Career choices - I need your input

Elenaster · Sep 22, 2003

Welcome, Scott!

I'll try to address some of your concerns about nursing based on my experience. First of all, I was not ever "eaten alive" because as a second career RN, I was aware of the problem and made sure that I was assertive yet respectful when dealing with experienced nurses. Not to say I never had a bad experience, my first preceptor out of school was a total nightmare, but I was able to handle the situation and I still work in the same unit. I think being male and more mature will also protect you from being trampled on by those type of nurses.

As far as getting into graduate school, they're practically begging for nursing grad students in all areas except CRNA, which is by far the most competitive. I don't know a single BSN that has not been accepted to grad school.

As a male, you would be highly valued working in emergency or critical care areas. If you prefer a more technical aspect of nursing, I might suggest you look into the OR. If floor nursing is not for you, you by no means have to work on the floor. I never did because I knew from clinicals that it was not for me (let me just add a BIG ups to all you floor nurses - I don't know how you do it and you are so valuable!!)

I love our Respiratory Therapists and couldn't live without them in the ICU, but I don't want their job. Respiratory stuff icks me out, but I think they do have a challenging job with direct patient care. At my hospital, the RTs run ECMO, oscillators, and have the freedom to draw ABGs and make ventilator changes. They are very busy and often short on nights.

The other two I know nothing about except NMTs shoot our a.m. CXRs and do our head CTs. The ultrasound sonographers come around and do our TCDs. There seems to be and equal number of men and women in both roles.

You might want to find out if you can do some shadowing at your local hospital. Check with your friend and see if she can hook you up with a nurse for the day and you may be able to see all the roles. Good luck!

renerian, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2003

WElcome Scott! I love being a nurse but I have been laid off 6 times as one so do not go into it thinking you are immune as it does happen.

My son is in the nursing program and my hubby is a nurse. Huby has his MBA also and is working on his PHD.

I have several friends that are RTs and they were laid off as well.

WE always need nurses but does the nuclear med or sonographer sound interesting? They do to me.

renerian

Mariah · Sep 22, 2003

If you want to move to the healthcare field because you think it is a better fit for you overall, that is great. It is an honorable and rewarding profession, regardless of what healthcare position you chose. We always need more healthcare professionals. But, don't necessarily think the grass is greener. I'm a nurse now working as a software engineer for a vendor. So I know very well the IT job situation. I know IT people out of work. The hospital environment is totally different from working in corporate. Hospitals tend to be much more bureacratic. The open collaborative relationship found in corporate is not often found in hospitals. Healthcare workers work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. You may have a limited choice of vacation times. Taking off to see your kids sudden baseball game is not an easy option. Also, depending on what your role is in IT, there may be a significant pay cut. This is regardless if you work as a Nurse, RT, etc. Yes, as a health care professional, you can pretty much always get a job. And if this is an area that really interests you, go for it, but do it with your eyes wide open.

Dayray, RN · Sep 23, 2003

If your going to do anything in health care, nursing is the most wide open and allows for allot of choices. There is stress (sometimes allot of it) but in the end you'll learn to deal with it. It's good that you have had the opportunity to see what us nurses stress about that will better prepare you for whats ahead.

I'm not sure of the circumstances around the person who was laid off 6 times. I can tell you that I never worry about not having a job. I once posted my resume on monster and had 30 calls/emails the same week and at least 10 a week for the next month.

If you really want to "help people" then nursing is probably the way you want to go. all the other professions you mentioned deal with 1 aspect of care, I know I wouldn't be happy with that. If you did go into nursing and found out you didn't like it, you could most likely find a position as an RN with duties similar to resp therapy or nuc-med tech but no one but a RN can work as an RN.

You will have good days and bad days and sometimes you'll feel like your on a roller coaster but you will never feel that your life is routine or that you don't make a difference. sometimes I am stressed and wonder if I can handle the next day but at least I have a career that makes me feel things.

happy, sad, scared, mad lol I feel them all and on a daily basis. At least I know that I will feel something when i get up in the mourning. I always wanted to be a nurse but tried a "normal job" for 6 years money was good, I was respected and should have been happy.. I wasn't.

I think you already know what you want to do (or you wouldn't be posting this on a nursing board). Go ahead and register for school and become a nurse.

live4today, RN · Sep 23, 2003

:balloons: Welcome Scott! :)

Search your heart for what fits "YOU", then talk to the wife about the career choices that you come up with. Whatever choices you are thinking of, always include the wife because nursing school is hard, time consuming, and many divorces occur among nurses in school and after working as nurses because of the amount of time the medical/nursing field requires of an individual. Make sure both you and your wife are in a "comfortable feel good" position with your marriage, your homelife before you make any definite moves. If the two of you feel you can handle your becoming a nurse, then by all means sign up and start college in that direction.

I've been a nurse only 16 years, but still love patient care....just not in the crazy manner in which admin and ceo execs go about staffing the hospital units today. :rolleyes: It's always about the budget and PR issues..........NEVER about the poor poor overworked and overlooked nurses.

River · Sep 23, 2003

hi Scott,

It's such a good idea for you to look into this before enrolling in nursing school. There is a high burn out rate in nursing and it is very stressfull especially if you're a concientous, patient advocate type of nurse. I've been in nursing since 84" as a floor nurse, charge, asst manager, manager and home health. There is LOTS of paperwork, lots of time on your feet, not much time to pee or eat or breaks...:roll , what breaks?!:roll However, the rewards come when you see how much you impact your patients and their families. It almost makes it all worth it.

If I could do it all over, I would go into physical therapy school. It takes 4 years, but it's closer to 1:1 or 1:3 (patients) depending on what you're doing. No toxic meds to mix, no bodily fluids to come in contact with daily, no sharps, still hands on, and if you have ever been to a PT for some sort of hurt, then you'll know just how much they are apreciated for their help and their teaching. One perk is when your shift is through you can use the equipment yourself and stay in shape. I know several PT's that started in a hospital setting to gain experience and then started their own business and are doing well and are happy!

Just an idea. Good luck to you. It's a big decision. God Bless

cordianet · Sep 23, 2003

Thanks all for the input so far.

River, I did look briefly at Physical Therapy, but it seems the profession has moved to all master's programs for entry to the profession. While I do plan to eventually seek higher education regardless of my career direction, I really considered this to be an overly high barrier for entry.

cheerfuldoer, thanks for the advice. I've been married for 14 years now and like to think we are too committed to each other to allow this type of thing to happen. Still, I do know it's a risk and so I'm being very careful to research all the options and ensure we both know what I'm committing us to. So far, my wife is supportive of my intentions to change careers.

Dayray, you are probably right about what I really want to do, but I feel like I would be remiss if I did not explore other options. I think my heart right now is in AP Nursing vs. other areas of nursing mostly because the autonomy of that appeals to me.

Mariah, I hear you. One of my biggest fears in this whole thing is that it may be the "grass is greener" thing motivating me, as much as anything. I can tell you that I'm well aware of the environment in healthcare, I actually work in healthcare IT now. In fact, I probably would have never thought of nursing, (or any other field in healthcare) prior to working here. One of my biggest motivators is that every day, I see people working with patients and I can't help but feel I'm on the wrong side of the business. I want to be helping these people directly. Doing what I do now has very little job satisfaction, and I know that working with patients is what I want to do.

Renerian, thanks for the welcome and the warning! While I admit, the job market for nurses is appealing, I'm trying to go into this with my eyes open. Things could change, and I know this. As I mentioned above, I am more motivated by my desire to make a difference than anything else.

Elenaster, I appreciate your wisdom and advice. I'm a little worried about the shadow thing, though since I work in healthcare. It might be tricky for me to do so without others, (my boss) finding out about it.

Keep it coming!

-Scott

fulwood · Sep 23, 2003

Scott, if possible volunteer or shadow a nurse for a couple of hours and same with nuclear med tech etc. I was interested in nursing but don't think I have what it takes. For info on rad tech career there are 2 good websites http://www.radiography.com and http://www.auntminnie.com. I do now want to disuade you from anything but try and volunteer or shadow or something to get idea of all your career interests. There is huge demand for rad techs and nurses...

sjoe · Sep 23, 2003

You're smart to be thinking about your next move before it becomes necessary, of course.

The options #3 and #4 that you proposed sound doable. You might want to talk to some men in both these fields to get a better feel for it, rather than simply speculating. The discrimination you speak of is very real for male RNs, but not so much for male techs and sonographers, from what I have seen.

You are right about physical therapy--master's is increasingly the bottom line.

My first thought would be to stick with the IT field, but segue into healthcare--insurance companies, HMOs, hospitals, software companies, etc. by getting some additional, specialized training. Talk to people who work IT in these fields, take them to coffee, to see what they suggest and what leads they might offer. Lord knows, most of the healthcare-oriented software programs I have worked with (way too many) leave much to be desired by the end-users and could do with a lot of improvements.

"Nursing informatics" is an IT direction for people already in nursing, but you can likely find something useful and reasonably enjoyable in the healthcare IT field without spending a lot of time and energy getting your RN certificate. I agree with ALL the misgivings you have about that. If anything, you understate them.

TequilaReposado · Sep 24, 2003

cordianet,

It was remarkable to read your original post, because I am almost exactly in the same situation: male, IT, 39 years old, thinking about healthcare career change. One step ahead of you though - I have been laid off already... :-)

In addition to career choices you've listed I am also considering the ones below. Hopefully the very knowledgable crowd on this board can add a few comments about them also.

1. Nursing.

2. Respiratory Therapist.

3. Nuclear Medicine Technologist.

4. Diagnostic Medical Sonographer.

5. Physical Therapy

6. Physician Assistant. Requires 2 years and will lead to a Master's degree. Level of job responsibilities similar to that of NP. If you already have your Bachellors it does seem like a logical way to go instead of getting a second Bachellors and anly then NP Master's. What stops me on PA is a two years of full time study for an entry to a new career.

7. Surgical Technician. Sounds interesting. There are 12 month programs. But you will remain on Associate's degree level. And I am not sure if there are any opportunities for advancement.

8. Dental Hygienist. 2 years? Okay money? Boring?

Your comments appreciated in advance!

T.R.

Dayray, RN · Sep 24, 2003

I re-read your post and saw the part about not getting accepted into a masters program. CRNA school can be hard to get into but in my area NP programs aren't bad. There is about a 2 year waiting list for RN school but I haven't heard of anyone with a decent GPA getting turned down for NP school.

Someone mentioned discrimination, I didn't see where you mentioned that but if thats a concern give me a PM. I have had a significant amount of experience with that and can share some thoughts. I won't talk about it here for fear of sidetracking the thread.