Starting Nursing At 40...am I Too Late???

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello All,

Im just starting nursing at 40 years old and Im wondering is this going to backfire on me in the long run???

I only have about 20-25 yrs--if God spares life :)--to put in the field and most of the nurses that I am meeting that are my age have already been in the field for at least 20 yrs!!!! Is this a good thing or a bad thing :confused:

Now, I should mention that I am a really "YOUNG" looking 40 y/o...People often mistake me for 25-27-- which I love by the way--who wouldnt :D...but Im still worried about agism :uhoh21:.

Im just starting a new floor and my co-workers are dying to know my age, of course Im not going to say....overall, I guess Im wondering is starting nursing this late in the game a good idea?????

I welcome any thoughts on this :wink2:.

Specializes in Cardiac Care.

Nursing is a second career for me, too. I'll be 51 at graduation, and would like to think I have about 20 years of work in front of me.

In 20 years, I'll be 20 years older, but by God, I will be an RN.

I think also, most who start in their 40's are not going to leave due to pregnancy . . . at least I hope not. :bugeyes:

My kids are raised, basically. There's not much getting in my way for about 15-20 years now (save my health as long as I have it) -- I think that's about how much the average nurse probably puts in. I don't know.

Then, post retirement, there's always a more scaled down type of nursing - parish nurse, whatever. I think there is always something you could do somewhere.

I graduate next month with my RN, at age 41. I never really considered age when going back to school, I just instinctively knew that it was time.... "now or never", as they say. At first, it was a little tough getting back to using my brain. It took awhile for the little gerbil inside my head to turn the wheel fast enough to make it spin! But after getting into the groove of studying, it really did become routine.

Once you catch that first glimpse of "Hey, I really can do this!", you find a strength and purpose that will calm and carry you. You will be amazed at your focus and stamina! Some of that comes with just living a few more years. So consider your age a blessing. You are exactly at the right place in your life, at exactly the right time. :wink2:

p.s..........to Sunny Beach. I went back to reread your first post.... I see that you are already starting a new job. Duh on me. Congrats!

I graduate next month with my RN, at age 41. I never really considered age when going back to school, I just instinctively knew that it was time.... "now or never", as they say. At first, it was a little tough getting back to using my brain. It took awhile for the little gerbil inside my head to turn the wheel fast enough to make it spin! But after getting into the groove of studying, it really did become routine.

Once you catch that first glimpse of "Hey, I really can do this!", you find a strength and purpose that will calm and carry you. You will be amazed at your focus and stamina! Some of that comes with just living a few more years. So consider your age a blessing. You are exactly at the right place in your life, at exactly the right time. :wink2:

:yeahthat: Caroleneo!

Wow, what you said was truly inspiring! I especially resonated with the comment that you made.... "You are exactly at the right place in your life, at exactly the right time":yeah:!!!!

I TRULY believe that! B/c this is the very first time in my life that I could say that I am EXTREMELYhappy, I truly ENJOY my new career as an R.N!!!!!! When I go into work and I walk on that floor, its almost as if I can feel a "peace" within saying "THIS IS IT!":redbeathe I truly believe that I have found my purpose in life!!!!!.....Thank you soooo much for taking time out to write such an encouraging response :bow:.

By-the-way, this is my very first thread I started and I am really getting a kick out of this, Allnurses is great!:an!:

I've had once instance at work where a manager who was also 40-ish, would came up and tell me how much she appreciated my "maturity" and was glad to have me as a new nurse to train. She said she felt it was a lot easier to train me, and that she felt that women my age worked harder than some of the younger folks new to the job .... not to offend ANYONE, but those were her comments.

I feel that those of us coming from this generation DO have a great work ethic. Jobs were hard to come by when I got out of college in the mid 80's, and so we expect to work our tails off in a new job to "prove" ourselves -- this is what is built into us -- and it serves you well in nursing and in any new job you take on. On the downside, we tend to work too hard sometimes, and take things way too personally and will give to the point of shortchanging ourselves and our own quality of life. I will always have a built in fear of being fired, layed off, what have you -- these are the things I've seen and dealt with in my lifetime and I will always fear it.

Contrast that with one of my new co-workers who is already complaining that due to schedule changes, she can't take a 4-day vacation with her husband she's had planned ...I mean, she just took the job and is already whining about vacation time? ? I'm not even thinking of a vacation until I've put in my first full year!

my clasmates over 40 (50, 52, and 55) do not regret it at all and are currently working as new grads

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Contrast that with one of my new co-workers who is already complaining that due to schedule changes, she can't take a 4-day vacation with her husband she's had planned ...I mean, she just took the job and is already whining about vacation time? ? I'm not even thinking of a vacation until I've put in my first full year!

I see that a lot in our unit. Brand new very young nurses who accept full time employment so that they can start paying back their student loans who then go casual when they find out they can't have three weeks off in the middle of the summer. Then, when the summer's over they come back into another full time position... They used to get away with that too, until it was noticed that some people did it every year! Now the admin, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that unless there is an actual human resources-posted casual position for them to apply to, if they choose to resign, they're done. Not so many of them in line this year.

Another thing I see a lot... our unit is one that has a 12-hour-day-night-alternate-weekends shift rotation, with no permanent day or night positions. However about 60% of the staff does "self-scheduling". For a long time, new hires, unless they came with several years' unit-specific exeprience, went on rotation for at least a year before they could self-schedule. Then, a couple of years ago as a recruitment device, they decided that all new hires would be offered the choice of a rotation or self-scheduling right away. That was disastrous. The majority of new nurses scheduled themselves only week-day days, then when it was time to negotiate the schedule they'd make token efforts to move themselves to short shifts to make it look like they were playing the game. So the 'old' staff ended up working all of the nights and weekends, all the time. The other effect of this is that many shifts are filled almost entirely with very junior staff. Now the worm has turned again and all new hires go into a rotation... period.

Then again, there are the ones who request a permanent night rotation knowing that we never have a manager in the building on nights, so that they can hide their inadequacies and their unwillingness to help those around them. They know that by colective agreement we are not in a position to criticise or discipline other in-scope nurses so they can sit at their bedisde reading a book while the nurse at the next bed runs her behind off all night, and take all their breaks as a combined single break that will have them off the unit when a.m. labs need drawing and the daily x-rays get done... their break buddy gets to do that for them. I hate it!

Specializes in Cardiac, LTC, Clinic.

:no: No, No,after 27 years of nusing as a LVN, and 49 years young I have seen accepted to a RN program, and could not be more delighted. As the old saying goes, better late than never.

If nursing is your passion, then the opportunities are there to be had for any kind of nursing. So continue on and have a long and happy nursing career. :heartbeat

"I TRULY believe that! B/c this is the very first time in my life that I could say that I am EXTREMELYhappy, I truly ENJOY my new career as an R.N!!!!!! When I go into work and I walk on that floor, its almost as if I can feel a "peace" within saying "THIS IS IT!":redbeathe I truly believe that I have found my purpose in life!!!!!.....Thank you soooo much for taking time out to write such an encouraging response :bow:."

And thank you in return for YOUR encouraging response. :nurse:

Specializes in Certified Wound Care Nurse.

I started my career change back 2005 when I was 40. Some days I think this whole thing has backfired (more often than not) and on other days I think I did the right thing.

I think in some respects I encounter ageism - some of those young nurses are downright rude and disrespectful. It's even worse when I flub up - knowing their eyes are on me - and me being old enough to be a mother to any one of them.

Either way, I'm here - and whether it "backfires" or not, I made this choice. At this stage of the game, I'm tired of starting over... LOL... I guess that means I'm committed to this thing!

Oh, today is six months on my first job as a nurse... new town, hospital and new to nursing. I've come a long way.

Take care,

Shawna

Hello All,

Im just starting nursing at 40 years old and Im wondering is this going to backfire on me in the long run???

I only have about 20-25 yrs--if God spares life :)--to put in the field and most of the nurses that I am meeting that are my age have already been in the field for at least 20 yrs!!!! Is this a good thing or a bad thing :confused:

Now, I should mention that I am a really "YOUNG" looking 40 y/o...People often mistake me for 25-27-- which I love by the way--who wouldnt :D...but Im still worried about agism :uhoh21:.

Im just starting a new floor and my co-workers are dying to know my age, of course Im not going to say....overall, I guess Im wondering is starting nursing this late in the game a good idea?????

I welcome any thoughts on this :wink2:.

FACTS OF LIFE

1. It's never too late:redbeathe

2. It's never too late:nuke:

3. As long as you're alive IT'S NEVER TOO LATE :yeah:

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