I have taken a long road to become a nurse. This is my second career, and the change was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I always wanted to be a nurse but never got the chance to, and finally after 20 years in a different field I have a chance to do what I love and fulfill my dream.

For me, helping people is a privilege because a human life is precious and helping to maintain one is truly an honor. When you do something to change a person’s health for the better, the feeling that you get is unexplainable. In the medical field, all borders and differences are erased. No matter what your race, religion or socioeconomic status, everyone is the same anatomically and everybody feels the same pain. Even though nurses do not practice medicine itself and do not establish diagnoses, they play an instrumental role in patients’ care by helping people recover on their way to better health.

The modern nurse has to be bright and efficient, because nurses are not merely health workers. They must often play a psychosocial role, must be aware of the legal aspects, and must have excellent intercommunication skills because everything in a patient’s care hinges on the nurse. Doctors go to the nurse for data, and many times the nurse communicates with parts of the non-medical health care team in order to advocate for the patient. This requires the nurse to always be up-to-date with changes to the field, by leading a life of constant self-education. The nurse learns every day, and must be able to apply this knowledge to improve her nursing skills.

No two patients are the same. The nurse must always consider various factors in the patient’s care such as cultural, religious and personal needs, in order to provide a high level of care and a holistic environment that is satisfactory to the patient and their family.

Despite the fact that nursing is a stressful job with many responsibilities, I enjoy it dearly. Helping others to me is also helping my soul because I truly feel that I am making a difference in the world for the better. I believe that seeing patients recover and go on with their lives is the greatest feeling a nurse can have: A feeling that says out loud, “I am a part of the team that did this. A part that nursed the patients back to health, or at least a better state of health.”