41 yr old male wanting to start a 2nd career in nursing?

Nurses Men

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I've always wanted to be in the health care field. I went back to school in my mid twenties but chose chemistry over nursing, and now I work at a consulting engineering firm as a project manager but I feel my tenure in the engineering world is at an end, and that its time for a career change. I guess I want to know how old is to old to enter nursing as a man? What was the demographic in the class room? How are job opportunities in Canada (I'm in Vancouver). Do men do this as a second career or am I thinking crazy? Any and all insights are much appreciated.

SJ

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
That's what you have to say to me? That's pretty cold.
Quote from Esme12

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community.

You reap what you sow.....

Like I said nursing a cruel profession. See what I mean?

If you want to participate in health care Mr. 41 year old don't go into nursing. Try respiratory therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapist or if don't have the time and money try their college assistant versions like respiratory therapist assistant, or physiotherapy assistant. People have more respect for those professionals than nurses or even try recreation therapist. There are MANY OTHER options besides nursing to participate in health care besides nursing. Ever thought of being a doctor instead?

No....that is NOT what I said.....I said plenty in between.

There are good and bad in every profession. I am so sorry you have had such a negative experience. I have always found my experiences with nurses of the male gender rewarding and found them to be welcome members of the team. It sounds like you are in a toxic environment and that maybe you need to consider another position in another facility.

Sometimes we need to look at our selves in the mirror to see how we participate and contribute to how we are treated and events in our lives. Just see how much we bring onto ourselves.

Nursing is a tough job and NOT for the faint of heart. I believe "we", as individuals, have a huge influence on how we are treated by others.

OP.....Nursing is a rewarding, demanding, frustrating career...unlike anything you have ever done.....you have immense responsibility and very little authority.

But IMHO .......it is worth it.

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"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted". .....Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hmm, might be a good time to point out the fact that I like your quotation, Esme.

I will clarify, since it seems I am frequently misunderstood here on AN. Springflowers, the quotation above means that just because someone disagrees with an idea or opinion one has, they do not hate you. Perhaps if you thought of this the next time things don't go your way, it'll help you to fell better and less trodden upon.

HTH,

Tom

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

Can't get along at work.

Can't get along on the internet.

It's everyone else's fault.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

I was your age, now I have a Masters and teach nursing. The demographic will vary by age but will be mostly women of course. There are plenty of men in the work force. I've worked shifts will all men on occasion.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.
Don't do it! Don't do it! Nursing is the MOST abusive profession. There is a saying in nursing that "nurses eat their own young". I know this from first hand experience. People look at male nurses as if they are not natural to this profession. New nurses are the most abused in the workforce, especially but other new nurses. Nurses hate mentoring new nurses into the profession. They want nurses to start working as if they have years of experience already in the precise field they have just started working in and do not hesitate to express daily annoyance at your slowness at your new job. Nurse managers who are working full time at a particular unit for decades that you have the misfortune of sharing a shift in will display all of the classic signs of territorial bullying. They will let you know that the unit is their turf and they want things done their way. They won't show their cruelty overtly-women are geniuses are being covertly mean.

Wow, sorry you had such a rough ride. I disagree with almost all your assertions about characterizing the sexes. One thing I've found is that both nurses and doctors are generally more polite to male nurses, at least to me. I've never had anyone yell at me, be mean to me, and are rarely rude. Perhaps nursing was just not a good fit for you.

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Don't do it! Don't do it! Nursing is the MOST abusive profession. There is a saying in nursing that "nurses eat their own young". I know this from first hand experience. People look at male nurses as if they are not natural to this profession. New nurses are the most abused in the workforce, especially but other new nurses. Nurses hate mentoring new nurses into the profession. They want nurses to start working as if they have years of experience already in the precise field they have just started working in and do not hesitate to express daily annoyance at your slowness at your new job. Nurse managers who are working full time at a particular unit for decades that you have the misfortune of sharing a shift in will display all of the classic signs of territorial bullying. They will let you know that the unit is their turf and they want things done their way. They won't show their cruelty overtly-women are geniuses are being covertly mean.

I had a nurse manager tell me to insert a catheter into a patient and when I couldn't find any documentation confirming the order she insisted the person needed it. After getting help from another nurse we erroneously gave the poor patient a new catheter after unfortunately figuring out that it was changed before it's scheduled date as per physician's order all because the nurse manager boasted her authority. That same nurse manager also decided to break guidelines and possibly the law by outright saying to a new nurse, "I just gave report to the PSWs. I'm not going to repeat myself". She refused to give that new nurse a transfer of accountability report. Good for the new nurse for standing up for himself and heading straight for the director of care's office to complain after trying to reason the need for a report with the nurse manager. Soon after the director of care came of the office hooking the nurse manager with her finger with a stern expression to get into her office immediately.

I have witnessed another male nurse who was recently hired in a long term care facility I was working in being in the exact same position I was three months ago when I started working. Nurses and personal support workers (aka health care aids) giggled and mocked him for administering medication to over 35 residents in two hours. Administering medication to 35 residents when your workload in academic training (which includes clinical placements) are always far less than what you are actually expected to do in the real world, especially if you're background clinical placements are in hospitals where your case load is only 5-6 patients at most. How do you adjust to handling medication administration for 35 clients or even 60 clients if you are brand new to long term care? But not being able to catch up by your third day in speed and accuracy in your performance instantly puts you in bad light and the nurses will make sure you know it and they love making you feel like an idiot for missing any kind of detail about a patient.

Nursing is the profession of psychopathic women who can't control their temper. I had a nurse coworker scream at the top of her lungs at me because I already administered a medication to a patient that she would later look after later in the day even though I properly document my medication administration and followed protocol.

Nursing is not worth the frustration UNLESS you know EXACTLY WHY you want to be a nurse. Why do you want to become a nurse? If you can't answer that question with conviction and sincerity to yourself how can you answer that question to your boss or interviewer for your first job? Know the specific field of nursing you want to get yourself into or at least have had experience in a field closely related to your nursing career goals and have a plan on how to be successful in that field. Start thinking about your specialty now so you can begin your research. If you find it rewarding to care for people and you know you can help them optimize their own health and advocate for their right then you may just have some motivation to keep you in the profession but I warn you try other avenues first. Are you sure you don't want to try taking up art, painting, writing, construction, accounting or computer network security? Computer network security is a very promising field with 0% unemployment rate and high employment satisfaction.

Contact me if you want more information from my personal experiences of starting out as a new nurse. I have plenty. I find that there are some fields that men excel in nursing better than women and women aren't as good than men. Men I find are great in one on one intensive settings, and public health settings like sexual health clinics, addiction rehabilitation programs, and AIDS/HIV organizations. Such things women seem to have no patience for or seem to hate and it shows in how they care for clients in those settings. Ironically, contrary to the stereotype of the warm, nurturing, female, nurse, female nurses do not handle the psycho-social needs of clients in sexual health settings very well at all and have trouble handling the topic of sex with neutrality. Women tend to excel the high volume task work (although not rocket science) in long term care, whereas, men don't. In terms of training for nursing, some find the academic part challenging and I've said good-bye to a good friend or two for underestimating the challenge of nursing college. But academia is nothing compared to the real world of nursing.

Spring flowers

I believe there are some out there who you described perfectly but not every nurse is mean/nasty/abusive. I have found mean, nasty, abusive people in all walks of life! Good luck and best wishes.

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33 yrs. Male. 2nd career changer (in the midst of). Taking pre-reqs right now. Prolly 3 years from now will be in an accelerated BSN program. My wife is a nurse and is a huge encouragement. Don't get me wrong, she has bad days. Really bad days. But, ironically, she still believes in what she does. And likes it. I sit behind a desk, stare at a PC when not meeting with the wealthy and get PAID, but it just doesn't do it for me.

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I start nursing school Tuesday and turn 44 two weeks later.

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I start nursing school Tuesday and turn 44 two weeks later.

I start nursing school September third and turn 51 ten months later.:cheeky:

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The OP has never returned since getting a few positive responses just after he posted.

The basic facts are nursing education is different in Canada and the US. He doesn't have the option of the two year ADN programme. He must get accepted into a four year university degree programme to become an RN.

He lives in one of the most expensive areas of Canada. There are at least six degree programmes open to him in his part of the lower mainland, all of which are very competitive to get into. Most Canadian universities don't do waitlists. It's accept or reject and they all have different entrance requirements.

If you make it through the programme and graduate, well, finding work in that area is hard for new grads. Funding for healthcare is being cut. Positions may be posted but they aren't filled due to budgets.

Funding methods are different up here as well, you have to have a certain amount in savings before you can apply for a student loan. Tax credits help but they are always a year behind in paying out. There are some loan forgiveness plans but are usually tied to taking a job in the back of beyond where the government can't keep nurses. Fancy working in a small town where there's snow on the ground 8 months of the year and the roads are rough?

Canadian hospitals are staffed differently than American. We just don't have the same number of aides on the floor and nurses are expected to do it all. The older you are when you hit the floor, the harder it is on your body.

Pension benefits are an issue with his plan as well. Nurses have pretty good pension plans up here. But if he finds a job, he'll start out as a casual in most areas and won't start accruing pension rights until he's in his late 40s. Although there is no mandatory retirement laws up here most nurses bale as soon as they hit their retirement factor, it's rare to see a nurse over 55 on a hospital floor. So his pension will be small if he lasts until he's 65.

The hospital I work in has been hiring a few new grads from BC, we have a hard time finding jobs for our own new grads. I graduated at 41, 13 years later, my knees and back hurt, my pension is tiny and at 54 I'm one of the oldest floor nurses in my hospital.

I really wouldn't do it again.

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