Mature Nurses over 50

U.S.A. Michigan

Published

Hi,

I'm taking a poll......who is still in Nursing and 50 or over and what field are you in!!

Sue age 56 :chuckle

Specializes in Med/Surg/Ortho/HH/Radiology-Now Retired.

I'm 56 and retired. LOVING retirement! Went through a phase of questioning whether or not to return on a casual basis. Got over that and am happily enjoying being totally my own boss! :) Have been fortunate to have done some travelling and will do more in the future. I worked agency in the last couple of years prior to retiring. Enjoyed that but wouldn't wish to do it as a permanent position as some folks do.

Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

:) I'm 50+ & was recently liberated to pursue other opportunities.

They decided they didn't need both a nurse supervisor AND a nurse manager at an ambulatory care office serving 200-300 patients per day.

Sometimes the Gods kick us out of the airplane & force us to pursue directions we'd gotten too lazy to pursue on our own.

Plan to start/restart my master's in May. :balloons:

I needed to read these posts. I am almost 42 years old and finishing up my first semester of nursing school. I am the oldest student in my clinical rotation by many years. I think they are all younger than 25 years old. My older friends that I had in the first 7.5 weeks of nursing school are all dropping out. It made me feel strange, to hear they are. I just love the nursing field, been an Aide for years and this is my first chance to go to school and become an R.N., it is good to know that there are many women and men over age 40, enjoying nursing. I have a great clinical instructor who has been a nurse for years and she has taught me so much in this first semester, but every now and then...a patient will ask me how old I am, and ask why I am in school at my age. My older friends were all age 48 and above, and are quitting because they say they cannot handle the stress. I agree it is a challenge, but I am loving it. Well congrats to all of you, I will be looking for someone like you when I am a new R.N. and need some guidance. I also enjoy seeing the different departments you all work in. I think I will like the ICU, but must experience all of my rotations to find out about the other departments yet. Once again I needed to read this.

Specializes in oncology, surgical stepdown, ACLS & OCN.
I needed to read these posts. I am almost 42 years old and finishing up my first semester of nursing school. I am the oldest student in my clinical rotation by many years. I think they are all younger than 25 years old. My older friends that I had in the first 7.5 weeks of nursing school are all dropping out. It made me feel strange, to hear they are. I just love the nursing field, been an Aide for years and this is my first chance to go to school and become an R.N., it is good to know that there are many women and men over age 40, enjoying nursing. I have a great clinical instructor who has been a nurse for years and she has taught me so much in this first semester, but every now and then...a patient will ask me how old I am, and ask why I am in school at my age. My older friends were all age 48 and above, and are quitting because they say they cannot handle the stress. I agree it is a challenge, but I am loving it. Well congrats to all of you, I will be looking for someone like you when I am a new R.N. and need some guidance. I also enjoy seeing the different departments you all work in. I think I will like the ICU, but must experience all of my rotations to find out about the other departments yet. Once again I needed to read this.

Hi rntoben2008,

I just read your thread and admire you and wish you luck in your career. I was 41 almost 42 years old when I finished nursing school and I'm still working full time on a stepdown unit. I too always enjoyed nursing, there is always something to learn and it is never boring. I just turned 57 in February, I hope to cut my hours back in a few years. Good Luck to you!

scooterRn52:welcome:

Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

I needed to read these posts. I am almost 42 years old and finishing up my first semester of nursing school. I am the oldest student in my clinical rotation by many years. ... My older friends were all age 48 and above, and are quitting because they say they cannot handle the stress. I agree it is a challenge, but I am loving it.

A career change is daunting at any age.

While you may be older than everyone else (we had abunch in their 30's when I was in school), when you finish you'll still be younger than the average working RN

GoodLuck

Specializes in L&D,NICU,PP,Nursery.

I'm 50 and currently work on a postpartum unit, 12 hour shifts. I'm pretty burned out and would like to change careers.

I'm 50 and currently work on a postpartum unit, 12 hour shifts. I'm pretty burned out and would like to change careers.

Have you considered going in to a different aspect of nursing? there are so many different roles to choose from and I have heard those 12 hour shifts make for burn out.

Specializes in L&D,NICU,PP,Nursery.

Yes, I have, but I don't have a BSN, so it's pretty much impossible to do that around here.

Yes, I have, but I don't have a BSN, so it's pretty much impossible to do that around here.

Well, I know my advice will sound far fetched, but consider going back to school, even if it is just one class per semester, a lot of classes for RN to BSN are online now. It will open some doors for you. I wish you lot's of happiness and good luck, don't burn out yet, we need you.

Close to 50, I still love nursing. Been out of the military 2 yrs, prior to 12 years of nursing in the civilian world. I'm into the travel nursing whenever I get a chance (I'm 18 months married). I still love nursing.

Specializes in oncology, surgical stepdown, ACLS & OCN.
I will be 59 in December; have no plans to retire unless my body gives out! I love my job (right now in Chest Pain Center). I have worked nights 98% of my career and would not dream of changing.

:monkeydance:

Good for you!, I hope I can be that optimistic about nsg when I reach 59,

with my mortgage and being single I wil lhave to work until I'm at least 62-66 years old.I have been working evening shift, but I'm going back to nights 7p-7a 3 12hr. shift a week. Don't care for all the politics on days!

scooterRN:monkeydance: 52

Specializes in Cardiac/Med Surg.

hi,

starting my first nursing job at 51.5 years young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

passsd nclex and starting in a intemediate cardiac icu on the 24th, have been in the lab for 30 years! very nervous!!

i will have a preceptor for 6 months and will work t-w-th 7p-7a. so excited after 10 years of 8 hr nights!!

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