My name is Dawn.  I love nursing.  Everyday that I go to work I feel privileged to be a part of it.  I know that we sometimes feel like it is just a job but is more then that.  I never understand when I hear nurses say, "I am JUST a nurse."  We ARE nurses!  We worked hard to get there and conquered the NCLEX.  We help the sick, hold the hands of the dying.  We touch the lives of the patients and the family.  We are NOT JUST nurses.  We need to remember that ARE nurses and hold our head high because not everyone can do what we do.  We are an elite group of people that were called to be nurses.  How do you feel?

Dawn, I would be very proud to have you as a coworker or a student.

I'm not even really sure what a "calling" is. Like dmazment, this is just what I wanted to do.

CDNURSE:   Thank you for that.  I would be honored to learn from you. 

dmazement:  I am a nuturing person too but I didn't take the path of nursing first.  I have a Bachelors in business and worked as a VP of a company.  That was my profession.  Yes i realize that nursing is a profession too.  It just seems that people dont understand that being a nurse (TO ME AT LEAST)  is an honor.  I choose to follow my heart and go back to school and be a nurse.  I am so thankful everyday that I did that.  My life has changed for the better.  I agree that we all need to band together to make things better for nurses.  But for my the acknowledgement that I seek is being there for my patients and their family. 

 Well, I am not a nurse yet, but will do anything to get there!!!

I was in a completely other field (interior design) and don't feel for it anymore, since a while now.

I was excellent to make beautiful decors, the clients were soooo happy.

But I didn't feel that it was enough for me (too superficiel).  Big change of career for me, I am so excited about it!

I want to assist the people in need, to help and take care of them.  I was always,

as others say: good to everybody.  But it 's my nature and I will follow my heart!!!

Your callig is calling.

I understand Cdnurse, and gdhipp statement about nursing being a calling for some. I originally majored in Computer's, I always had a nuturing nature, because I was the eldest female of five. I think being the eldest female, has helped mold me, into having the tools to be a great Caregiver. Like Dmazment has said, everyone that are caregives are not nurses, but!!!!,  it is the foundation to becoming a nurse. I felt I was called to be a nurse, because I didn't have peace in being a CNA, I still don't have peace in pursuing my LVN?LPN. You wil know if it is a calling, or just what you want to do. I wanted to learn computers, and I did that, but I was called to be a nurse.

Hitler, and  Donald Trump, was both reaching for power, and at any expense, which is negative ambition. I am talking about positive ambition, something you were called to do, that is not for self gain, or something that you are good at, and have a passion for, my passion was for computers, and I was or am pretty dawm good at it, I am talking about a calling, something that you feel in your heart, that will benefit others, not hurt others, but something that you have any control over, something that you are compelled to do, that we be a help to man kind, like  being called to be a doctor, or minister, a teacher.

 I simply enjoy what I do, I love working with people and helping others as most of us do.

I love nursing.  Everytime I leave it I end up coming back to it, without any reqret.  However I feel that we don't get the recoginition that we diserve. A mechanic makes over $50 an hour for working on one truck or car and if it works great and if it doesn't , oh well.  For $25 an hour we hold people's lives in our hands and if we heal them great and if we don't all h--- breaks loose.  Now I am not saying that a truck is worth more than a person's life by any means but to me it seems that people are willing to pay more to mechanics than healthcare professionals.  Any suggestions out there to make the professional nurse more appreciated both by patients, insurance companies, hospitals and most importantly doctors?

I will continue to wear my body out, get stressed out, attempt to keep from burning out and all that until I retire.  I think that hospitals know that nurses have worked with so many patients with so little equipment for so much time that they will just keep it up until nurses get together and speak out and insist some drastic changes. 

I think that all nurses should be in constant contact with their state and national senators, house of representatives.  The only way there are going to be any changes is if we let every one know the challenges and the problems that are being faced on a daily basis.

I currently teach nursing in a university setting. I am an advanced practice nurse, with years of nursing experience in a variety of settings (primarily emergency/trauma care and ICU, but also occupational health as Director of Ed for a global company that provides health care for large corporations). I currently focus on RNs who are working toward their BSN. I particularly enjoy this group because they come into the program with experience in different areas of practice. Some are young; others have been in nursing for years. All have a great deal to share, and everyone learns from each other. One "thread" throughout this discussion is the demands/constraints of "The System". I am heartened to read positive comments from colleagues suggesting that it is up to US to work to change the very things that cause us to become exhausted and stressed out. Becoming actively involved in our nursing organizations and taking part in the political process is one way to bring about change. -- For some individuals, this is not possible (family obligations; acting as a caregiver to a loved one during "off" hours, etc.). My students have come to realize that there are so many paths a nurse can take if they become too exhausted or stressed out in one area of nursing. The answer is not to drop out of nursing...you are needed desperately! If you view your current situation as "just a job"...then maybe it is time to make a change. One of my RN students told me she almost left nursing...until she decided to become a hospice nurse. She has never been more satisfied. It actually gave her the motivation to return to school for her BSN while she works! She described her "new" field of nursing as her "calling'. It is not merely a job to her any longer. She believes she is making a real difference in the lives of her patients and their loved ones. We are blessed to be there at the most private and personal times of our patient's lives...births, trauma, crisis, and death. We can do so much to ease the pain, answer questions, educate, and guide our patients and their families/friends. Not too many other professions can do this. It takes special people to choose this route in life. As you may have already suspected...I don't view our profession "as just a job"!

Truly great and caring nurses are called to the profession.  having said that I have seen many good nurses get caught up, burned out and left "nursing" but remained in some part of the "helping professions".  I have always believed that if a nurse is going to complain about the job and not give it 100% than that same person can go and become a mechanic, work on a computer or some other job not having to deal with the patients.  Working with people at any level is difficult, the sick the hungry, people in pain people at macy's on black thursday.  I have decided to give another 25 years (or until my feet fall off or my back lets go again) to the profession of Nursing.

I am blessed to have found that sweet spot in my nursing where I can give of myself without feeling like my patients are taking from me.  For many years, I felt used...now I find I can give freely...I think it's come from being able to set appropriate boundaries in life & learning when to say, "no" so I can say, "yes" at the right times with enthusiasm!  Greenergrass quote....

Wow!!  Well put.  Boundaries in our lives make things better.  I had to learn to look at things from a different point of view to survive.  Life was getting so that I was getting noticably depressed every time I had several days off in a row and then would have to return to work.  I was thinking I needed out of this profession.....Then one day it came to me that I was not unhappy in my work...I was unhappy in the way  I was handling certian situations that added stress to my life.  I had to stop and start looking at rationals for how I handled things.  Yes, it was not aa easy realization.  Since doing this my life is coming back on track.  I have an instantanious smile that dare I say it.... appears to be contagious... ;>)  I love what I do and that is what makes it possible to return to work and face the things I must face.   I am talking about an inner love of this profession and the belief that what I do makes a difference.....to someone......  its' the look in a persons eyes when they don't know what to say.  The hug, embrace, or whispered thank you.....   of a relative when no words can heal the hurt they are feeling..............

" It is my nature to be a caregive" is a quote form above. 


 


This is the statement that should give everyone a clue to weather or not you should be a Nurse . . .  without this part, it can't be a calling. . .  My mom was a wielder . . .  "I love burning rod" is what she would say . . . Do you love your job . . .  do you love helping or giving care to other. . .  I know a few people that would say no, but they do it for the paycheck . . . that doesn't mean they should not be in the medical profession, it means they are burning rod and don't love it.  It's not their Calling