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Becky watched as her daughter, Roma, lay lifeless and
quiet,
| First
steps
My First Year As a Nurse:  Real-world
stories from America's nurses, edited by Barbara
Finkelstein
A collection of 19 stories of fledgling nurses
in their first year, the stories are diverse and
include accounts from a nurse-midwife, several
military nurses and hospital staff nurses.
 What
Color Is Your Parachute? A practical manual for
job-hunters & career-changers by Richard Nelson
Bolles
This up-to-date guide
to careers has been revised and rewritten. As
it has been for 30 years, Bolles's method for
finding a job lies in asking two key questions:
What do you want to do? Where do you want to do
it? This guide is special because it includes
step-by-step information on how to identify a
new career as well as a new job. This latest edition
reflects the changing job market.
Kaplan Careers in  Nursing:Manage
your future in the changing world of health care
by Annette Vallano
The author draws on the advice and strategies
she developed as an educator and career counselor
for nurses. Included are profiles of nurses who
saw the signs of change coming and found ways
to adapt their careers.
 Resumes
for Nursing Careers
by Robert Teske
This book offers hard-hitting advice, plus 100
sample résumés and 20 cover letters
for those looking for work in nursing. Avariety
of formats, tips and worksheets also are included.
What Next Nurse? The career  planner
for panic-stricken nurses by Melodie Chenevert
This guide to job hunting and career planning
for nurses and students discusses marketing oneself
and finding untapped opportunities.
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amid the bells and whistles
of the neonatal intensive care unit. She noticed the
sunlight on her daughter's face as the doctors prepared
to give up and turn off the machines.
In that moment, looking at her fragile daughter, she
felt inspired to fulfill a lifelong dream to become
a nurse. She hoped that Roma knew she loved her and
she thought about the other babies in the unit without
their parents with them. "Did they know that somebody
loved them? I am going to be a nurse and care for special
baby triplets like my precious angel, Roma, and her
two brothers," she thought.
The doctors proceeded to turn off the monitors and
ventilator. They prepared to extubate Roma. Then, "the
sweetest sound I will never forget, Roma's hoarse tiny
cry, and her tiny hand reaches for her Mommy."
Roma is now 4 years old and Becky is a nursing graduate,
class of 2002.
Not all nurses come to the profession by an event as
life-altering as Becky's. Every nurse has a story of
how they found their calling.
Earlier this year, NurseWeek set out to talk
to the newest nurses in America, to find out what brought
them to nursing and follow their experiences in the
course of their first year. Their stories are sometimes
typical, sometimes extraordinary and sometimes somewhere
in between.
Richard, a new graduate from rural Illinois, said he
decided to go into nursing after working as a CNA during
his freshman year of college. "I saw how nurses
worked hands-on with patients and how nurses were really
the ones who delivered patient care. As a new graduate
entering the nursing profession, my biggest concern
when choosing a place of employment was where was I
going to get the most experience while making the most
money," he said.
The new graduates NurseWeek talked to had many
concerns, including salary and experience, but many
also said they decided on nursing because of the lifestyle.
A surprising number of graduates seemed to join nursing
after trying several other career options.
"I [had] wanted to be a doctor, but I realized
that if I did, I wouldn't really get to know my patients,
nor would I really be able to have a family … with
nursing you don't have to [choose between career and
family]. Plus the opportunities in nursing are endless,"
said Lisa, a new graduate from Washington.
For the most part, we found students who were in love
with nursing and everything that was to come-or everything
they imagined it would be.
"I didn't think to go to nursing school right
out of high school. I tried a few majors and suddenly,
after some time, nursing just naturally appeared in
my mind," said Jung, a nursing graduate from California.
"Seeing my mom have some great nurses in her life
really caught my eye and that was just the beginning."
"The nursing profession is such a fantastic field
for all to enter because it gives a person such gratitude
and love for human beings. I know that I am just starting
out, but I do feel very fortunate to have found a great
career that I am very proud of."
More and more people are coming to nursing later in
life, after raising a family, a career in the military
or private business-or even after having triplets. We
spoke with scores of people who are turning to nursing
to fulfill childhood dreams or to lead what they consider
to be more meaningful lives.
Take Theresa, a 39-year-old mother of two daughters
and a waitress for 20 years in Washington, a single
mom for the last five of those years.
"When I graduate, I will be the first person in
my family to get a degree," she said. Theresa also
told us that she loved being a waitress, loved the people
and the family that comes from working in the restaurant
business.
"I chose nursing because it might possibly give
me all the things that make me happy. If I have to work,
I want to work in an environment I love. Nursing gives
me the contact with people that serves the needs of
my soul," she said.
Theresa plans on working in emergency medicine or acute
care. "I like the fast pace of the ED. I feel I
will excel there because I am organized and I like the
teamwork," she said.
All of the graduates we corresponded with have busy
schedules, but none more than Becky, the mother of triplets
graduating with an ADN from a community college in Ohio.
Becky told NurseWeek that it was the nurses who
cared for her daughter who inspired her to become a
nurse.
"I want to touch a person's life; whether it be
family or patient, I want them to know that I truly
care for them and all their needs while under my care,
emotional and physical. To me, that is what nursing
is about," she said.
Only about 5 percent of nurses are male and even fewer
of the men who become nurses choose nursing as their
first profession. Of the male nursing students we talked
to, often-mentioned was the inspiration of a wife or
mother who had been a nurse.
Richard, self-described as "a 21-year-old male
in my final semester of nursing school ... from a small
town of a population of about 350," grew up on
a farm "but quickly decided manual labor was not
my ideal profession."
Richard, graduating with an ADN from a community college
in rural Illinois, plans to work in a surgical intensive
care unit or emergency room at a trauma level 1 unit.
He also says he owes his career in nursing to the nurses
in his life.
"I also grew up in a family of nurses. My mother
has been a nurse for over 30 years and I also have two
aunts who are nurses. I always joke with them that I
never had a chance. It was decided that I was going
to be a nurse before I was even born," he said.
Mark, a Texas man, married with three children, was
devastated when the heating and air conditioning company
he worked for was sold three years ago. "My wife
[a nurse] suggested I go back to school and get into
the medical field," he said.
He said he enjoyed helping his wife learn new procedures
and research care plans while she was in nursing school.
He also said he was inspired to be a nurse by watching
his wife help people at some of the most difficult times
in their lives. "The first time she had a patient
die and had to help the family in their understanding
was very hard on her and I was glad I was there to help
her and see the difference [nurses] make to families,"
he said.
There is no more special bond than that between a father
and a daughter. As a retired senior noncommissioned
officer with the Air Force, attending nursing school
with his 21-year-old daughter would undoubtedly forge
a bond in a way he never thought he would. He shared
the same classroom with his daughter, as well as notes
and even study tips.
"Our study habits are quite a bit different,"
he said.
Peter and his daughter graduated May 11 with their
ASN degrees from a college in Colorado. "My wife
pinned me and my daughter's grandmother pinned my daughter.
It was awesome," he said.
"I am scared to death," said Lisa, a recent
BSN graduate from a small college in Washington state,
when asked what her thoughts were as she neared graduation.
"By the end of the year, you think you learned
nothing, know nothing, and you want to be the best nurse
you can be, but you do not feel up to the task! It's
scary to think we will be on our own," she said.
Lisa entered nursing school right after graduation.
She plans to work in labor and delivery.
"I am ending three years of school that have been
hard, but I have been with the same women friends and
it is a safe place," said one of the nontraditional
students we talked to.
Another traditional student, Katie, graduating with
a BSN from a California university, said, "I am
very scared, but also excited. I am scared because there
is still so much I don't know and that I have never
experienced."
Katie said she is excited at the opportunity to put
to use what she has learned over the last four years
and looks forward to making a difference in someone's
life working in critical care. She is "the oldest
of five kids," which she says is the reason nursing
is a good fit for her. "Responsibility is in my
blood," she said.
Sentiments expressing fear and excitement about what
would be in store for nursing's 2002 graduates was a
common thread among the students.
Even our most mature graduate, Jean, a grandmother
at a California university who received a BSN at 60
years young, remarked, "There is fear in my heart
about the responsibility of nursing. It's like being
birthed again. The cord will be cut and I will have
to continue learning on my own," she said.
Jean plans on working in public health. "I'm filled
with excitement at finally obtaining a goal from young
adulthood," she said.
"It has only been recently that I have truly come
to realize the amount of responsibility that is going
to come with my new job. I'll be the first to admit
that I truly have a lot yet to learn, but I feel that
I have been well-prepared," said Richard, a traditional
graduate from Illinois.
Contact Michelle
Paolucci at michellep@nurseweek.com.
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