career change

Chris,

I think you should go for it.....

Your plan makes sense. After you finish your LVN, you can transition to become a registered nurse if you have higher aspirations. Good luck with your plans. BTW, I suck at anything electrical, I could offer you a couple of small jobs but u have to come to NY, and with gas prices, it wouldn't be worth it!

Forgot to tell you, men in nursing are becoming more common, though a lot of us gravitate towards ICU, ER, OR (adrenaline junkies, is what it is called), but there are plenty of exceptions to this rule. I recently went to a long term care facility (LTC) and the two RN's were males. Who would have thunk?

Thank you everyone for the great advice. Its nice to have some encouragement. I just got my letter yesterday to take the NET. I have been studying my but off for the last to weeks so hopefully I'll do alright. I take it on dec 7. Chris

Well I took my NET today. Overall I think I did okay. For me the math was easier then the reading. I was able to finish the math with ten minutes to spare, but the reading, I barley had enough time. Well they told us that we probebly wont hear anything until after the the first of the year. I will let everyone know how I did.

Good luck to you!

Nursing is a calling, but some use it just to pay bills.

If you are the former, I say GO FOR IT!

I was concerned about being a male nurse until I found this site. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Chris.

Hi Chris,

I'm also pursuing Nursing as a second career (at the tender age of 45). I am currently a few months into a private-school LVN program, much for the same reason you noted...all of the public colleges have waiting lists. I can honestly say that I love it...should have done this when I was twenty! lol.

Anyway, I plan to jump from LVN to RN as soon as I can.

Best of luck.

Chris, Good luck to you!

For me nursing is also a second career. I worked in IT for over 10 years when I started in LPN school. Now I have a part time nursing job and going for my RN part time.

Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I know for me the next few weeks are going to drag by. I have been told that there are not many people that pass it the first time around. I know my wife did, and I hope I do also. Again, thank you. Chris

I rarely check allnurses.com anymore but just happen to read this thread by accident.

I went through similar career change 3.5 years ago from I.T./Electrical engineering. I went through some layoffs in my previous career. My wife is an RN and, of course, told me what kind of work it is. I did admire people with scrubs and stethroscopes around their neck. I then went through the same path as most of you do - talked to schools only to find out there is a long waiting list. I was lucky enough to get into an LPN school and finished in about a year then went on to finish RN. I jumped rather quickly and now being an ICU and ER nurse.

I can only speak for myself and don't mean to discourage anyone -- I am leaving nursing.

My wife warned me before I decided to pursue nursing that this is not a professional environment and I did not understand. I thought everyone goes thought school, earn a degree, pass the board and be a caring person to work on the floor. The real environment is far from ideal although I do see some excellent nurses sometimes but not very often. Instead, horizontal violence is what I see most of the time. Hospital policy is another issue (which you should find many threads here about it). In general, nurses do not get much respect from pt or the family (you do once in a while). However, I have to say being a male nurse myself, I have the most respect from doctors and rarely get into conflicts with them.

I still remember the cultural shock my first day in nursing school. If you are from an engineering background, you will be shocked by the nursing education - how they put simple common sense into those 2" thick books.

Again, I can only speak for myself. Maybe it's just my environment or region. Maybe some other places are better. Now, I don't blindly admire people in scrubs. I only admire and respect those who really care about people.

-AC