I am a 37 year old music teacher who is seriously considering a career change to nursing. I am not happy with my current career, but a little scared of making this change. I am married, but have no children. Due to bills/finances, I will have to work while going to nursing school. If you have time, I am hoping some of you will read this post and give me your reactions.
Reasons I am not happy with my current job: I generally work 40-50 hours a week in contact with students, and THEN I have to do my planning, grading and entering grades outside of that time. When I am at home, I always have work that I could/should be doing for school, so it is hard to relax or enjoy family time without guilt. I generally have 2-4 hours of work to do on the weekend. I have summers "off," but have worked during all but one summer because we need the money. I also have a really hard time organizing my time during the summer. I always say that I will use the time to get lesson plans made for the next year, but I really don't want to do it, so I put it off, feeling guilty the whole time. I love kids and I love music, but I do NOT like making lesson plans or dealing with parents. I love to teach choir, but on a normal day I have 35 minutes of choir, and 6 45-minute classes of general music, which I do not love. To do my job well, I feel like I give so much energy that I don't have much left for my home life.
Reasons I feel drawn to nursing: I am interested in helping others improve their health as I work to improve mine. I have had some experiences as an adult where I was able to do basic care things for family members that others in the family could not handle/did not want to do, and I enjoyed it. For example: massaging feet with lotion, trimming toe nails, assisting elderly grandmother with her bedpan, etc. I want to help others (as I do in teaching), but would prefer a job ends when I get off work - one where I will not have to do work at home to prepare for the next day. I have had some wonderful experiences with nurses - especially hospice nurses - and I think I have the potential to be a caring, compassionate health care professional. I would also like to make more money than I do now. I hope that is OK to say - it is not my ONLY motivation, but it is part of it. When I was younger I scoffed at money being an incentive to take a job (you should do what you love!), but after living as an adult with a mortgage and other bills, this seems like a legitimate reason.
After "lurking" on this website for about a week, I thought I would put this out there and see what folks had to say. I am NOT afraid to work hard and a physical job appeals to me. I was an excellent student in high school and college, so going back to class does not worry me. I guess I am just wondering if the reality of nursing will be better than the reality of what I am doing now.
Thanks for reading this long post, and I welcome any questions/insights! Thanks for all you do to care for others!
Just giving this old thread a bump... I just graduated with my Associates Degree in nursing yesterday! All my paperwork has been submitted to my BON and I have registered with NCLEX, so just waiting for my permission to test so I can take my RN boards!!! And... I have been offered (and I accepted) a full-time nursing position on the hospital unit where I have worked as a CNA for 3 years now. I AM SO EXCITED AND THANKFUL FOR ALL OF THIS!
Nursing school was the hardest schooling I have ever done. It was hard academically, physically and emotionally, and I needed lots of support from my husband, friends, classmates and family to make it through. So, it was no joke!! But I finally made it - about 4 years after my first post to this website! Whoo hoo!!
In case anyone new is reading this - I am 41 years old now and ready to start my new career as a registered nurse! Just wanted to share!
I just read some of the original advice I received from nurses and wanted to share a few things....
During nursing school, I really enjoyed my clinical experiences on hospital units - especially NICU and a medical floor. I preferred medical to surgical because I like the "mystery" part of working on a medical unit - like, "what is going on with this patient? What do all of these signs/symptoms mean?" I really did NOT enjoy my clinicals in a doctor's office or clinic. I have lived the supposed "Monday through Friday" lifestyle (which in reality was not, because I always had planning and homework to do and could never get work off my mind.) I did not like the extremely fast-paced in and out shuffle of patients in the doctor's office, nor the repetitive nature of what I saw the nurses doing - vitals, med reconciliation, description of symptoms, repeat. For now, I really want to be in a place where I am touching people and directly helping them with their physical needs. Less clerical, more assessment, more technical skills.
Just to be clear - I respect the skills that clinic and doctor's office nurses use! So much communication, time management, communication, medication knowledge, communication... upon reading what I just wrote, I realize that hospital unit nurses use those same skills, but just in a different way. Anyway - no "dis" to clinic nurses! It takes great skill to be one! But the point I am trying to make is that I definitely do NOT want that type of job right now. I LIKE the hospital atmosphere, I ENJOY working the night shift (which is a good thing, because that is where I am starting!), I WANT to work 3 12 hour shifts per week, and I LIKE having random weekdays as my days off here and there!
(On my unit I will work every third weekend and every third holiday, and for me this will be a step up from every other weekend and every other holiday that I worked as a CNA.)
So...my rambling point is that not everyone thinks the Monday thru Friday job is the "golden job!" My body and mind both seem to like having a variable schedule, and I hope this continues to hold true!
Baubo516, RN
405 Posts
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