Concern: Age Discrimination for a New 58 RN - Page 3

I love how all you young whippersnappers seem to think the OP is anywhere close to retirement, lol. Did you guys see that congress is poised to raise the entry into medicare services to 67 next session? So 67 for entry to medicare and 72 to collect social security; sounds like the OP (and all of you) may be working for quite a while yet.

OP, go for it. good luck.

I agree that it all depends on networking and willingness to work. I am 45, 2nd career RN, had a job offer while still in school, because I worked as a PCT during school and had met lots of people. I kept my previous FT job also, so no loans.

Hello, I will start our program in August and will be 41. I took my prereqs with a man in his early 60s. Many of my study buddies were older than I was at the time. I like being an older student. I have the experience of raising three children, losing pregnancies and going through ivf; I have taken care of my mother who has gone through depression, prescription drug withdrawls, ischemic attack of her gut which lead to iliostomy, scleroderma, kidney disease, blood pressure issues just to name a few. I have been with a friend who sadly died from glioma and was blessed to be with them through hospice. I may not be 20 but I bring a level of life experience that will serve me well.

I am sure you too have life experience that will serve you in a positive manner. I do not worry about a shortage. I do not worry what other people think of me as an older student as I cannot control the thoughts and feelings of others.

Even now I have a friend that does not understand why on earth I want to continue with school. My reply," I can appreciate your point of view however this is my dream." I have been on this journey for ten years and to me the journey is just as much fun as the end result. As soon as I started living this way, the worries just left and I can focus on the joy of today.

There are those that will want to rain on your parade. Just ignore them. Live your own life, going after your own dreams and desires and the rest will fall into place as they should.

I place my life and trust in God. I know that wherever I am, it is where I am supposed to be and so that also takes away my stress. Even if the situation is not a good one, I try to take from it the lesson being offered and that makes me a stronger person moving forward.

I am happy to say, my mother, although having the iliostomy, is living a healthy and happy life and I am grateful I was able to go through that journey with her even though terribly hard.

sorry for the rambles. I think you can and should go for it!

Best of luck!

It is great your thinking of nursing, but age discrimination does exist in all fields nowadays. Also there doesn't appear to be a shortage but a glut. Also the BSN is heavily being recruited for enrty level into nursing where I live. The applications all ask are you a BSN or they want you to have a BSN within 5 years. This isn't just in the hospitals it is becoming entry level now because there is a glut of nurses.

I worked for the same facility 3 different times. Always considered an asset until I quit this last time after having surgery which has giving me a weight lifting limit for life. I furthered my education to a MSN in hopes that I could secure a job as a resource nurse or nurse educator. I have interviewed more than once for different positionwith this company and they chose others over me. One I am 60. The policy in this facility is if you work a cummulative of 25 years you are eligible for life-time insurance, and eligible for their retirement programs including long term disability. I think they can only except me as a floor charge nurse. I find this very disheartening. I have student loans out of the wasoo and have gone on several interviews with local companies, but have not heard back from them. I currently work at a critical care access facility 12 hour shift on a prn bais. This shifts are killing me. The whole purpose of obtaining a MSN was to continue to work at a less physical stressful position.
My thoughts are as long as you want to work the floor as an older nurse there are jobs out there, but I am not sure transition is so easy.

There most certainly is Age discrimination in Nursing. There is alot of prejudice against older nurses.

We are ASSumed to have chronic health problems and will drive the precious employers insurance rates up. The employers should start taking that up with the insurance companies and stop taking it out on the nursing staff.


We are inept, feebel and incompetent so therefore we feel we have to "work rings" around the younger nurses- that in itself is discriminatory. Why should we work any differently than another person because of our age?

As older nurses - we were raised in a different generation which gave us different work ethics, we don't all take pharam every day to keep the "old ticker" going. In fact some of us don't take any meds at all. But this new found discrimatory attitude in our employablity just might give us cause to need medication for a chronic health problem- HTN, MI's, CVA's, Depression,brought on by unemployment and discrimination.

One thing I want to bring to the attention of nurses who are looking at taking jobs which pay less. Social Security is set up where your monthly social security benefit is based on the last five years of employment. What I am saying you may have made 70,000 a year for 30 years, but if you drop down to a low paying job say making 15,000 a year for the last 5 years you work, the government bases your social security benefits on the 15,000 a year. They only consider your last 5 years of employment when doling out those checks.
Back to discrimination: I find it ironic that places are not wanting to hire older nurses who are generally a fountain of information, but the federal government requires us to work till we are 66 to get benefits and 70 to receive full benefits. I guess it is a way to save money by killing us by forcing us to stay in the job market doing strenous physical work. (Thats meant to be a joke folks, or is it)

Actually, the social security benefit is based on an average of your 35 highest paid working years, not the last five.

Social Security Publications

"Many people wonder how their benefit is figured. Social Security benefits are based on your lifetime earnings. Your actual earnings are adjusted or “indexed” to account for changes in average wages since the year the earnings were received. Then Social Security calculates your average indexed monthly earnings during the 35 years in which you earned the most. We apply a formula to these earnings and arrive at your basic benefit, or “primary insurance amount” (PIA). This is how much you would receive at your full retirement age — 65 or older, depending on your date of birth."

Age discrimination is alive and well. I don't see it as much for people still in their 40's, but I have noticed it in people in the mid-50's and up. We had a doctor tell one of our nurses that she was "too old" to be a nurse~ she was in her 60's and completely competent. I have heard younger nurses and younger CNA's refer to older nurses as "the old nurse." I have even heard a patient refer to a nurse as "that old one!"

Age-ist comments should be reported to the government entities- EEOC, just like a racist comment would be.

I say reporting those comments to a government entity because the workforce/employer management of today doesn't seem to do anything about age-ist comments only encourage them in the form their hiring practices and the way older employees are treated on the job. these employers now a days seem to perpetuate a climate of discrimination. If the comments were of a racist nature and reported to the employer or managment that person making the comment would be severly dealt with- terminated.

Age-ist comments seem to be very acceptable in the employment world.

I am speaking only from the nursing employment world, I have not tried to seek employment outside of nursing.

And oddly enought I have only seen this discriminatory treatment of older nurses come from the civilian sector( civilian hospitals and LTC facitlites) I did have the opportunity to work in a federal- military healthcare facility- an "DID NOT" find this age discriminatory climate at all. I have attended many orientations in my 32 years in the civilian hospital and LTC world and one orientation in a federal/military medical facility- The federal facility specifically, explicitily and graphically defines and gives 'in your face' examples of age discrimination. The federal HR dept gives a fabulous orientation on the EEOC policies. it is mandatory and part of the orientation check off sheet that you attend this orientation session. Your supervisor makes the appointment for you to attend this session and it is called "EEOC training"- the session is all day in length and covers all the types of discrimination so every employee from the bottom up to the top is on the same page. Their orientation process far exceeds the civilian employment sector. This makes for a far more superior workplace environment. No federally employed doctor or nursing management would ever tell a nurse'Your too old". And judging from the orientation session- I wouldn't want to push the envelope.

What is wrong with the civilian HR dept's? Talk about poor job performance. This lack of knowledge and awareness goes all the way up to the top levels of civilan employment