How Can I Find Out if Nursing is For Me?
by Kathy Quan RN BSN
©2007 All Rights Reserved
There are many choices in the health care professions now. It used to be primarily doctors, nurses and dentists. Nursing is in competition with so many other health care professions.
How can we help people choose nursing?
One way you can see for yourself first hand is to become a patient, but that is not the recommended route. Many young people choose nursing because of past experiences as a patient or through the experiences of a loved one or a close friend.
Other ways include volunteering in a local hospital. Many still use candy stripers, or have auxiliaries which train volunteers to read to patients, to assist with wheelchair transportation to X-ray, at discharge, etc. and other tasks such as running library carts.
Look for a Shadow Day
Another way is to seek out a shadow day experience. Talk to your guidance counselor and see if it is possible to set one up. Sometimes local hospitals and clinics offer these periodically. Call your local facility and inquire. Perhaps you can help them to do this if they don't already. Nursing schools may also offer shadow day experiences.
Nursing Camps
Some schools are beginning to offer Nursing Camps for a week during the summer. You live on campus and attend events and tour their hospital facilities. You shadow nurses, and earn your CPR. You may also learn to take vital signs and visit laboratory facilities. Some camps even allow campers to enter a hyperbaric chamber and observe in the ER or OR.
To find a nursing camp, you can Google Nursing Camps. Inquire if your prospective school offers a camp, and contact local hospitals to inquire about shadowing opportunities.
by Kathy Quan RN BSN
©2007 All Rights Reserved
There are many choices in the health care professions now. It used to be primarily doctors, nurses and dentists. Nursing is in competition with so many other health care professions.
How can we help people choose nursing?
One way you can see for yourself first hand is to become a patient, but that is not the recommended route. Many young people choose nursing because of past experiences as a patient or through the experiences of a loved one or a close friend.
Other ways include volunteering in a local hospital. Many still use candy stripers, or have auxiliaries which train volunteers to read to patients, to assist with wheelchair transportation to X-ray, at discharge, etc. and other tasks such as running library carts.
Look for a Shadow Day
Another way is to seek out a shadow day experience. Talk to your guidance counselor and see if it is possible to set one up. Sometimes local hospitals and clinics offer these periodically. Call your local facility and inquire. Perhaps you can help them to do this if they don't already. Nursing schools may also offer shadow day experiences.
Nursing Camps
Some schools are beginning to offer Nursing Camps for a week during the summer. You live on campus and attend events and tour their hospital facilities. You shadow nurses, and earn your CPR. You may also learn to take vital signs and visit laboratory facilities. Some camps even allow campers to enter a hyperbaric chamber and observe in the ER or OR.
To find a nursing camp, you can Google Nursing Camps. Inquire if your prospective school offers a camp, and contact local hospitals to inquire about shadowing opportunities.