title: Real stories: Aspiring to become a nurse.
abstract: With the current crisis in the health care workforce and the predictions of looming shortages yet to come, it is imperative that we begin to appreciate why pediatric nurses choose their careers. What life experiences contribute to our desire to join a "club" that can boast its members want to serve others? How does a nursing career look to a high school senior or an outsider who is contemplating embarking on the rigorous education that it takes and the long hours that are promised at the end? These stories give us insight into how nurses today and potential nurses in the future view their life's contribution to their career choice.
authors.affiliation: Potomac Falls High School, Sterling, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Rosemarie C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Westberg
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010371:Pediatric Nursing / Q000193:education*