Up until recently my answer was a cliché or just whatever random thing popped into my head. Then it got thinking.....(its ok the pain has gone now!)
First off I'm going to deal with the nursing.
To be honest I fell into nursing, I was at a loose end when I had to fill in the form listing my preferences of university courses....what to do? Since as there isnt a degree in becoming a firefighter/paramedic here and having been a couple of months too young for the latest fire brigade recruitment I needed something to keep me occupied!
Business??? Nope cant deal with 9-5 and I hate ties
Engineering? No chance I cant make a sandwich that doesn't fall apart
Languages? Maths? Geography? No, no and no
I want something with a nice dose of practicality, I had a moment of enlightenment one day driving to school "What about nursing?........ermm ok that'll do" So it went down on the form, knowing very little of nursing bar working in hospitals taking handover from ambulance crews and making sick people better. Thats where it began and ended to be honest.
Then I did my end of school exams, getting middle of the road results which in turn were converted to points, college courses allocated depending on how you scored, I didn't do too great...or so I thought.
My #1 preference course lowered its points requirement before I knew it I was sat in the back of a lecture hall surrounded by 300 or so other people, most of the female persuasion, any mans dream you say.....I would have too only I was too shit scared it took me months to get comfortable with my surroundings.
I've often asked myself "why in the name of all thats holy do I do this???" Granted thats usual at 6:30am as I'm on my way to placement, usually looking down the barrel of a 13 hour shift. But I have thought about it properly. To be honest I've always known nursing will not be my career for life, I wasn't really sure I'd see out the degree at times.
I've learnt a lot from nursing, I feel very comfortable interacting with people from all walks of life, thinking on my feet and planning care. I also now look at the big picture "what medications should they be on?" "What assistance will they require?" "What specialties do I need to refer them too?" "How will they cope at home?" "How did this happen, how can I try and prevent it happening again?"
This experience has helped me a lot in the pre hospital field, when I started if they lived until we got to A&E well I'd done my job, now as soon as a patient is in my care, nearly subconsciously I'm doing a nursing assessment on them and only stop short of discharge planning!
As for why I do nursing, to be honest it's a means to an end, I've no doubt learnt a lot, am still learning everyday, being exposed to everything from out patients, public health, theater, A&E, medical wards, surgical wards you name it I'll be sent there. But its still not for me, it has a routine 07:30-08:00 Handover 08:00-09:00 Patients breakfast, washing etc then staff go on break. Everything has a time and has to be done on time. That doesn't suit me, I like somewhere where I dont know whats coming next, whos next? Whats their illness or injury etc.
Thats why I liked A&E so much. Cublicle 7: 90 y.o. Female with a UTI. Cubicle 8: 22 y.o. Male with a GSW's to R Leg. Mad place, but even that didn't quite satisfy me.
Me I want to be out there on the streets responding to calls for assistance from here there and everywhere. Everything from stubbed toes to life threatening incidents. One day I will be. You have been warned!
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