Ask A Nurse: Why Did You Become A Nurse?

"I became a nurse because of my caring and compassionate spirit. I also have always loved to teach others. I found beauty in the nursing profession when I was able to combine caring, compassion, and education together." That is how Sheniqua Johnson, RN, answers the question. Her path is a useful lens, because people come to nursing for two different reasons.

Passion Driven vs. Mission Driven

Some nurses choose the career out of passion, some out of mission, and the difference matters for how long you last.

A passion-driven nurse is anchored in the work itself, not the paycheck. Passion is a deep interest that drives consistent action: a nurse who cares about vulnerable populations can live that out at the bedside, in volunteering, in administration, or by building something of their own.

A mission-driven nurse treats the career as a means to an end. A nurse whose mission is to give deaf children better opportunities might use bedside experience as the foundation for an organization that serves that population later.

Johnson is mission driven. After 21 years as an RN, she still remembers her first days as a graduate nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. She had left her parents' home to start a new life, and when she failed her state boards, it crushed her. "It truly taught me to focus on why I wanted to be a nurse in the first place," she says. "Passing the exam became less about me and more about how hard I was willing to work to have the opportunity to do what I believe I was called to do."

Nursing gets painted as a profession of pure passion, with all the reward coming from patient care. Passion matters, but it is not the only reason to do this. Nursing administration, informatics, logistics, and legal consulting all pull in knowledge from other fields to improve care and outcomes, often far from the bedside.

Becoming a Nurse for the Growth

Nearly every nurse starts in the same place, at the bedside. What makes the profession unusual is how far that starting point can take you. The foundation is providing and coordinating care and educating communities about health and prevention. With an aging population and shortages in many states, demand for RNs keeps rising, and the range of roles keeps expanding.

There are well over 30 specialty careers open to nurses who advance their education and earn a master of science in nursing. You can work in ambulatory care, hospitals, prisons, public health, schools, emergency rooms, and critical care, to name a few. The background also supports an entrepreneurial streak, whether that means a brick-and-mortar business or an online platform like the one Johnson uses to encourage and empower nurses.

"Throughout my 21-year journey as a nurse, I have been blessed to provide care in the hospital on med-surg, orthopedic, and geriatric units. I have worked as a homecare community health nurse, and then I found my true passion as a nurse educator," she says. "I even had the opportunity to serve as a college professor at my alma mater, teaching med-surg to over 500 aspiring nurses in a baccalaureate program."

Teaching is one of nursing's core responsibilities to patients and the community, and many specialties run on it. Nurse practitioners, educators, legal consultants, informatics nurses, and school nurses all have to be strong teachers.

Advice If You Want a Change

Change is hard, and a lot of nurses stay put simply because they dislike it. But growth requires it. The good news is that wanting a change in direction does not mean leaving nursing. If patient care is what is driving you out, there are plenty of roles that do not involve it; nurses are valued in insurance, as health coaches, and as risk managers.

Johnson's advice is the same for people entering the field and people deciding whether to stay: examine your why. "If you did it for reasons that will fade, like for the money, you won't last in the profession. The monetary compensation will never match what nurses truly bring to the world."

You will hit disappointment in any career, and nursing is no exception. Most nurses find the rewards outweigh it. Whatever path you take, the foundation stays the same: giving back to the community in a way that fits your own mission and passion. "Always search your heart," Johnson says. "If you are called to be a nurse, then a nurse you will be."

Key Points

Nurses enter the field driven by passion, mission, or both. The career offers growth that may or may not involve patient care, from legal consulting to informatics to administration. Almost everyone starts at the bedside, but most finish having worked across very different roles and patient populations. There are well over 30 specialty careers for nurses who advance their education, and workplaces ranging from schools and camps to correctional facilities, clinics, homecare, emergency vehicles, and military bases.