Anybody you know leave the field of nursing?

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You always hear especially now a days of people coming in to the field of nursing in leaps and bounds but you never hear of people trying to get out of nursing... At least where I work.

So do you know anybody that left the field or went back to school to pursue something else? And if so what?

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to Retired/Inactive Nurses

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Anyone? Lol

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I did not leave Nursing. I keep it on the side, not working as much anymore. I found it more enjoyable this way.

So what I did was I went back to my profession prior to Nursing because now that I am older, my body can no longer take physical demands of the job compared to years ago. I did not find a need to try to go to another field of Nursing because I already have something else to go back to.

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That's pretty cool! And what was this previous job you went back to?

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I did not leave Nursing. I keep it on the side, not working as much anymore. I found it more enjoyable this way.

So what I did was I went back to my profession prior to Nursing because now that I am older, my body can no longer take physical demands of the job compared to years ago. I did not find a need to try to go to another field of Nursing because I already have something else to go back to.

That's pretty cool! And what was this previous job you went back to?

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Software engineering responsible for solutioning. When I left I was laid off during the dot-com tech downturn and burnt out. It's a deadline driven job and estimates of efforts are notorioulsy underestimated, so that is why we take home our work and we work all the time and anywhere. I chose an easier role this time - product manager (responsible of defining what needs to be done). I only work contracts now because the client have to pay me every hour I work, deterring them from dumping excessive work wich si what they do to perm employees. I dont choose start ups, I chose large companies becasue they are the ones who can give good long term renewable contracts. I was already experienced when I left and when I went back I used a recruiting compaies to find me my assignments. I did have to brish up on new skills to get competitive and to earn certifiactions. An easier role allows myself the time to practice my nursing - evenings and weekends per diem whenever I am free. There is always a shift at my hospital. Because I chose to be on a shift, then it became enjoyable. I think it is all working well for me for now. My future plan immediately prior to and immeditaely after reaching retirelemt age is to totally drop software (because jobs are always full time even though flex) to work a part time Nursing job at my same hospital. My hospital knows my plans and they seem ok with it. It is a delicate balance that gets some getting used to and will not work if I still had my kids with me. They atre noe grown so I have lots of time on my hands.

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Specializes in Infection Control, Med/Surg, LTC.

I didn't leave nursing, it left me. Many of us in our late 50s-60s were ousted during a sweep at 3 local hospitals. The few left were given such a hard time they left with most taking early retirement.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I left clinical nursing in December 2013 and nursing altogether a few months later. I just couldn't do it anymore, physically or mentally. I have a mental health diagnosis that landed me on Social Security disability, so I write from home...I have a blog and I do occasional articles here at AN. I'm also in the process of writing a book that will probably never be published, but it gives me great pleasure to work on it.:)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Over the years I've seen coworkers leave the bedside to other jobs such as home care, hospice, case management, cath lab, PACU, outpatient, and management and now many are leaving in droves to be NP's. One burned out nurse went back to school and get a job in electrical engineering, and a couple others went back to school for nursing informatics at the start of the computer push. A couple more went into pharmaceutical sales and medical device educator. I know a couple nurses that just quit nursing without another job lined up because they were stressed out and burned out. I would not be brave enough to quit without having another job lined up and a pile of money in savings.

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I left. After 23 years of working my tuckus off, I'm plum exhausted. I still miss nursing -- specifically, I miss what it used to be but not what it is now.

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

Well.....I did try retiring, three times, The first, after a couple years, went to respiratory therapy school for the fun of it.....after working in respiratory a short time, returned to nursing...

the he last two attempts at retirement, thought I really meant to retire, But honestly after a few months, actually got a little bored, and missed nursing.....

my current position , in rural physician office, has luxury hours, liberal holidays etc....interesting, .....I will probably continue as long as physical and cognitive ability permits....

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