David Luth

Nursing has to be one of the greatest career paths a person could ever walk down; it is diverse, flexible and rewarding. A seasoned nurse once told me that if I am unhappy or bored in my position as a nurse then I am being lazy; the field is too diverse to ever allow oneself to get bored. In what other career path can a person potentially go from saving lives in a hospital, to evacuating injured mountain climbers in Nepal, to preventing an Ebola outbreak in Africa from becoming a pandemic, to consulting for a law firm? In what other profession is there a need for your skills no matter where you live? From the most crowded cities in the world, to the most remote islands in the ocean, people need nurses to provide quality healthcare. If my spouse decides he wants to take a work position across the country, I am not tied down with my job. I can get up and move with the confidence that I can find work anywhere. To me, nursing represents freedom, flexibility, and security. But putting all those positive aspects aside, they would be meaningless if I thought that I was not making a difference in people’s lives. They would be meaningless if I thought I was not doing my part to make the world a better place.
As nurses we have the privilege of helping people get through some of the toughest situations of their lives. What an honor to hold a patient’s hand as he passes out of this life and on to the next. In the same token, how exciting is it to be the one to bring a life into this world, to hold a newborn baby, just a minute old, and imagine all the possibilities that exist for him or her.
If nursing is such a great career, why is everyone not flocking to nursing school? One reason is expense. Without the RWJF Scholarship, for which I am very grateful, I would never have been able to pursue my dreams. The other reason is that we nurses are a special breed. It takes an exceptional individual to clean up a patient’s diarrhea, change a dressing on the gangrenous foot of a child while singing him a song, participate in a code, and council grieving family members—all experiences that I have had thus far in my healthcare career. They are not the most pleasant of activities, but what an honor! There are few professions in which one is allowed the privilege of participating in such an intimate slice of people’s lives. There is a reason that nurses are the most trusted professionals in America.
Nurses do it all. We nurse patients back to health. We are counselors and confidants. We are scientists, educators, advocates, researchers, cheerleaders, authors, peacemakers…the list can go on indefinitely. What I believe about nursing is this: it is best profession on Earth and I am glad the RWJF was there to help me attain it.