*3.8. I Would Still Choose Nursing*

Many participants entered nursing as a second career. They voiced little to no negative feelings about their decision to become a nurse; many felt certain that they would still pursue nursing as a career, even if a global pandemic was in their future. Jane was glad she entered the field, "I love my job and what I do, especially the specialty I'm in." Similarly, Hattie described a passion for nursing, "I absolutely love my job. There is not one aspect of it that I don't like."

There was overwhelming confidence in their role choice and belief that they make a difference in the lives of their patients. Bill stated: "I still would do it all over again. If I knew that this was at the end of the tunnel, I 100% would. I love what I do. I definitely feel that I am helping people each and every day at work." Irena is similarly confident in her decision to become a nurse. She stated:

I absolutely would do it again, a million times. I love being a nurse. I love helping people. I actually have been nominated twice for Daisy awards at my hospital which is a huge big deal ... .I don't regret my decision to become a nurse, especially as like a second career.

Though many participants were happy with their decision to be a nurse, many describe a desire to move away from bedside in the future. Several of the participants expressed a need to work in a different (non-inpatient) environment. Irena states: "I definitely have

days where I'm like, I need to get out of the hospital. I need to get out of this COVID unit. I don't know how many more times I can double glove and wear masks and, you know, do all this stuff. So always nursing, for sure, just maybe in a different environment." The impact of death has affected Layla and her desire to stay in the inpatient setting. She stated, "I don't think that I'll stay like inpatient forever, or anything like that. I think, I think this experience helped me realize that for some of us, you know, outpatient where you're not dealing with people dying left and right would be nice." Marie expressed a desire to enter a field that focused on research: "... this has all made me want to go back to school, maybe for public health in the future . . . research and epidemiology is cool."
