Thinking about becoming a nurse...at 40!

brandiep1982 · Apr 16, 2015

Yay! Good for you!!! I think it is a great idea to volunteer. I wouldn't let anyone telling me something isnt for me stop me from doing it. You may find that it is something you absolutely love, or hate. But only you can figure that out. Think about the worst case scenarion.... you end up hating nursing. You could just go back to interior design. Not too much of a loss there. Best case: you love it. That is valuable beyond measure.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Apr 16, 2015

BEFORE you make such a life-altering decision, shadow a nurse for a full 12-hour shift. Please, for your own good.

I personally love nursing and have been a nurse nearly 4 decades, still as a bedside practitioner. But you don't seem to have a good grasp of what a nurse's workday entails. It would benefit you immensely to do so.

FutureNurse305 · Apr 16, 2015

GO FOR IT !!! Belive have faith don't let nothing stop you .

Campfire · Apr 16, 2015

I am 48 and returning to nursing school! Go for it!

margaretann · Apr 16, 2015

BEFORE you make such a life-altering decision, shadow a nurse for a full 12-hour shift. Please, for your own good.
I personally love nursing and have been a nurse nearly 4 decades, still as a bedside practitioner. But you don't seem to have a good grasp of what a nurse's workday entails. It would benefit you immensely to do so.

I really like this idea. So far I am in the very early stage of my student career. I met with the head of admissions and figured out what I needed to do to apply. Ick, and then there is putting my two weeks notice in at my current job of 12 years. These steps have consumed me and I'm already signed up for my classes.

I have to finish my prerequisites by Fall 15 & I won't be able to start the RN program until Fall 16. So, I really really want to volunteer. And I like you idea about the 12 hour shift--and you're right! I have no idea what that going to be like! I really like your idea. I will look into as soon as I am not working. Well, I might take a couple weeks to do some hardcore gardening ;-)

Thanks everyone :-)

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Apr 16, 2015

I really like this idea. So far I am in the very early stage of my student career. I met with the head of admissions and figured out what I needed to do to apply. Ick, and then there is putting my two weeks notice in at my current job of 12 years. These steps have consumed me and I'm already signed up for my classes.
I have to finish my prerequisites by Fall 15 & I won't be able to start the RN program until Fall 16. So, I really really want to volunteer. And I like you idea about the 12 hour shift--and you're right! I have no idea what that going to be like! I really like your idea. I will look into as soon as I am not working. Well, I might take a couple weeks to do some hardcore gardening ;-)
Thanks everyone :-)

If you REALLY want to thank me you can come over and garden at my house. :)

Another thing you MUST be aware of is how competitive entry to nursing programs currently is. Just because you finish your prerequisite course work does NOT mean you are admitted to the nursing program. Most programs have hundreds of qualified candidates that are turned away annually, and many waiting lists are years long. Full disclosure and all!

margaretann · Apr 16, 2015

Oh I know. And I love a little competition ;-)

I'm applying to Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI. Here's the scoop: they just finished converting admission from a waiting list (3 years!), to selecting top two hundred (they use a point system) twice a year.

I have a degree from HFCC and a 3.9 GPA. Which is huge points. I also get points for having a bachelors degree, for volunteering, and for scoring high on the HESI test.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Apr 16, 2015

Like MaryJean, I'm going to be telling you this from the perspective of a working nurse, not a nursing student. The perspectives will be quite different, as you can see on this thread!

When you are a student, you are full of fresh promise and starry eyes (not a put-down, it's how it ALWAYS is, with every student, and probably should be). The philosophy of "don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't do it" only goes so far, though. Sometimes, you SHOULD listen if someone is telling you that you shouldn't do something.

I don't know your sister or her daughter, but they know YOU. Perhaps your sister is one of those Negative Nancies who just hates being a nurse and therefore thinks you will, too. Or, perhaps she likes what she does, but recognizes that what she knows of your personality, characteristics, whatever, that you are unlikely to be happy taking the same route. I don't know, but it's worth considering. As a 'for instance', I have a family full of nurses and doctors, and when my sister voiced the idea that she might go to nursing school, it was a pretty unanimous "oh NO you don't!" NOT because we didn't like what we did, NOT because she wasn't a good student. But because we KNEW she would most certainly be unhappy as a nurse....if she even managed to get through the program. She is now quite happy, and quite successful in a career that is VERY "not nursing" and she now knows it would have been a mistake to go against the advice to Just.Say.No. to nursing school.

Anyway, just a thought.

As for the rest, MMJ has some good info for you: school is competitive and you should go in with your eyes wide open. You might be on a wait list for a couple of years. Upon graduation, there may or may not be a job for you, and it may or may not be in an area of nursing that holds any interest for you. Probably the biggest complaint we see from new nurses on AN is "no one told me it would be this hard to find a job" or "I had no idea I would be doing XXX all day! This isn't why I went to school!" And so on.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your endeavors! :)

brandiep1982 · Apr 16, 2015

Like MaryJean, I'm going to be telling you this from the perspective of a working nurse, not a nursing student. The perspectives will be quite different, as you can see on this thread!
When you are a student, you are full of fresh promise and starry eyes (not a put-down, it's how it ALWAYS is, with every student, and probably should be). The philosophy of "don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't do it" only goes so far, though. Sometimes, you SHOULD listen if someone is telling you that you shouldn't do something.
I don't know your sister or her daughter, but they know YOU. Perhaps your sister is one of those Negative Nancies who just hates being a nurse and therefore thinks you will, too. Or, perhaps she likes what she does, but recognizes that what she knows of your personality, characteristics, whatever, that you are unlikely to be happy taking the same route. I don't know, but it's worth considering. As a 'for instance', I have a family full of nurses and doctors, and when my sister voiced the idea that she might go to nursing school, it was a pretty unanimous "oh NO you don't!" NOT because we didn't like what we did, NOT because she wasn't a good student. But because we KNEW she would most certainly be unhappy as a nurse....if she even managed to get through the program. She is now quite happy, and quite successful in a career that is VERY "not nursing" and she now knows it would have been a mistake to go against the advice to Just.Say.No. to nursing school.
Anyway, just a thought.
As for the rest, MMJ has some good info for you: school is competitive and you should go in with your eyes wide open. You might be on a wait list for a couple of years. Upon graduation, there may or may not be a job for you, and it may or may not be in an area of nursing that holds any interest for you. Probably the biggest complaint we see from new nurses on AN is "no one told me it would be this hard to find a job" or "I had no idea I would be doing XXX all day! This isn't why I went to school!" And so on.
Whatever you decide, good luck in your endeavors! :)

I have to disagree with all of this. No one "KNOWS" what anyone else would be good at. Until they try it even that person can't know for sure. And the perspective being different has nothing to do with me being a student. My mom and my sister in law are both nurses. I went with my mom to work numerous times growing up and I still visit her there once in a while. She is also a nursing instructor (professionalism and geriatrics). I have witnessed people told they shouldn't be a nurse, by friends/family that were nurses. They were wrong.

Now, following a nurse is not a terrible idea. Just don't not do something because other people think they can predict how you would perform in a particular area. Being a professional nurse does not give one insight on your capabilities.

julee1414 · Apr 16, 2015

You only live ONCE......DO IT!!! You can always reinvent yourself again later.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Apr 16, 2015

I have to disagree with all of this. ........

And you are free to do so. Your opinion, as I expected, would be different than mine, and mine will be different from someone else's. Based on what you wrote, your experiences differed from mine. You found that your family would have been wrong in telling someone "don't do it"; in my experience they were dead-on right.

OP wanted feedback and thoughts, and I offered it, so Good Luck to you!