Any Of You 58 Or Older When You Finished?

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Wondering if any of you nurses were age 58 or over when you finished school. If so, what area of nursing did you go into? Did you have trouble getting hired as a new nurse at your age?

Thanks for the replies.

Momof4, congrats to you. My question is what do you mean when you say you wish you had taken a position on an easier floor that would afford you more time for patient care? What type floor are you referring to? I'm still in school but am paying close attention to the experiences of us older nurses.

Thanx

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Specializes in general surgical, women's surgery.

I enjoy my time in the room with patients, delivering quality pt care and listening to them express their concerns. I'm on a general surgical floor, carrying 6 pts. They are either being monitored to head to surgery or have returned from surgery with chest tubes, JP drains, IV antibiotics, NG tubes, PCAs, dressing changes, anemic from blood loss (so I'm hanging blood), nauseated, etc. They are constantly pushing the call light for pain meds and nausea medication. Most are diabetics, so I have blood sugar checks. Many are getting calcium, magnesium, or potassium IV due to renal insufficiency. I have a lot of pts with amputations, pts with wound infections that I'm packing or pts with wound vacs. All of those procedures require concentration for a brand new nurse. In addition to passing out regularly scheduled medications, I have a lot of other things to accomplish on a surgical floor that I just didn't think about when I took this job. It requires amazing multi-tasking and efficiency to get it all done in limited time. I feel so rushed and stressed ALL of the time and have little time to really feel like I"m attentive to the pt's feelings and concerns.

Additionally, there is a TON of computer and paper documentation to do! In nursing school, we never learned about updating patient care sheets, doing chart checks, and all of the paperwork involved with discharges, admissions, putting in orders for the doctors, etc. I feel so overwhelmed with the responsiblity most of the time. I'm told by other nurses that it takes about 7 months to start feeling "at home" with this job. I often lie awake at night on my days off, fretting over what I might have forgotten to do. I was an "A" student, but the real world of nursing so SO MUCH different from nursing school.

I think being 52 makes it a little harder to get oriented to the work environment and I know my short term memory isn't as good as it was 20 years ago. I watch the younger nurses remember numbers from clearing several IV pumps at a time, but I have to write down everything. They refer to patients by room numbers and I can't get that straight in my mind who they are talking about. I need to see a face in my mind. I think my perspective is different at 52 and it makes working on this floor rather frustrating for me. My preceptors (all much younger than me) have all said the goal is to get in and out of pt's rooms as quick as possible so I can get on about my job. That's NOT why I came into nursing. I ENJOY spending time with my patients!

I'm grateful for all I'm learning on this floor. I sort of see this as a boot camp experience... training ground. I'm doing all of the skills we read about in school, got "checked off on" in lab, but didn't always have the opportunity to perform in clinical. It's challenging... stretching... and I often feel so very ignorant....but...hopefully.... a year from now, I'll be a much better nurse. I hope that as I become more familiar with my job and the procedures/protocols, I'll become more efficient and have more time to do that which I love... patient education and nurturing. I think that's where our life experiences are more valuable than if we were much younger.

Hang in there. I know we're valuable. My patients convey to me that they love having me as their nurse. They've often said so! I just hope I don't collapse before I learn the ropes.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.
kizzykatlove:

Would you believe I finished RN school at the age of 67. I had been an LPN for 13 years and decided if I had to work I wanted to work as an RN and get paid for what I did, so I enrolled in a community college and obtained my AAS in nursing. I had been working on the med-surg floor during the 13 years at the same hospital, and after 3 months of having my RN I transferred to the Ed. I love it and am treated with respect by the younger nurses and by my Nurse Manager. If your in good health and are serious about working as a nurse I'm sure you will get hired. You may have to work in a long-term sitting for a year before you transfer to a hospital, but I'm sure it can be done.

Good Luck

wow you are doing great !! oh i am a RN have been for years , my ex classmate i should say is the older lady.. she is great ! she became a RN after working in a factory ,, i am happy to be done with school and boards and wish you the best of luck in all you do.. by the way i'm 35 years old and this lady ran rings around me in school.. she is awesome

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Specializes in general surgical, women's surgery.

Trinh, I'm not sure I answered your question in my 1st reply. Our hospital divides "medical" floors from "surgical" floors. My med-surg internship involved spending half of it on a medical floor and half on a surgical floor.

I took the job offer on the surgical floor because I thought it would be the floor that would teach me the most. The medical floors with openings mostly involved passing out medicines, where the surgical floor involved a lot of extra skills in addition to administering meds. I wanted to keep learning and felt I was weak on nursing skills, so I took the job on this general surgical floor that gets a large variety of patients... everything from young people with appendectomies to older cancer patients having tumors removed.. to... amputations, GI obstructions needing resections, etc.

Now I realize that the medical floors might have been a bit slower paced and an easier place for me to start.... and become oriented to the hospital environment.

There were also jobs available in the ER, L&D, women's surgery, etc. I didn't want to become specialized, however, at this early stage. I wanted to stay broad minded in order to learn all of the practical skills that I could while nursing school knowledge was still fresh on my mind.

I'm not so sure my personality is well suited to the hospital environment. I enjoy teaching patients about healthcare and wellness. I thought I could do that in the hospital, but there doesn't seem to be time. I might better find my niche in community nursing...perhaps home health.. but I need the skills before I can apply for a job where I'm out on my own. I need to persevere. I know it will get better with time. I also don't really want to work full time. I have a new granddaughter that I'd like to spend more time with and my husband's income is sufficient for us. I went into nursing more for my heart and for service.

Where are you? What are your nursing interests in healthcare? How much longer before you graduate?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Thank you, momof4ndocswife, for your insight into some of the issues faced by older new grad RN's. i think you have hit upon several key issues in your posts and hope that other readers pay close attention to what you are saying.

Yes, the mature judgment that an older new grad brings to the work environment can be a great asset. However, there are also many problems. The short-term memory issue is a big one -- as is the physical stamina required by 12-hour shifts -- which might be night shifts or rotating shifts.

While it is nice to think that all new grads can "find their niche" soon after graduation, it doesn't always work out that way. In many communities, few opportunities exist for new grads other than hospital staff nurse jobs that require quick action, the processing of large amounts of information quicely, e, physical stamina, etc. -- a work environment that is challenging for ANYONE, but even more so for an older worker.

Each person must investigate the job opportunities available for new grads in their community as assess whether or not those jobs are the types of jobs for which they would be well-suited. I am 52 years old and I KNOW I could not handle a general staff nurse job at this point of my life.

Good luck to you all.

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Specializes in general surgical, women's surgery.

llg,

Thanks for sharing from your experience in the field. You well summed up the necessary attributes needed for hospital work. I didn't fully realize what I was getting into and have to admit that this has been a rather humbling experience. I thought because I did exceptionally well academically in school and kept up with the commuting, long hours, clinical work, and had spent a summer working 12 hours shifts, etc... all on minimal sleep... that I could be superwoman! I listened to the younger studetns complain about lengthy clinicals when we began 12 hours, but I had not trouble with being on my feet for 12 hours after raising 4 very active/involved children. My entire life has been "run, run, run!" This hospital work on night shift, however, has been a rude awakening.

Very often lately, I've asked myself, "Did I make a mistake thinking I could do this?" It's tough to hang in there, but I have too much pride and commitment to my contract to prevent me from quitting. PLUS... I know that I need to rack up some hospital experience before I can go out there and gain employment elsewhere. I just hope I can maintain my health, sanity, and marriage in the process. I'm counting down the months! Fortunately, my husband and adult children are my greatest cheerleaders.... so very encouraging. But hubby has also said he'd think no less of me if I decide to quit. I'm so blessed to have him as my life partner of 33 years!

As I become more familiar with the hospital environment, I'm improving on efficiency, There's SO MUCH I'd like to do to re-organize the floor. So many of our duties seem to be nonintuitive, and I've even heard the younger new grads get frustrated with trying to guess appropriate neumonics for entering orders in MEDITECH as well as deal with other duties that aren't user-friendly. I think so much of our time is lost trying to find supplies or second guess the computer system.

I do have a few rewarding moments here and there... with patients... and that keeps me going back. Patients often ask if I'll be back the next night, expressing disappointment if I'm not returning. They seem to trust me above other experienced nurses, unaware how little I really know! Lots of "hand on" care really does impress patients. What I lack in speed and efficiency, I make up for in care, compassion, character, and work ethic.... I hope! I just hope it's enough to secure my job.

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