Career Change and need SERIOUS help

allnurses Guide · Jun 1, 2012

I don't have much advice. If dealing with people is your kryptonite or dealing with politics or difficult family members is hard for you, you won't enjoy nursing much more than teaching. There is a LOT of teaching in nursing. What is drawing you to nursing?

Unfortunately the degrees you already have won't matter in nursing much at all other than opening the door to accelerated programs for a BSN.

allnurses Guide · Jun 1, 2012

If you prefer paperwork, why not just go into business?

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Jun 1, 2012

Is it special ed itself that isn't working for you? If you were a regular teacher do you think that would be better? Anyway to change your teaching specialty. I doubt nursing will be any easier than teaching, whatever challenges in teaching dealing with difficult children, you'll be dealing with so much more stress and difficult patients and family.

Take some time to see if you can salvage your career without starting all over again. What exactly about teaching bother's you?

sauconyrunner · Jun 1, 2012

WHile you are looking to the future, have you actually worked at all in health care? Because most people are kind of surprised at how it actually is once they are "in it"

You don't really say exactly what you dislike about teaching, so its hard to tell, BUT... I'm not so sure that nursing will please you any more than teaching.

Your idea of going into Nursing Admin or becoming a DON is a fine goal, but it is not a goal that will generally happen in your first 5 or even 10 or maybe even 20 years of nursing. Those are extremely difficult, pressure filled jobs and there are not that many of them, so you will be competing with a lot of people for those positions, and most will require you to obtain yet another Masters Degree.

If you like all the paperwork why not use all that education and work towards becoming a school administrator?

Currently, New Graduate Nurses are having a difficult time finding employment even in nursing homes and LTAC's. So given that you already have a large amt of loans and such, you may want to think about what the job market will be like when you graduate, and if you are willing to work at the bedside etc.

LollygaggerRN · Jun 1, 2012

I say go for it!! Why not?? I personally think you could use your Masters to your benefit.

This is truly what I think.....education is very, very hard. Part of the issue as I see it is you have the same kids all day every day for nine months. You have to go and face them every-single-frickin-day. And, as a special ed teacher you could have the same kid for years! In my previous life I was social worker and had the same clients for years....couldn't take it. Decided to get a MiT, went through all the rigamarole to be accepted to grad school, scheduled my classes, ordered my books and then decided there was no way, no way at all I could do it.....so on on a whim I went to nursing school.

Nursing can be pretty much anything you want it to be. I choose to work in a post anesthesia recovery room part time and have my patients for about an hour each. New patients all the time....recover them and send them on and get another...I think of myself as the grocery check out clerk of nursing.

Your Master's could be beneficial. I am also a school nurse- and I know it is my psych degree and experience more than any mad nursing skills that got me that job. You could be a school RN (many require BSN- but not all- I am ADN). Group homes for MR/DD often hire nurses. You could probably make a case for being more equipped to handle psych nursing than other new grads.

One of the other huge advantages of nursing over teaching is that you are much more mobile. Don't like the nursing job you have? Look for another! Don't like the teaching job you have? You are stuck in your contract until the end of the year.

Do what you want and good luck!

DutchRN09 · Jun 1, 2012

I can understand that teaching has frustrations, but so does nursing. No nurse I know can retire early or have summers and holidays off. Several teachers I know retired at 59 with a pension. There are no pensions in nursing and no unions either.

LollygaggerRN · Jun 2, 2012

If this double-posts I am sorry. I thought I hit "post" but then it just....vanished. POOF!

Actually, many nurses do belong to unions and nurses can get summers and holidays off. As a school nurse, I do!

It can be hard for new grads to find jobs (I am a new grad myself), but if you look "outside the box" there are opportunities.

My husband is a SpEd teacher and I would take my job over his any day.

Good luck!!

tokmom, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2012

I can understand that teaching has frustrations, but so does nursing. No nurse I know can retire early or have summers and holidays off. Several teachers I know retired at 59 with a pension. There are no pensions in nursing and no unions either.

Umm, I work at a hospital with a pension, as did my husband and we were both unionized as are many of the local hospitals.

OP, I too would like to know your reason for wanting to get out of teaching. I have a special needs child and I thank the Lord every day that there is a teacher with patience to deal with challenging kids. Would working with general ed kids be the way you would want to go?

chevyv, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2012

Nursing Administration or DON probably won't happen with an ADN. You may be able to get into an accelerated program, but you lack the experience to be either. You really need some nursing experience before jumping into admin. How can you lead the troops if you have no idea what they actually do? If your not teaching this summer, maybe you could work as a CNA to see if you like that aspect. There is a ton of teaching in nursing and the grass may not be as green on this side as what you think.

I don't know if the first year of teaching is the same as the first year of nursing but, it is very normal to want to cut and run that first 1-2yrs of nursing. I'm coming up on yr 2 and am feeling a bit more settled, but there are those days.....

nursegirl75 · Jun 2, 2012

BEfore you make this change, you really need to either volunteer, shadow a nurse, or work in the health industry. IF you think teaching is not for you, nursing is a huge culture shock. Nursing is nothing compared to what you see on t.v. WHen most people actually work in the health industry they are actually surprised and shocked because it's really all about making the money and politics.

The fact that you are giving up teaching after less than a year after going all the way for your masters, means that you need to be cautious with your decision-making skills. If anything work as an CNA, and you will definitely see what the health industry is realy about.

BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN · Jun 2, 2012

My suggestion is to publish a little in your field, and apply to a doctoral program with the goal of moving beyond elementary education and into a university position. You might even try transitioning into something like library science with an emphasis on working with SPED students at the Uni level. I know that the library at my alma mater had people who did such. They were not all doctorally prepared, but two were.

In your situation, I would not aspire to a low level nursing position looking for fulfillment. I think you would be wasting your current education, not to mention money, and end up sorely disappointed.

good luck, whatever you decide.