Lawyer considering nursing

Nursing Students SRNA

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hello, I just wanted to get some thoughts from RNs and CRNAs. I am a lawyer now working part time. I have small kids. I could either work part time with a family member as a lawyer and try to build up my own area of practice or go get an ABSN degree and then try for CRNA school.

I'm trying to decide if it is worth it. My goal is to work part time so i can be with my kids as much as possible, but also make a good living so i can support them financially.

If I stuck with the lawyer route, i've got a lot of autonomy and control over my schedule. I have read that nurses can do flexible work arrangements but difficult to get those jobs. I'm concerned about the sacrifice i would be making for almost 4 more years of schooling if i go the CRNA route and the possibility of then being in a position of making good money but not being able to work part time for a number of years as a new grad.

I could probably make about the same as an RN doing law, but definitely not as much as CRNA.

Just wondering what those of you who do RN and CRNA think about working hours, conditions, quality of life issues.

I REALLY appreciate all your insight!! It is a difficult decision but I do think that in these economic times, it is easy to think of the other career options as the grass is greener over there.

Please keep the info coming! it is so valuable to making this big decision!

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
Can't really speak to both yet. Until you actually have worked those 12 hour shifts on your feet all day, which are really 13 hours on a good day, you don't really know what it's like. I mean, did you really know what it was like to be an attorney all day/every day in law school?

No, I did not "really know what it was like to be an attorney all day/every day in law school," because unfortunately law school does not give one many opportunities to be in "clinical" (equivalent thereof) situations while in school as one has in nursing school. Additionally, I did not do my due diligence before law school by sitting with lawyers and shadowing them to determine if that was the career path for me. Had I done that, I am sure I would have not gone. However, I DID do this for nursing school, quite thoroughly in fact, and I have had a more positive outcome as a result.

If I had to design my own law school, I would make it 2 years of lecture instead of 3, and the third year would incorporate some sort of internship in a law firm or an environment conducive to learning the craft one intends to practice. What one needs to know to pass a bar exam is plenty addressed within two years; the 3rd year is full of electives and does not enhance lawyering any more in a classroom as it would practicing in the trenches with real clients and real situations. In fact, most law grads enter the law firms not knowing how to do a real estate closing. Roughly compare this to a nurse, who by graduation has learned how to back-prime a piggyback and can do this from day one at work (I am not going to sit here and argue the merits of this analogy, I am just illustrating a general point).

My med-surg clinical and capstone experience has been on the same med-surg floor of our university hospital, on a 1:1 basis the entire time since I am part of a dedicated education unit (DEU). At this point halfway through capstone, I am taking care of 3 patients on my own (half of my preceptor's patients) from beginning to end of shift reports, including vitals and ADLs if time allows. My preceptor supervision continues until I graduate, but right now it's minimal in skills I have done over and over (I no longer need to be watched to fingerstick and administer appropriate lispro; the preceptor checks off my entries on the MAR -- but of course I don't push meds or hang blood as a student). On this floor, I am not a stranger to 14 hour days, they have occurred (with my net pay being $0). This floor also houses some of the sickest in the hospital and frequently get transferred to and from MICU. They are needy, they whine, they demand meds, they will crap on you once you make the final clean wipe. I am the first to admit this is not easy work! But in the end, I confidently say am not as exhausted as I used to be leaving a law firm after an equally long day. And that's interesting to say considering I am 15 years older now.

So I may not know right now what it's like to be a nurse several years into his career, but I do have a better window into what my nursing career will be like as opposed to when I graduated from law school without a mandatory law firm internship under my belt (and competitive paid summer internships just don't cut it because it's luck of the draw to get one and the tasks summer clerks do are not anywhere near what a real lawyer does). The experience is enough for me to know that I prefer pure nursing than pure law practice ... so to some extent, I think I CAN speak to both.

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I was at one time also "about to graduate." I know all about senior practicums. I did mine as a student, and I've done them as a preceptor. Until you are ON YOUR OWN with your own license dealing with all the little things that have absolutely nothing to do with your load of patients for the day, you do NOT know what it is truly like to be a nurse.

I'm not saying you're going to suddenly hate it. For all I know, you will love nursing with all your heart that you'll skip retirement and die during a med pass at age 112.

I am saying that right now, NO, you cannot speak to both. Depending on how long it takes you to pass NCLEX, get a job, and get through orientation and a few months to lose the honeymoon delight, then you can speak to both.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

Can I ask why you want to become a nurse and drop your job as a lawyer? I wanted to become a lawyer for the longest time before I realized that it would be incredibly difficult to get hired, I didn't want to have to beg for a job after getting an advanced degree. What's the motivation for you to go into nursing?

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
I was at one time also "about to graduate." I know all about senior practicums. I did mine as a student, and I've done them as a preceptor. Until you are ON YOUR OWN with your own license dealing with all the little things that have absolutely nothing to do with your load of patients for the day, you do NOT know what it is truly like to be a nurse.

I'm not saying you're going to suddenly hate it. For all I know, you will love nursing with all your heart that you'll skip retirement and die during a med pass at age 112.

I am saying that right now, NO, you cannot speak to both. Depending on how long it takes you to pass NCLEX, get a job, and get through orientation and a few months to lose the honeymoon delight, then you can speak to both.

I ended my last post by saying "to some extent, I think I CAN speak to both." To some extent means I have had at least some exposure to both professions and can say what I can say about it all and how I feel about entering both professions. Yes, when I fully can speak to both is when I have an equal amount of time in nursing as I did in law, roughly 10 years from now.

This is my last post on the matter, because it seems like you want to have the one-up on me on this discussion, and if so then you can have it. I really don't care ... if that is important to you ... fine, you win! I simply agree to disagree with you ...

And alas, you are right once again! I don't plan on retiring anytime soon, EXCEPT that I pictured my exit from this world during end-of-shift report at age 125. During med pass?? How droll ... and a disservice to my patients! :p

Proceed with your flame, I'm done here ... Goodbye!!

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Specializes in Wilderness Medicine, ICU, Adult Ed..

I urge you to avoid the mistake of entering nursing for a better lifestyle. Instead, I suggest that you volunteer at a local hospital, and tell the nurses that you are considering nursing and want to help them out as much as possible. First, they will love you for helping, second, you will see what a life in nursing really involves.

If better hours are your main motivation, I hope that you will reconsider. I think that you may have underestimated how hard it is to become a nurse, and to practice as one. Nursing is not a job one does, it is something that one becomes. Becoming a nurse is a passage that will change who you are, and at the cost of considerable time and effort. Make sure that it is what you want.

Best wishes to you!

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I see a lot of screen names here, but for some reason, I really really love "CountyRat." :)

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What follows is My life, My opinion, My experiences and what works and doesn't work for ME in My little corner of My world.

Dreams of nursing in my head as a kid. RN adn-10 years. BSN then worked 8 more years as BSN.

Loved being an RN but wanted to make wild amounts of $$$ went to law school.

Kept license current but stopped nursing and had a successful career as a trial attorney for 20 years. Took me 7 years as an attorney to catch up to the salary I made as a RN.

After 20 years as lawyer made low six figures.

I did not leave nursing as a disgruntled burn out-I wanted a new challenge.

As a nurse I was an advocate, an empathetic nurturing care-giver, I was a good listener and gave words of comfort.

As an attorney, the expectation was to win at all costs. PUSH PUSH. Plaintiff attorneys tie all of their clients woes in life (depression, disability, job loss, chronic pain, broken home, accelerated aches and pains) to some type of personal/work/product injury for which the Defendant has to pay.

Defense attorneys representing the insurance industry proceed with their main objective being to minimize any and all symptoms, conditions and circumstances being alleged by the victim. Deny, deny, deny. Snoop around, get incriminating video. Wow, got a video of him walking upright-that proves he is not injured! Oh oh- did you see him in the grocery store when he had the strength to lift a can of tuna without assistance-wow-smoking gun, he is not injured and is a big liar. ....Get the picture?

After 20 years, depression, stress related medical conditions and an almost complete breakdown of my spirit, soul and body- I am skipping through the tulips (my R N refresher course) and once again filled with hope and joy.

Hard work? 12 hour shifts, too little time, rigorous requirements, drug test, criminal background, CNE's, titers, vaccinations, blood borne pathogens class, grueling 15 modules R N- refresher course, 120 unpaid hours for a clinical and no guarantee of being offered a nursing position...all of that and I am still proud to return to my first calling, I have a new respect for nurses.

There are no needs for do-overs-no endings, no bad choices, just a lifetime of eyeopening experiences. YEP. All of the above makes me proud to be a registered nurse, proud to have completed law school while working as a nurse full time. Proud to have a 20 year career as a successful trial attorney and grateful that I have choices and at this point in my life, I choose nursing. Just My humble opinion. CRNA salary trumps all of the above.

Follow your own heart-recognize that each variable can make your experience unique, tax law would be different from personal injury. Working in pediatrics may provide a different experience than an OR scrub nurse. Only you can choose for you!

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I would only do the 1 year ABSN. I've got all the prereqs already. My main motivation for nursing was the CRNA track. I was told (by a director of a CRNA program) that it wasn't too difficult to get a job in the ICU for 1 year and go into the CRNA program, although that was 1 year ago when he said that.

My motivation for CRNA was primarily that I enjoy science and regret not having gone to medical school. But, with all your advice and numerous others, I'm reconsidering my position!

I am in a unique situation because my husband is also a lawyer so I could work part-time through his office. I wasn't sure about working together, but when I think of all you guys have said and everyone else I have asked, it sounds like working with him wouldn't be as challenging and afford much more flexibility then nursing. Our hospital has also started cutting costs and positions, and it has become much more difficult to go into ICU.

After a rigorous year in the ABSN + 1 to 3 years trying to get the ICU experience, then 2+ years CRNA, then possibly 2+ more years till I could work "part time", it just doesn't sound as appealing, not to mention my kids will be all grown up!

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Specializes in NICU.

Well I came on here to say something, but you just said it: "...then possibly 2+ more years till I could work "part time", it just doesn't sound as appealing, not to mention my kids will be all grown up!"

If your goal is to have time with your kids while they are little, do NOT go to school - for any career-track! I love being a nurse and you may want to be one later-or maybe a doc, but for now, just work your part-time job and enjoy your babies.

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I would only do the 1 year ABSN. I've got all the prereqs already. My main motivation for nursing was the CRNA track. I was told (by a director of a CRNA program) that it wasn't too difficult to get a job in the ICU for 1 year and go into the CRNA program, although that was 1 year ago when he said that.

My motivation for CRNA was primarily that I enjoy science and regret not having gone to medical school. But, with all your advice and numerous others, I'm reconsidering my position!

I am in a unique situation because my husband is also a lawyer so I could work part-time through his office. I wasn't sure about working together, but when I think of all you guys have said and everyone else I have asked, it sounds like working with him wouldn't be as challenging and afford much more flexibility then nursing. Our hospital has also started cutting costs and positions, and it has become much more difficult to go into ICU.

After a rigorous year in the ABSN + 1 to 3 years trying to get the ICU experience, then 2+ years CRNA, then possibly 2+ more years till I could work "part time", it just doesn't sound as appealing, not to mention my kids will be all grown up!

Ah, you WERE listening ;)

To all the lawyers who posted about what a great career change it was for them, how they hated being lawyers and love being nurses (or expect they will love it once they pass the NCLEX): I'm pretty sure what the OP was trying to find out was whether the change would be beneficial, and help her reach her goal of spending more time with her kids. I think she's seeing what the rest of us were saying, which is that if she truly wants to leave lawyering and sees nursing as her dream goal in and of itself, then she should absolutely do it. But if the goal is to spend more time with her kids, flexible scheduling, etc,....she is kinda far off base in making a change that has as its end-goal a CRNA designation.

OP, a parting thought, since you just mentioned it in the above-referenced post: If you have the option of working part-time in your husband's firm, he's able to support the difference in your salaries, and out of this you get to spend more time with your kids....DO IT. I have NEVER heard of ANYONE on their deathbed wishing they had spent MORE time at work.

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What exactly is a "mom job"?

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