From mechanic to nurse?

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2014

Congratulations on the baby! :dummy: And I had to chuckle at your post title--I was just watching the documentary "The American Nurse," and one of the featured RNs was a male former mechanic. :)

- Is it better to do a associates or bachelors degree program?

I would plan for a bachelor's; more and more hospitals are requiring it, or at least strongly preferring it. But if you want to get into the profession and begin work faster, you could do an associate's and then enroll in an RN-to-BSN completion program.

- How hard would it be to go to school full time during the morning, work 10 hours each night while raising a baby?

Very. Not going to lie. In my cohort of maybe 50 people, I don't think any of us worked full-time. Nursing school isn't easy but isn't as difficult as some other majors...but it is VERY time-consuming. Not sure how all programs are, but when I was in nursing school we were required to go to the facility the evening before to look at our pt's chart, make a list of their meds and look them all up in detail (indications/contraindications, mechanism of action, side effects, pharmacokinetics, dose ranges, etc.), note their labs and have an idea of why any abnormal ones are off, look up the pt's medical diagnoses and history and research any that we weren't familiar with. You will have no say which days you'll have clinical on. Clinicals may even be in the evening. All that is to say that there will be multiple things throwing wrenches into your plan to work full-time 10 hour days.

And then there's the studying. Nursing school requires a lot of studying.

I had my first baby 10 months before I graduated. It was really difficult, and I DID have help from a very supportive husband and in-laws/parents. i remember in patho class having an exam every week (I took a week off after delivering her, and then I had to take TWO exams the week I came back--the one I missed, plus the one for the week. Also, I did only work part time, I think 2 or 3 days a weed as a CNA. I quit my job in my final semester because we had this practicum where instead of going to the hospital w/ our class, we were paired 1:1 with a preceptor. We managed the pt load w/ the preceptor there for backup and for making sure we didn't screw up. That was like a job in itself--we had to work whatever shifts our preceptor did--8-hr or 12-hr, off shifts, etc.

- Just how much poking fun will there b at me for being a male nurse? (I did five years in the Marines and two deployments to Iraq so I have some pretty thick skin when it comes to being picked/poked on)

Thank you for your service! I have never in my nearly 12 years of nursing, plus 5 years as a CNA, never seen a man get poked fun at for being a nurse. Actually, almost 1/3 of my unit's RNs are men.

- Is the pay competitive and is there overtime?

Pay depends on where you live. Here's a link to the AN 2014 salary survey-- https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/nursing-salary-survey-895587.html

OT depends on your unit's census and the number of RNs needed. In the past 6 months or so, we've gone from cancelling or floating extra nurses to other floors. there was overtime to be had when our unit filled to overflowing! (we had SICU pts boarding in in the MICU and BICU) For a while, it seemed like we got asked if we were interested in a double shift every day. Now again our census is down and they're floating/cancelling shifts.

- Do nurses ever go through lay offs or is a stable job most of the time.

I suppose that depends on the economy where you are living. Back in 2008 I heard of some, but otherwise it's pretty rare where I am.

PMFB-RN, RN · Dec 1, 2014

Nobody's ever made fun of me for being a nurse. If they did, I'd challenge them to shadow me for one shift in my urban ED to see what a manly job it is... and very lucrative to boot.

I agree with this 100%! I would include my job as rapid response RN along with SICU, and transport and some others. I don't get teased for being an RN, ever. My jobs have always seemed very manly and the women who do them next to me are pretty smart and tough, even if they are only 100#, 5 feet tall and pretty:)

allnurses Guide · Dec 1, 2014

Very rarely do we get a thread where every reply is plus plus plus. This is such a thread. That is all.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2014

There are episodic layoffs of nurses. Right now in my state we have a rather lare facility that says they are going to close next month...the state is fighting it. If they do close that is a large working force that will no longer have jobs.

Coakley reviewing Quincy hospital closing - Business - The Boston Globe