Re: any advice to male late 30's on entering nursing field?

I'd say go for it. I went for my AAS in nursing when I was 29 (almost 30). Whilst I had a BA in Psych and was working as a full time Case Worker (Emotionally draining at times), I still went to school at night and weekend (clinicals) all the while keeping my FT day job. I went to a community college and paid for my tuition in installments so I did not have to take out a loan. It was a social suicide since I never had the time to hangout with my friends or do anything fun because I was studying all the time but it was all worth it because I knew my goal was to become a nurse and I did everything to achieve it. I did! RN since 2007!!! All the best to ya.

Re: any advice to male late 30's on entering nursing field?

howdy:

i'm basically of a similar nature...was a commercial photographer, had been for years, but was always interested in medicine. now i'm a level 1 nursing student (RN). hmm, advice:

finances: try to get placement in a hospital, many will help pay for your education. many banks now are unfortunatley, are disolving any student loans, (unless your able to get any pell/tap money). theoretically, nursing is a great 'bang for your buck' career. my 2 yr. degree will pay me more than my wife's phd gets her. do research on schools, the school i attend (community college - 2 yr.) )has a 97% pass rate on nclex, whereas the local expensive univ. (4 yr.) only has 81% pass rate. the school i attend, the instructors try to scare you, saying quit your job, say good by to your family and actually log the time we are in lab. i do work pt...overnites...a blessing actually, slow at night and that's when i can study! i do have twin boys, which try to understand, 'daddy has school too', but it's difficult. a few in my class work ft, but admit it's hellacious.

more men are entering the field, and i'm surprised by the amount of old students (like me)... guess it's the economy...open the want ads, either go into nursing or learn to drive a big rig.

i am the only male on my clinical rotation and it can be awkward (surprisingly not from pts, but from staff)... one cna tried to explain 'private area' to me being very flustered, i simply asked her,... on the count of three, let's say penis together...after that, things were fine. and yes, tell one and your heard by all, all the staff at clinicals seem to respect me, and 'use me' - "muscles", but treat me fairly and appreciate my drive to learn, and especially my 'calmness' (us older gents are apparantly less 'spooked' or 'giggly' than the typical 19 yr. old female nursing student).

i guess like anything in life, just try to stay organized and look for support where you can get it (fellow students, this website - i hope (i just registered 2 hrs. ago), etc.). wow, it's that late already, i best finish my careplan!

hope i've helped. gl, dino

Re: any advice to male late 30's on entering nursing field?

Yes, changing careers is f%$g terrifying. But in today's economy, it's increasingly the norm. The sooner you convince yourself you can do it, the better.

I'm a former sys admin.

I got into nursing at age 30 because engineering was failing to inspire me like it had in the past. I got sick of working miracles for managers who had no idea what I or my team did. (you'll find that in healthcare too, though not as much because of much stricter licensure laws). I got sick of managers who had no idea what my experience meant. Experience still means something in medicine. And because we have to get licenses, not anyone can call themselves a "nurse" or "Social worker" or "MD" or "NP" etc.... I love nursing. I'm hoping to do it for a VERY long time.

Paying for it? Hmmm... my recommendation would be a state school. But everybody's onto that, so competition will be stiffer. Take on a little debt as possible... especially in today's economy. Don't automatically assume credits from your original BS will carry over. None of mine did. It was tedious taking Chem again - you'll be amazed at how much it's changed since 1991! I remember we covered a whole year of 1991 chem in the first 2 weeks of my new chem classes.

As far as gender roles go, you'll encounter your own situations that you'll figure out how to deal with. And if you can't figure it out, post the question here! You'll have several responses (maybe not good responses or the kind of responses you were looking for... but responses at least). I honestly think there are other dynamics of nursing that can create even more awkward situations than the "male entering traditionally female career" dynamic - parents vs non parents, older vs younger nurses, thorough vs fast nurses, language barriers, etc. Gawd forbid you get two type A personalitiies that don't see eye to eye - it's like those verbal fistfights between people who use different flavors of Linux. Ike and Tina all over again!

I'd recommend you start collecting those pre-requisite classes now. Don't wait. The wait time here in CA for even the pre-reqs of the pre-reqs is 2 years in some places. My neighbor just started gathering her pre-reqs and she's got horror stories of what classes she couldn't get cuz they were all full.

Keep the faith. And if it takes you a while, don't get discouraged. Personally, I think the more time you have to digest the material, and your experiences, the better you'll be able to recall it when you need it.

dig

Re: any advice to male late 30's on entering nursing field?

I'll be 40 in a couple of months and this summer will embark on the few prereqs I need for nursing school. I'm a lawyer, so I have already been through a haul with 3 years of law school and a 2-day bar exam. That's not to say the nursing school experience will come easy for me, we're talking a big change here. I think I am more excited about this career move now, my biggest obstacle is getting over the fact that I should have done this 15 years ago.

Keep going forward my friend, you'll be glad you did!

Re: any advice to male late 30's on entering nursing field?

I am 45 and went back to school in 2000 for IT, right in the middle of my education the .coms fell, 911 hit and I had major surgery. I finished but never did land a job (did some consulting). I went to school full time, had a family, coached a youth soccer team 35 weeks a year and managed a 3.75 gpa. It can be done, but it is hard.

Now I have decided to go back to school again!
I will be taking A&P1, Dev Psy and Ess. Nutrition over the summer session then hopefully A&P 2 and Micro. bio. during the fall to finish my pre-reqs.