Nursing a new fad in a bad economy

[blkrose]

I apologize in advance if something similiar has already been posted.

It seems like I always do things late in life and always at the wrong time. Ive always had a strong interest in the medical field, my first career choice since the age of 10 was to become a Pediatrician. I have so many excuses as to why I didnt become sucessful but the truth is my focus just wasnt there.

Now at 30 I feel like I do have the focus and since recently being laid off have decided that this is the oppurtunity for me to return to school and actually finish. Interesting enough when I was younger I never entertained becoming a nurse because I felt it was too common, a choice that everyone thought of for you as a woman, I know, I know :smackingf However now Im trying to get into a program that seems like EVERYONE suddenly has the focus for as well whether because its a field they were always interested in or they feel its job security.

For the most part Ive gotten over the depression of wasting so many years not completing school and feeling like Im too old to go back but now theres the discouragement of sooo many pursuing a field that doesnt seem to be hiring any new graduates . I read an article a couple of days ago concerning this, in part the article was saying that schools are cashing in on the phrase "nursing shortage" when this is really no longer true. Older nurses that have reached retirement age are no longer retiring because of the economy and hospitals are not hiring because they do not want or have not budgeted to train nursing graduates:banghead: .

How do you feel about going back to school, spending time studying and possibly accruing more student loan debt only to not be able to find a job after you graduate? Or are you just hoping that the year or two it takes you to finish that the economy would have turned around by then?............Are we wasting even more of our time

[cad2nurse]

I am 47 and starting clinicals in a week… I didn’t want to be a nurse when I was younger.. I didn’t want any of “those female jobs” so I always worked in male dominated positions. I actually started trying to go back to get my prereqs several years ago and then when my job went away.. it was time to do this thing that has been on my heart for some time. I have no idea how or why or anything else, I just know this is where I am supposed to be. I will have loans of course and I will be an “older” graduate. Some days I get scared by it all but I know that when I graduate I will have a job. How do I know that? Not sure. I guess because I figure that everyone will see that I bring more to the table than my education, I bring my life experience which is a lot. I try to not worry about the future, it will take care of itself. I try to learn as much as I can so I can be the best I can be.

It may sound corny to many but the new reality is there are many like me out there and we really do want to go into this profession and it really isn’t about the pay.

[blkrose]

Thank you for responding cad2nurse, everything you said makes perfect sense and with your confidence I can see you succeeding. Im sure if I adopt the same perspective I will too. Thanks Again

[Saysfaa]

how do you feel about going back to school, spending time studying and possibly accruing more student loan debt only to not be able to find a job after you graduate?

i love going back to school. it is an enjoyable experience in and of itself. i enjoy studying and was really wasting my time putsing around before i started taking classes. i'm not taking out any debt... i worked a burger flipping type job until i'd saved up enough to see me through while taking prereqs one or two at a time. if i don't find a job after i graduate, i'll still not feel like i have wasted my time or money. i'll take care of family or live native style at a mission somewhere or something.

or are you just hoping that the year or two it takes you to finish that the economy would have turned around by then? i don't think the economy will turn around in the next couple of years. at best, i think it will do an anemic wafting around, maybe.

i agree that my timing is bad, though. i've been watching the Nursing Jobs listed on the local job sites (hospital and other) dry up ever more rapidly as the semesters go by. at first, that was scary. it is less so now that i've adjusted my expectations from knowing jobs were plentiful to knowing i'll need to be fully prepared and even then have some alternatives ready.

i have no regrets despite the bad timing. my first career (as mom) has been worth all the resulting bad timing concerning my second career.

[Flying ICU RN]

Or are you just hoping that the year or two it takes you to finish that the economy would have turned around by then?............Are we wasting even more of our time

See my post on another thread here.