Average Nurse Retirement Age

maddiecat · Apr 6, 2004

I am 45 and am just now going BACK into floor nursing after years of a cushy desk job.....I'm so bored! I'm dying to get my hands back in. I feel I can keep up the best of them physically, but don't know for how long! :)

casper1 · Apr 6, 2004

I'm 52 years old and still work in the hospital on a acute medical floors. I really don't think it's fair to label nurses over 45 as to old to do hospital nursing. Sure the work is physically and emotionally demanding, but just because I'm not twenty doesn't mean I can't do the job. I rarely call in sick and in the last 15 years have never used disability.

MY children do not require someone to be with them all the time so I can be flexible with my schedule.

Sometimes I feel in my facility they bend over backwards to accomidate the youg new graduates. They get great sign on bonuses and there pick of floors. I don't see alot being done to keep older nurses in the profession.

nursemichelle · Apr 6, 2004

I don't understand why they wouldn't rather bend over backwards to keep the experienced nurses, makes more sense to have better care! I hope I can stay with it for many many years after all this work to get there! I might need to start getting in better shape and losing weight so my old body can take it!!

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Apr 6, 2004

Have several nurses in their 50s on the floor (med-surg) at our facility.

mattsmom81 · Apr 6, 2004

[quote=casper1

MY children do not require someone to be with them all the time so I can be flexible with my schedule.

Sometimes I feel in my facility they bend over backwards to accomidate the youg new graduates. They get great sign on bonuses and there pick of floors. I don't see alot being done to keep older nurses in the profession.

You said a mouthful; I am seeing this as the rule too in my facility. Other older nurse friends in other facilities feel the same as we do. Older nurses are 'expected' to be flexible to accomodate the nurses with young children and pick up the slack in too many cases.An older nurse recently hired on at my facility, requested days, was told she needed to do nights then found a young trainee was hired on to a days position. She is quite understandably miffed..the hospital will likely lose her. Ain't the first time I've seen this happen either.

I also have seen very little being done to retain experienced nurses who are older up to now.So often we are not valued: we are liabilities, too expensive, replaceable. I have seen good older nurses run out of facilities too many times.The system continues to advance its own self created 'shortage', IMO.

Some facilities however are actually trying to attract older nurses back into the profession and offering short shifts and part time positions, which is wise. Hope to see this continue.

But then the nursing mill will always keep churning out more cheap, gullible new grads and imports to be used, abused and exploited, so the healthcare industry gets its way in the end.

Shotzie · Apr 6, 2004

The joy of nursing is that you can work as long as someone will hire you. The title line does not define how long nurse will work in the hospital...just when is retirement age.

There is a 75 year old nurse who works in my children's pediatricians office, I have a 69 year old nurse who works for me (not hospital based) and there was a recent thread (in the Emergency Nuring site I believe) that mentioned an 80 year old charge nurse in a small ER...

This is why I love nursing. I can work in amy area I am interested in. I can choose any shift, 8 hrs, 10 hour, 12 hours, 16 hours, 32/40, days evening, nights. I can work full time, 3/4 time, or part time. I expect to be one of those nurse who work until they have to roll my dead body out the door. I don't think it will be full time but I bet I will be working somewhere until I am completely unable.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Apr 6, 2004

In my unit, most of us will be in our early 50's when we retire :) We have several people in their mid to late 50's and only 2 in the sixties.