I'm 39 and want to become a nurse.

Hi
I was 39 when I became a CNA. At 40 I started LVN school, graduated, worked and finished some pre-requisites for RN school. I am 45 now and just graduated last May to become an RN. Yesterday I found out I passed the NCLEX in California. I am so excited to start working as an RN.

You have to love working with patients and you have to be ready for the hard work and still love nursing. I worked in the marketing dept. for Panasonic and had my own flower shop for 6 years. One day I realized I wanted to help people that struggle with cancer. It is in my nature to want to help people, but I was not ready to be a nurse until now.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Hello!

I left a federal job with a nice salary after 17 years, to return to school for nursing. I became very unhappy in my old job and as I thought of what else I could do, all roads pointed to nursing. It sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into your decision, so you will make the right choice! Don't let your age stop you at all! I returned to school when I was 41, and I will be finishing soon at 43 years old. By the way, I have heard that the average age of a nurse presently is 44, so we are doing OK! One of the things that helped me decide to make the decision to return to school, was thinking about what it would be like to stay in a job where I was unhappy for many more years. You need to be happy, and nursing is a place where you can find plenty of reward in helping people.

Just a few things to keep in mind, if you don't mind me offering a few suggestions. Nursing school is difficult! You have been through law school, so you already know what it is like to spend a lot of time studying, but you also need to spend practical time in hospitals, and learn a whole new way of thinking. If you have a family, it will be hard on them as well, as your social time with family and friends becomes very limited.

I feel inspired by people like you, because sometimes, especially during difficult weeks, I still question whether I made the right decision. I am glad to know that not only are there plenty of 30 and 40 somethings out there that are making the decision to become nurses, but also making some sacrifices to do so. Good luck! You will be great!

Here is another career option for you. This is a posting I got from a friend about quality Managment:
Admin. Dir. of Quality role available:
This role reports to the CEO and has Patient Safety, Quality and Regulatory Compliance beneath it - the role also serves as the Patient Safety Officer. Risk Management, Performance Improvement, Medical Staff Development, Infection Control and the Education Dept. and Case Management are also under the administrative leadership of this role.



A Bachelor's degree is required but a Master's is preferred. You will need to have 5 years plus experience in the above areas - with an acute hospital environment. An RN is required, Risk and/or CPHQ preferred as well.



This is a great role for someone looking to take on the next step in their career - are you up for a challenge?


With your background in law, a career in quality management that utilizes nursing training and legal issues might be a great option for you as well. I am currently 49, went back to school to get a BS in business and have worked in Pathology for 23 years - Am I ready for a career change? Do it now while you are still young. I think there is a lot of descrimination out there for older individuals - hopefully not so much in nursing - I totally agree with the others who said, there are a lot of career choices you can make with nursing experience - I am taking the pre-reqs right now for nursing and would like to move into the quality management side of things. Good luck to you.

Hi there..I'm 57!! (yeah, I DO like saying that! ) and will begin school in August. Quit 20 years in Office Mgmt two years ago to return to school and take my prereqs. I still don't know how my husband and I are making it on just his salary for the past 2 years...except that this was DEFINITELY God's plan for me.

I agree with those who have written about the "transition" I am going to face. I'm sure my first day I will be tempted to offer a quicker, more pratical approach to whatever is going on!
But I assure you that I will not...
I have a goal in mind (and not much time right?)..and am smart enough to know not to ruffle feathers and bruise egos...and after all..I heard that they for sure EAT THEIR YOUNG!!

I'm excited ..and trust me..anybody who says "you're a fool" is simply green with envy. Be a shining example for your friends and family...we all need encouragement to do the right thing.
God Bless and Good Luck

No, you are not too old. Do not give your age a second thought; it will not be a problem either in school or when interviewing for nursing positions.

Same on being a guy. I am a male nurse with 28 years experience, and I do not believe that I have ever experienced any discrimination (positive or negative) because of it. You are correct that only 7% of nurses are men, but so what? This will not be a problem for you. I do not think that hospitals care how many of their nurses are male; they care whether they are doing good work, and (I think) could not care less about their chromosomes.

I do not know what your income is now (and it is none of my business) but I encourage you to take an icy-cold look at nurse's salaries in the place you want to live. Remember, entry level pay will probably be lower than average pay in your area. Talk to a hospital HR person. Find out what they are really paying new grads. How does it compare with your current income? If a change to nursing required a significant change in your lifestyle, are you O.K. with that? There are a lot of myths about nurses, and one is that we bring in lavish salaries. Not true. Not that I am complaining. I have always been able to earn a good living. I am currently the sole income earner for a family that includes four children, and we are living a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. However, it takes a while to work your way up to the better jobs. And, comfortable middle class might not be your goal.

Another myth is that, as a nurse, you will engage in extremely rewarding work every day helping grateful and appreciative patients. Wrong! We work with people during the worst times in their lives, and they are often very difficult and unpleasant to work with. We also have to endure a lot of frustration when the limits of medicine or of the nurse's scope of practice, place harsh restrictions on how much we can do. And, we very rarely hear the words, "thank you." Also, while people talk about how much they respect nurses, in practice most people think of us as over-paid waiters and waitresses. Many people do not even know that becoming an RN requires a college education, believing that we spend a few months in on-the-job training, and then get to call ourselves RNs! To be a nurse means to work very hard, learn an extensive body of complex information, and then be treated like a kid at the local hamburger joint. How do you feel about that?

In making this decision, I suggest that you consider whether there is some area of law open to you that would satisfy your need to help people, without requiring transition to a different profession. Since your current work "goes against the core of who you are," I urge you to leave it. Doing work one doesn't believe in is a terrible way to live, and I want better for you. If entering a different kind of legal practice could allow you to be the helper that you are, rather than the adversary that you now only pretend to be, that might be a faster, easier, road that requires less of a lifestyle change. However, if your heart is in becoming a nurse, then I leave you with the advice that I always give to anyone expressing interest in a nursing career: volunteer a few hours a week at a local hospital. Tell the nurses about your interest in the profession, and ask them if you can follow them through their day and help out. First, they will love you for offering to help! Second, you will see what real nursing in the real world involves. Do this for a few months, replace your fantasies with hard, cold reality, and the answer will become clear to you.

Good luck and best wishes.

I was 37 when I decided to enter nursing. Never regretted it.

I admit I haven't read all of the responses, but I wanted to definitely encourage you to go into nursing -- I'm sure you'll be great at it!

I agree that male nurses are often have an advantage over females ... you bring attributes that only 7% of the workforce have! Some patients are more comfortable with male nurses too, so they're very useful on floors.

Every new nurse has to overcome the hurdle of being "new" when searching for that first job. However, older career changers have an advantage ... a lot of experience. A lot of people say that whether you have an ASN, BSN or MSN, a new grad is a new grad (not entirely true, I think, but close. We have varying degrees of inexperience). You, however, will have years of work experience, experience working with and relating to others, great communication skills, etc. while all set you apart from the other new grads.

I had a BA when I changed careers and decided to get a diploma (hospital-based ASN-level program) rather than an accelerated BSN. A lot of people thought it was crazy not to go to for the more prestigious degree, but I have to say, it was clearly the right choice for me based on my life situation. You can always work on your BSN or MSN online or part-time later (with a BS/BA and an RN, you can usually take a couple of "bridge" courses and go straight into an MSN program). All the managers I've spoken with have been totally supportive of this decision and didn't seem to care if I had a diploma (ASN-level) with a BA as opposed to a BSN. I'm not saying this is everyone's experience everywhere, but those with other careers and other skills have a lot more than just their degree to sell themselves for a nursing job. Do what's best for you and your family!

My one caveat is that nursing is a physically demanding career. 12-13 hour shifts, mostly on your feet takes some adjusting and physical strength. You sound like you're in great shape and will do just fine (I know several nurses in their 60s who are OK with the days), but it's something to think about.

Good luck to you!

I agree with Freedom 42. Even before I read that reply, I was wondering why you would put your family through 3 years of belt tightening to get an ADN when 3.5 years of belt tightening would produce an MSN and twice the salary plus many more work options. Not only are you not to old, you are at the lower edge of the average age of nurses practicing now. Men are a welcome addition to Professional Nursing, and valued by all the nurses I know.
I want to commiserate with your failure of satisfaction in your current profession. My passion is with nursing. I have been an entreprenuer in other fields, and I just couldn't muster the same passion. I have to believe that what I am doing benefits others, not just me, and that it has intrinsic, not manufactured value. I like a good income as much as the next person, but I have a soul which isn't satisfied what just monetary reward.

I was 38 years old when I became a nurse. I have been traveling since then and have not found any problems with being age discriminated against. I will tell you from my experience nurses can be very cruel to each other especially to new nurses. I try and not treat new nurses the way I was and to help them in every way possible because I don't want to aid the nursing shortage and I would like to see them stick around for a long time. Nursing is just as physically gruelling if not more so than what you have done. It is also very emotionally and mentally challenging at times. There are days I wonder if I made the right choice and then there are more days I feel very blessed and lucky to be living my passion. Go forth with positive attitude and support from your family and make it happen you will reap great rewards for following your heart. I know I did.

One more comment from a fellow career-changer (left a management position in PR for nursing). It's scary. You will have bad days and second guess your decision. I go home many days and don't feel rewarded, like I did something meaningful for patients that day. However, when I think back on it, I am certain that I did. Not everyone articulates their appreciation, but when you stop to think about what you did for someone today ... you took a few minutes to speak to a patient and let him know someone is interested in him, you let a patient tell you a little bit about their children or when they were young, or you helped a family through a terrifying complicated delivery that produced a perfect little baby, you can be proud of what you did.

This week a patients mom hugged me when my shift was over and said, "You're in the right profession." She didn't know that I'm still a student and that I sometimes wonder if I should've stayed in my comfortable job where I could wear cute clothes and didn't go home with sore feet. As soon as I heard that though, I knew more certainly than I've ever known, that this is my calling.

So every day won't be as rewarding as you hope it will and you will have to deal with difficult doctors and difficult patients and difficult managers (true in just about every profession, although in nursing we have to answer to all of these people). But I do now actually have the sense that my job matters. Even on the hard days, my job is meaningful, which I think is a big part of what you're looking for.