Becoming a Nurse After 40

[PacoUSA]

Just thought I'd start a thread about this, because I am probably not the only one out there that feels this way.

So I will be one of those individuals that starts a career in nursing after the age of 40, and I sometimes feel envious of those nurses that are around my age that already have 20 or so years in the profession. So by the time we are 50, they will have @ 30 years while I will only have less than 10. The way I calculate it, I will probably only be able to give 35 years max into the profession, and will be at an age older than most other nurses retire (I don't want to retire at 65, I want to keep going into my 70's). I find myself sometimes wishing I had followed my fleeting instinct to do nursing during my first undergrad years. People try to tell me that I should be proud of the years I spent in another profession (which I am) before I embarked in nursing but the more I spend with nursing, the more I feel regret that I did not start with this profession earlier. I try to resolve my feelings by convincing myself that I can always blend my prior career into nursing (something many people cannot do) and that will give me an edge, which means I will not be delegated to floor nursing for the rest of my working years. I do want to work as a staff nurse for at least 5 years to get the raw experience of nursing, I have no desire even to supervise other nurses right now. Been there with management, done that, and happy to just do my job and make money for now. I think also that in becoming a nurse after 40 not many people will peg you as being a new nurse right away ... but then again, people do say I don't look my age

I just brainstormed the paragraph above so forgive me if it sounds like jibberish .. hopefully you all understood my point. Just want to get new perspectives on this, thanks!

[somedaypeds]

My husband was able to put this into perspective for me. When I was lamenting that I would be in my mid-40's when I completed my education, he said:

You will be in your mid-40's whether you complete this education or not.

[Julia0628]

I'm 46 and am going back to nursing after staying home with children for about 12 years. After being out that long, I wouldn't want anyone to be a client of mine. I'm a little rusty. I'm required retake the NCLEX and am glad about that as I feel it'll make it safer for all. So it's kind of like going back to school and starting a new career. I'll be working with some nurses that will have less experience than I do, but at the same time I will be new. Things have changed since 1999. The NCLEX has changed since I originally took it in 1987. It feels like I'm starting a new career also. I have a lot of respect for people such as yourself who are taking on the challenge. Way to go!

[kdrm]

I'm 46 and am going back to nursing after staying home with children for about 12 years. After being out that long, I wouldn't want anyone to be a client of mine. I'm a little rusty. I'm required retake the NCLEX and am glad about that as I feel it'll make it safer for all. So it's kind of like going back to school and starting a new career. I'll be working with some nurses that will have less experience than I do, but at the same time I will be new. Things have changed since 1999. The NCLEX has changed since I originally took it in 1987. It feels like I'm starting a new career also. I have a lot of respect for people such as yourself who are taking on the challenge. Way to go!

Are there refresher programs after being out that long, or do you just have to do it all on your own?

[julibyrd]

I am 45 years old. I will be taking one prerequisite course at a time, starting this January 2012. I figure I will be 48/49 when all is said and done. But like so many others have said, I will be that age anyway. So why not be that age with a nursing degree? :)

[shamrokks, ADN, ASN, RN]

This was me, I'm coming from being a stay at home mom for the past 8 years (and at the time recently divorced) and before that I was laid off for 2 years so things are a bit different now in the work force than they were back when I was last working. I looked at the long road ahead of me and at my age and my one answer was well I will either be older and higher educated or just older. I couldn't see myself raising my 2 children on minimum wage or the $10 an hour I could get at certain jobs. I could maintain but not progress forward. My two children are who help me get through it all on a daily basis. It's all worth it.

[sistasoul]

I graduated nursing school in 2008 at age 42. I could not have handled a nursing career in my 20's. I am 46 now and feel I have more esteem and life experiences to fall back on.

[Julia0628]

I've really had a hard time finding a review course for my situation. I called the local community college as I found a nursing refresher course there, but because there are clinicals involved it was only for nurses who are currently licensed. They wouldn't even let me audit the class so that didn't help. I began to self-study but quickly became overwhelmed. I took the Hurst Review which was helpful to go over content but it only scratched the surface. A lot of it has been on my own.

I'm currently taking the Kaplan On-line course which offers many resources to brush up on information that I learned back in the mid 1980's. In this journey, the thing that I've been really disappointed in is the lack of support for somebody in my situation. For a while I thought I would have to go back to school and complete an associate degree just to get the info that I needed to pass the exam. The other frustrating piece of this is the lack of fairness in the situation. My neighbor has been out for the same amount of time I've been. She kept her license up by paying the annual fee. She didn't do anything else but pay. There were no CEU's required. If she wanted to she could've gone straight back to work. We both are scratching our heads on that one. She paid the state. I didn't. Neither one of us practiced for 12 years but she can legally go back to work right away. She said she doesn't feel competent to do so and therefore she won't. She's taking the review course offered for licensed nurses at the community college and I'm retaking the NCLEX. She's so glad she pulled her checkbook out on an annual basis. The message that the state is sending us is that money talks (especially here in IL).

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I am graduating on Friday, had my last final exam yesterday (RN). I'll be going immediately into my RN to BSN bridge in January.

I too have regrets for not doing this sooner and I feel a little embarassed by all the fuss that is being made over me this week for graduating.

[shamrokks, ADN, ASN, RN]

I graduated nursing school in 2008 at age 42. I could not have handled a nursing career in my 20's. I am 46 now and feel I have more esteem and life experiences to fall back on.

Oh I totally agree. I could not of done this when I was in my 20's. I was far too unfocused and too unsure about what I wanted in life. I am a LPN at 37. I hope to be a RN with my ADN by the time I'm 39 and then my BSN by the time I'm 41. It''s never too late. I feel blessed.

[theantichick]

I am 42 and have another year in my ASN program. I find that the key for me is to have a plan.

I was a paramedic when I was in my early 20's and want very much to work ER. I know it's hard on the body, but I figure I can probably put in about 10 years there or in other direct patient care areas. I'll be getting my bridge for BSN as soon as I get settled in a job. (Already crossing fingers for a successful job search in a year and a half or so.)

When I get to my masters' program, I'll have a choice to make: I have two directions I can go with my "retirement": My first choice right now would be to get my FNP and go out west somewhere to a rural, underserved area and work in or run a clinic. My other choice (if I find I just can't take patient care anymore) is to merge my current profession (I'm a data warehouse computer geek) and get a masters in Informatics.

I don't plan to ever completely retire. I know I'll have to move into an area that doesn't take as big a toll on the body, so my plans account for that. :)

[noahsmama]

I graduated nursing school at 49 and have now been a nurse for 3 years. Although I sometimes wonder how my nursing career might have been different if I started sooner, I don't regret anything. Regret has got to be the single most useless human emotion -- it doesn't change anything, it just makes you feel bad (if you let it).

Like some others here, I don't think I could have handled nursing in my 20s. I do think I could have made the switch 5 or 10 years sooner -- I was burnt out in my previous career for a long time before finally getting up the courage to make the switch -- but when I think of all the other things in my life that would have been different if I had made that change even 5 years sooner, and not all of those differences would have necessarily been for the better, well, I find I can't really regret anything at all. I am incredibly glad that I did finally make the switch, because my new career suits me better -- I am happy in my new career, and it really doesn't bother me at all that there are nurses my age who have been nurses 25 years longer than I have.

In fact, you don't really know that, if you had chosen nursing 25 years ago, you'd still be a nurse now. I see from your profile that you are an attorney. For all you know, if you had chosen nursing way back when, maybe by now you'd be sick of it and you'd be looking for a change, and you'd be a 40-something law student wishing you had chosen law way back when.

I don't quite understand why you're so concerned about racking up years in your new profession, and I really don't understand why "at most 35 years" seems like a small number to you. I'll be a working nurse for 15 years -- which seems like plenty to me -- and then I'm hoping to retire at 65. I may choose to do volunteer work after that, but then again I may not -- I'm happy to wait and see how I feel about it when I'm 65 (assuming I am blessed with at least that many more years of life, and hopefully many more).

So although you didn't ask for advice, I'll give you some anyway -- enjoy your new profession, and stop comparing yourself to others. And good luck!

[NamasteNurse, BSN, RN]

I became a an LPN at age 51 after 20 years as a teacher. It's going great. Everyone is respectful and helpful. Lots of people are doing this now, so you won't be alone at all!