anyone else changing careers to go into nursing?

~Taylor~ · Oct 1, 2008

I feel the same way!! I'm 23 yrs old and I've been doing administrative/clerical work for the past 3 years and I'm beginning to grow bored with it!! I naturally enjoy helping people and I like the flexibility that a nursing career can provide. Also, I've heard that healthcare jobs can survive the recession we're in right now!!!

I'm going to get a CNA license for right now while going to school for the LPN or RN (haven't decided yet).

Brian 77 · Feb 23, 2010

Trust me! You are not alone. I'm in exactly the same boat. I'm a Finance major, actually finished my BS degree back in December 2009. I've known for a very long time that I wanted to be part of the medical field, but never did anything about it. I stayed in these corporate positions that I absolutely hated. I job hopped from one job to another hoping that one day I would actually like what I did..... NOT. Now that I'm 32 years old, I've decided to go for my dream....which is to become a nurse. I know it's not going to be easy, but atleast I'm helping others, making a decent salary, and have flexibility as far as departments and scheduling. I cannot wait to get started. Sitting at a desk all day long staring at a computer was killing me. It even started to take a toll on my vision. I'm so happy to put all of that corporate BS behind me and pursue something that I actually want to do with my life. Good luck, I'm sure if you really want to be a nurse you will make it happen! Hang in there...

SarahZ · Apr 28, 2010

I am so glad to have found this blog! This May I will be finishing my BS in Environmental Science and have known for the past year that it is not my calling. I worked previously as a dental assistant and was considering going into nursing but let others talk me out of it before applying to my current undergrad major. Now, I know that you have to listen to your heart and not what others tell you when they are trying to detour you from what you feel you are really meant to do. I miss working with patients all day and being busy. I do not like field work and sometimes wish the trees would talk back and at least tell me "thank you" for helping conserve them. In the environmental field, it is diverse and you don't really have to sit at a desk all day. But, it requires lab work, intensive research, and hardly any human interaction. Time goes by really slow while working in the field or lab. So, with this being said, next fall I will be starting my pre-req's for, hopefully, acceptance into an accelerated BSN program. Has anyone finished a program like this? It takes four semester but it consists of two summers, fall, and spring semester. Roughly a year to finish. I am not sure what nursing field I would like to work in yet. Does anyone have a suggestion of how to figure this out? Thanks in advance for any advice!!

FSUNurse2b · Jan 10, 2012

Wow, it looks like this thread goes back a ways. I am actually "considering" a career change. I am 32 years old and have been working in the corporate world now for 6 years. I have a BBA in Finance and an MBA in Finance. I work in the banking industry as a Portfolio Manager. In other words, I manage assets for both personal and institutional clients. I will not lie, the money is very good, but not necessarily rewarding. In my profession, I constantly feel like I am trying to be somebody I am not. I do not have any sense of satisfaction, i.e., helping people. I have a base salary with a yearly bonus, so I do not get commissions, but there is always that "sales" aspect of my job. In the banking industry it is all about how much money you can manage for clients. It is extremely cut throat and there is a lot of needless small talk about issues that frankly do not matter. Both of my sisters are RNs and my wife is currently studying to become an RN. I have been in the hospital setting on numerous occassions and have heard countless stories from my sisters and wife. Of course being an RN or NP has its negatives, as does any profession, but at the end of the day, one needs to ask his/herself, "How much satisfaction did I get from my day at the job". I can honestly say that I have a hard time answering that question in my current profession in the world of finance, despite making decent money. It is certainly going to be a stretch to work toward my BSN and sacrifices will need to be made, i.e., my wife and I will be without my salary for at least a year. But I always try and remember that money is not everything. We will continue to have problems with it and without it. For these very reasons, I am considering starting an accelerated BSN program and work towards becoming an NP. Anyone out there reading this, please let me know if I'm crazy for considering this.

Thanks!

amyrae76 · Jan 10, 2012

Hi JasonPB,

I'm the original poster, and I wanted to encourage you to go for it. I went through with it, and now I've been a nurse for 6 1/2 years. I totally get everything you said about the corporate world, and I've never regretted leaving it for a second. Like you said, every job has its negatives, but if you can work in a field you truly find meaningful, it can make all the difference at the end of a rough day.

So the answer is, NO! You're NOT crazy for considering this! :)

amy

FSUNurse2b · Jan 11, 2012

Hi Amy,

Wow, you first posted about your career change back in 2003 and here I am asking the same question! Thank you so much for your advice. You are so right, it is just hard to find any "meaning" within the corporate world. Kind of a big move for me, considering I've been doing this for 6 years and have my M.B.A. Oh well, sometimes it takes working in one profession to realize that its not for you.

Thanks again.

FSUNurse2b · Jan 12, 2012

Brian,

How did things work out in regards to nursing? Feel free to read my post from this thread a few days ago....

Jason

signet, LPN · Jan 12, 2012

I see all of the enthusiastic responses and it makes me think of how I was back in 2005. I got laid off from a furniture factory and went to school for LPN. I had such high hopes. Then I started working in long term care. Taking care of 30 pts. Getting hit, spit on, sworn at, ect.. by those same people I was trying to help. Getting blamed by management for not being able to accomplish the impossible. Working every holiday and every other weekend and missing out on family time. I got plantar faciitis and two bad knees. I attribute this to chasing dementia patients up and down the hall for eight to ten hours a day, while trying to get my work done and fill out endless paperwork.

Finally, I had enough. There were a few rewarding moments, but they were few and far between. I was offered an office job and thanked god for the chance to get out of LTC. I was bored stiff sitting in front of a computer all day, but it beat the heck out of the nursing home. Now, my father is ill and needs constant care. I will give up this office job the end of Jan to become a nurse again. This time I'll only have one patient. I pray that we can qualify for a program through the VA that will pay me something to do this. It will be much less than what I'm making now. Nursing can be rewarding, but it can also eat you up and spit you out. I just think you should look at the good as well as the bad before changing careers voluntarily. These days many people are changing them involuntarily. My time in LTC was when there was an abundance of jobs to be had. I'd ahte to think of how things run with a shortage of jobs.

baskew64 · Aug 22, 2012

Hi folks. Lots of posts here! I read the first few...then the last few. I'm sure I missed a lot of great comments, but have the overall idea (I think).

I'm like several of you, but I have been in the corporate world now for over 20 years. I'm not at a point where I can make a career change just yet (gotta get my kids through college), but I am thinking about it. I have to get away from the desk job eventually.

Nursing has been popping up in my mind for a few years. I can't even remember how/when/why, but it keeps coming up.

I really am only scratching the surface of looking into this. But I thought I would post here partly to see what people think of this as a career change a little bit later in life (hey, I'm not that old!). I saw where several men posted in the past year about making this career change...any older (late 40s) guys like myself doing the same thing? Or does anyone know someone not on this site who has made a similar career change?

Also, as I'm digging around for basic info...what are some good online resources? Honestly...I'm just starting and don't know the difference between an CNA, AA, LPN and RN (well I sort of do, but you know what I mean).

Thanks!

Bryan

rammstein · Aug 23, 2012

I am so mad at myself for not majoring in nursing when I got my bachelor's the first time! I've always been interested in medicine, but doing it as a career just seemed too scary I guess. Now that I've sat at a desk for a couple years, I've found myself going back to school for nursing. It would have been so much easier to do this all at once back then, but I guess everything happens for a reason and who knows how different my life would be now if I'd changed my major six years ago.