Aging Nurses - Where do we go?

[TamDar429]

I am an aging nurse (50) who can't really keep up with the young new grads. Why can't there be a nurse company (or hospital or nursing home or staffing agency) that employs such nurses that will work for less money and do less stressful/multi-tasking nursing jobs? I mean we are still valuable. Seems like money and doing things in a rush are what employers want but everywhere is so short staffed. I don't mean to be disrespectful to anyone or anywhere; I just think we are resources that are not being utilized. Thoughts please?

[suseliz, MSN, RN]

I retired last year from my Family Practice NP job at age 61. I planned to work until age 66. The expectations of corporate medicine were just too much. I let everything go except for my job, but that's not a life. I have grandchildren around the globe. So I resigned. In retrospect, it was quite a shock to me. The point I am raising, is that you can make plans, but you don't know how long your energy or health will last. I do have a job. I work from home per diem doing on-line convenience care. Last Saturday morning I worked in my pajamas!

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

You go to the University to teach the young nursing students.

[Sallybardini]

Ohhhh my, I'm 51 and I can still do what it takes. I can run circles a round young nurses and I have more knowledge from experience. You may need to change careers, if this is how you really feel.

[MicsterRN]

Occupational Health! Case management! Disability coordinator! utilization review!

You can continue to use your brilliant nurse mind and without taking a pay cut!

Must be open to learning! Your greatest muscle is your mind - not your back!

Warning

These jobs usually involve regular business hours, no weekends, no holidays

[Jules A, MSN]

I retired last year from my Family Practice NP job at age 61. I planned to work until age 66. The expectations of corporate medicine were just too much. I let everything go except for my job, but that's not a life. I have grandchildren around the globe. So I resigned. In retrospect, it was quite a shock to me. The point I am raising, is that you can make plans, but you don't know how long your energy or health will last. I do have a job. I work from home per diem doing on-line convenience care. Last Saturday morning I worked in my pajamas!

This sounds like a nice set up, congratulations! Personally I don't think most people are able to comfortably or competently work well into their 60s and 70s. I'm financially prepared and planning to retire in the 60-62 year old range God willing.

[Jules A, MSN]

I will be 50 next month and I don't consider myself old.

Just a bit older than you, appropriate weight, still working 50+ hours and running 10 miles a week but trust me all I have to do is look at myself naked to see just how old I truly am.

[bagladyrn, RN]

This sounds like a nice set up, congratulations! Personally I don't think most people are able to comfortably or competently work well into their 60s and 70s. I'm financially prepared and planning to retire in the 60-62 year old range God willing.

I'm going to strongly disagree with you here. I'm in my 60's, working full time 12 hr. shifts as a travel nurse and am both comfortable and competent. I frequently get call backs for repeat contracts which I believe testifies to my competence and work ability.

If people are unable to maintain that sort of pace in later years it is generally due to illnesses or injuries which would have had the same effect even if they were a decade younger, not simply because of their age.

Barring such illness or injury I plan to work until 70 at which time I will travel and enjoy leisure as my 86 yr. old mother and her 91 yr. old brother are currently doing.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

hmmm, where do us old nurses go? To the big bedpan up in the sky?????

LoL.

[rudecat]

Thoughts ,well,I too am an older RN and I would like to go back to work casual. I feel that we still have a great deal to offer and I don't feel that we should take a lower pay just because we " can't keep up weth the new youngsters " we can always learn more , we are nurses and have worked hard and kept current....... We need not sell ourselves short ❤️

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

At 51, I was keeping up with the new grads. Even after being diagnosed and treated for bilateral breast cancer. However, osteonecrosis of the knee has knocked me down a bit. I am on a desk job at least until knee replacement.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I would like to challenge what seems to be a premise of this discussion. I think the question of whether 50 is too old to keep up has been adequately covered. But I think we also need to recognize that we aren't digging ditches, here. I know this, because I've dug some ditches, and I rather enjoyed it. It was not an everyday job, for me, so I rather welcomed the chance to use my muscles instead of my brain, once in awhile. I was a remodeling contractor, so most days were a combination of physical work and problem solving--kind of like nursing, in a way. Thing is, we seem ready to accept that grueling, physical labor has to be a part of nursing. We've all heard people speak of 12 hour shifts without time to pee. (My prostate is 59. It's a given that I will pee several times during my shift, and I choose to do so in a restroom. If there's time for charting, there's time for peeing.) But I would argue that serious thought is ALWAYS an important part of nursing, and no one can think effectively when they are at maximum physical effort. Nursing needs to be easy.

In a hospital setting, I think most experienced nurses would agree that the most stable patient you've ever had is still in the hospital and can go south in a heartbeat. Outside the hospital, patients are still sick enough to require a nurse--and you don't have the advantages of being in a hospital.

Some lessons I learned in the remodeling business: a 50 y.o. carpenter (or a 30 y.o.) is way too valuable to be digging ditches on more than a very infrequent basis. Expecting people to do 12 hours of work in 8 hours leads to poor quality work. The time you spend thinking about what to do next is time you don't have to spend tearing out what you did wrong and doing it over. Short-cutting steps in the home improvement process leads to homes that are not improved (and contractors who are not paid, which is one reason you learn these lessons quickly.)

In my 10 years as a nurse, I have seen my facility make some moves in the right direction. We have equipment that mitigates the need for heavy lifting. On my floor, we try to block assignments so each nurse's patients are close together, and we've cut our ratios from 6:1 to 5:1 for acute care. But we, and healthcare in general, have a long way to go.

Couple weekends ago, our floor's census was down a bit, but the House Supervisors staffed us one nurse heavy, in case we filled up (and to try to boost morale a bit after running short far too often.) I wound up running with 4 patients all night. Spent 15 minutes or so with a patient who needed someone to talk to. Added two solid individualization goals to his care plan. Individualization goals are a big deal, now, and I truly believe in them. Most of the time, our individualization goals are "Call me Bob," or "Likes chocolate pudding," Most of the time, when you ask a patient individualization questions during admission, you get nothing. They haven't had time to process being in the hospital, much less think about what they hope to accomplish. And you have sixteen other tasks waiting, so you ask, "Do you have a nickname, or a favorite food?"

We all come out of nursing school with a sense of the importance of critical thinking. None of us describes a nurse as "tasky" and means it as a compliment. Meanwhile, our profession is about as task-oriented as it can get. Frankly, I'm not optimistic, as long as we bill by piece work. But I we need to recognize, and remind our leaders every chance we get, that we aren't digging ditches, here. Thinking saves lives.

[Farawyn]

I would like to challenge what seems to be a premise of this discussion. I think the question of whether 50 is too old to keep up has been adequately covered. But I think we also need to recognize that we aren't digging ditches, here. I know this, because I've dug some ditches, and I rather enjoyed it. It was not an everyday job, for me, so I rather welcomed the chance to use my muscles instead of my brain, once in awhile. I was a remodeling contractor, so most days were a combination of physical work and problem solving--kind of like nursing, in a way. Thing is, we seem ready to accept that grueling, physical labor has to be a part of nursing. We've all heard people speak of 12 hour shifts without time to pee. (My prostate is 59. It's a given that I will pee several times during my shift, and I choose to do so in a restroom. If there's time for charting, there's time for peeing.) But I would argue that serious thought is ALWAYS an important part of nursing, and no one can think effectively when they are at maximum physical effort. Nursing needs to be easy.

In a hospital setting, I think most experienced nurses would agree that the most stable patient you've ever had is still in the hospital and can go south in a heartbeat. Outside the hospital, patients are still sick enough to require a nurse--and you don't have the advantages of being in a hospital.

Some lessons I learned in the remodeling business: a 50 y.o. carpenter (or a 30 y.o.) is way too valuable to be digging ditches on more than a very infrequent basis. Expecting people to do 12 hours of work in 8 hours leads to poor quality work. The time you spend thinking about what to do next is time you don't have to spend tearing out what you did wrong and doing it over. Short-cutting steps in the home improvement process leads to homes that are not improved (and contractors who are not paid, which is one reason you learn these lessons quickly.)

In my 10 years as a nurse, I have seen my facility make some moves in the right direction. We have equipment that mitigates the need for heavy lifting. On my floor, we try to block assignments so each nurse's patients are close together, and we've cut our ratios from 6:1 to 5:1 for acute care. But we, and healthcare in general, have a long way to go.

Couple weekends ago, our floor's census was down a bit, but the House Supervisors staffed us one nurse heavy, in case we filled up (and to try to boost morale a bit after running short far too often.) I wound up running with 4 patients all night. Spent 15 minutes or so with a patient who needed someone to talk to. Added two solid individualization goals to his care plan. Individualization goals are a big deal, now, and I truly believe in them. Most of the time, our individualization goals are "Call me Bob," or "Likes chocolate pudding," Most of the time, when you ask a patient individualization questions during admission, you get nothing. They haven't had time to process being in the hospital, much less think about what they hope to accomplish. And you have sixteen other tasks waiting, so you ask, "Do you have a nickname, or a favorite food?"

We all come out of nursing school with a sense of the importance of critical thinking. None of us describes a nurse as "tasky" and means it as a compliment. Meanwhile, our profession is about as task-oriented as it can get. Frankly, I'm not optimistic, as long as we bill by piece work. But I we need to recognize, and remind our leaders every chance we get, that we aren't digging ditches, here. Thinking saves lives.

This is like a college essay. Awesome.