Changing to a non-nursing career?

mtngrl, ASN, RN · Jan 28, 2013

I am still browsing the classifieds daily but have not found anything I would apply to yet. I hate feeling so trapped in nursing. I have some small debts to pay off and I feel like I can't even quit until I get that done. So you can believe I am living as thrifty as possible and making the biggest payments I can so that I won't feel so financially strapped when I do finally leave. Even in case management there is still huge liability which is one reason I hate nursing. And the workload is enormous. It's the last area I thought I would try before I would be totally done with this career. I don't handle stress well and I also think about my job and the situations at it like 24/7 including my days off! I can never enjoy time away from work because I take it with me everywhere. I really have NO idea what kind of job I will end up with one day!

olive11 · Feb 19, 2013

I'm glad to have found this conversation stream. I'm an LVN with 18 yrs experience and a bachelor degree in a non-nursing field. I had hoped my degree would help me find something I enjoyed AND good to very good pay as well. The harsh reality for me is that the nursing background actually held me back in moving into a different career field. Potential employers saw it and decided I wouldn't be a good fit because my scope of experience seemed so narrow. I'm now working in a nursing position, office based in a cubicle with a headset 8 hours a day, Mon-Fri, day shift. I make good money ($42K + benefits) but at a cost to my personal satisfaction.

A friend linked me up with a professional resume writer who revamped my resume to highlight my strengths - we all have them as nurses - while still including the clinical aspect. Things like organizational skills, leadership, supervisory and case management skills and even educational experience. When you think about it, we have all those skills and experiences that we utilize on a daily basis as a successful nurse. I'm looking at moving more towards education for adults as my future goal. I'm already 40 which may seem to be late in the game but these days with people working until their 80's, I think I'm doing pretty good and not overly concerned about the age thing. Especially since my past experience coupled with learning new skills (computer and technology focused) can help me to land a job that will fit most, if not all, of my needs AND wants for a career.

FYI: most public libraries offer FREE training in Excel, Word, and basic computer usage which are a must for employment now. For those of you lacking in those skills, I strongly recommend getting them. Also, sit down and write down your strengths and interests ex: organizing, research, creative writing, etc including hobbies you enjoy so you can get a good idea of what it is you'd like to do. With the help of the resume writer and some introspection and prayer, I feel ready to move into something that will make me happy and provide me with a cash positive life. Best of luck to you all!

rnixon77 · Feb 20, 2013

I feel some of where you sound like you are coming from. I am in dispair over the sweeping under the rug of certain things in nursing. What is harder is when the unemployment is denied and with 7 kids to support through the fiscal cliff, I just don't know how we are going to make it. I am fed up with medical-surgical specialty rehabilitation and long-term care (I still love geriatrics, I just can't do it anymore). I feel sorry for the nurses who have been working all their lives and still get treated undesirably by administration. I think of all of the patients and their families you have helped, and my heart goes out to you for the endurance and self-torture. Not to mention social torture. I've missed out on so much time with my kids, and have lived in poverty with my wages as an RN between 20-23$ per hour (I really thought these stories are from the dark ages of nursing), and getting reprimanded for overtime. I am hoping something will renew my passion for working as a skilled nurse. It was the hardest thing I have ever done for me to go through the nursing program with all the kids while working for very poor wages. I am going through vocational rehabilitation to try to get help with legal nurse consultant certification, now that I have no hearing in my right ear from mastoiditis. I was fired from my job, it is the most embarassing thing I have gone through. I have a hard core work ethic, one that can drive me for 12 hours back to back, but I can't do that to myself. I enjoyed your posting. I hope you find something you like.

-R.Nixon, RN (Nurse becca)

Rntr · Feb 20, 2013

Would you mind sending me the name of the person that worked on your resume" as I too am looking for a professional remake of my resume' which is extensive. Thanks

Appreciate the help.

kayak007 · Feb 28, 2013

To mtngrl: I know you don't like it...but renew your license...I don't like insurance...but I keep renewing my license....I used to be a teacher, and the only license I have now is my NJ license which I received before No Child Left Behind went into effect...so it will not expire. I am not a nurse. I have tried countless of times to be a nurse...I now do not really want to be a nurse (and this is a separate story which I do not have time to type that has all the good elements of a Cloak and Dagger story). There is nothing about nursing schools that I trust, anymore....thanks for the insight. Cover your bottom, mtngrl, its rough out there, even outside of nursing.

mtngrl, ASN, RN · May 10, 2013

Well I went and got a new job....but yup, it's still an RN job lol. Will continue in case management. Maybe I will like this one better. I always say I am going to leave and then take another RN job. That darn money! Gotta have it.

My dream job is to work in a campground. Think I have to save a LOT before I could ever do that lol lol lol.

ceccia · Jan 9, 2014

to the OP, i'm so glad you found something that works for you! :) That sounds ideal to have the same schedule as your kids...and the part about being happy to wake up in the morning says volumes. I really think that how you feel when you wake up in the morning is one of the ultimate tests of whether or not you're on the right track.

I'm also in the process of getting out of nursing. I made a thread about it on the general nursing forum, basically i just wanted to warn anyone who might read it - don't make the same mistake I did- DON'T go into nursing if you hate everything about the job and are only doing it for the money (there isn't much and it's decreasing every day), the job security (there isn't any, and the nursing shortage is a myth), or because you're being pressured into it and feel obligated even though you know in your heart it isn't right for you.

Anyway, I think there's this pervasive myth when it comes to work, that you can only make money doing something unpleasant, or that you have to choose between decent pay and a horrible job OR crappy wages and a decent job. I know I thought like this ever since I started working grunt jobs at 14. I'm really trying to change the way I think about money and possibilities now, and it's hard to change such an ingrained belief!

As I said in my other thread, I'm a classical violinist and have a bachelors of music from a well-known conservatory. I then went into nursing because everyone was telling me i needed to "get a real job" and "artists never make any money". well...I recently went from full time nursing to PRN and am starting to build up my contacts again in the music world. I actually net the exact same amount of money per hour, on average, teaching violin lessons and performing gigs, as what I made with my FT nursing job.

Try to challenge your limiting beliefs about money, and about what you think you need to put up with in order to make money. Best of luck to each of you; I hope you all come back later this year with an excited update on how you made it out of nursing and into something you enjoy. i know you can do it.

FromMars · Jan 16, 2014

I, too, am a very experienced LPN (21 years), who is absolutely DONE with nursing. Just recently, I started a job as a Para Educator in an Elementary school in the Special Ed Dept. I love it and have no plans to return to nursing. The pay is lower but I'm able to have the same schedule as my 7 yr old. Of course it takes money to pay the bills, but personally, being happy at a job is priceless.

Good luck!

notsurewhattodo · Jan 20, 2014

I was all set to get back into nursing but an opportunity came my way to work for an Optometrist and I could not be happier! Daytime hours. Evenings, weekends and holidays off. Tues-Fri work week. It doesn't pay as well as nursing does but I'm so much happier than I ever was in nursing. :)

mtngrl, ASN, RN · Jan 23, 2014

I have looked into working for an optometrist but found they require certification to be an assistant. What do you do there and did you have to go back to school? I really can't go back to school since I work full time, and I have already checked, there are no online programs around here for really anything decent.

notsurewhattodo · Jan 24, 2014

Mtngrl I sent you a PM.

passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 25, 2014

Ceccia

You are on the right track and at least it didn't take you many more precious years to figure it out. I found myself in the same place as you and it took a whole lot of soul searching to find my way out. I agree with what you said about limiting beliefs. I mentioned to a co-worker - who is unhappy in her choice right now - if she would consider thinking outside of the box to a non-nursing career and you would have thought I asked for her first born!

Seriously in nursing school do they secretly program us into thinking there is nothing else we can do outside of nursing? Congratulations on your new path and Good luck to you.