, glamorous hey? I was based in a microbiology lab and surrounded by the hospital environment I realised how much I wanted to be a nurse. I applied in the December, and was offered a place for an April start date, which was fortunate as by now I was hating my job and having a lot of difficulty with the person I worked with. I applied to both Adult and Children's nursing, the adult department didn't offer me an interview and I realised that all my experience with children on a voluntary basis that I'd put into my personal statement was marking me out as someone with a passion for children.

I have loved my training. It's been hard work, great fun, tiring, and rewarding. Of course there are some mornings where I really don't feel like getting up and going in to university or a bad placement, but on the whole I have loved it. Almost three years have passed and I can't believe I'm going to be a grown-up nurse sometime soon! I'm looking forward to going out and working, because I've heard that's where the real learning begins!