Long story short, my education was "sidetracked" over the years. My youngest child is 17 years old (Older kids are 25 & 23) and now I finally have true focus on myself and my goals. As far as my current education level, I completed a diploma program in Surgical Technology in 2004 and I am a few classes away from finishing my A.S. Is the age of 43 too old to pursue a CRNA career?
Trauma Columnist traumaRUs, MSN, APRN 165 Articles; 21,209 Posts Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU. Has 31 years experience. May 25, 2017 Moved to SRNA forum for more advice.
jj224 371 Posts Specializes in Critical Care. Has 4 years experience. May 26, 2017 If you're 43 now and are not a nurse yet, you won't be starting school at earliest until you're 46. You could be a crna by 48-49. As far as if that's too old, that's up to you. The hardest part about going back to school is lost income, lost time, and taking out loans for school.If you plan to work until you're 65, that leaves 15 years at easily 150k / year
subee, MSN, CRNA 4,574 Posts Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired. Has 51 years experience. Jun 5, 2017 Yes, you are too old and too far behind in degrees. If you want to be an RN, then be an R.N. although I would be looking for something less physically taxing myself:)
MurseMan89 3 Posts Jun 6, 2017 TEM73, I think you should explore Anesthesia Assistant. AAs have limited roles and areas of practice, but if you love anesthesia this might be the perfect career change as an older adult.
subee, MSN, CRNA 4,574 Posts Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired. Has 51 years experience. Jun 7, 2017 TEM73, I think you should explore Anesthesia Assistant. AAs have limited roles and areas of practice, but if you love anesthesia this might be the perfect career change as an older adult.AAwould still require 6 years if full time study . How would the OP know know that anesthesia is even an attractive specialty? Not even a nurse yet! Also, no one is counting in the years if ICU experience he/she would need.
