mom and nurse

I am 61. Been a nurse 16 years from age 45. Four years as a BSN RN. 12 years as an Adult Nurse Practitioner after getting my Masters degree.

Actually, I don't work for the physicians nor the facility. I work for the parent organization of the facility which places NPs in the nursing homes.... makes life easier..the physicians do their work and I do mine.

I am an adult NP working at a subacute rehab nursing facility with mostly geriatric patients. Always was interested in Geriatrics but the GNP would have allowed me to see only 55 and up. As an Adult NP I can see folks from the teen years on up. The oldest patient I have seen was 106. Previously I worked as an RN at an acute rehab facility. After becoming an NP I worked as a cardiac NP at an acute rehabilitation facility and briefly I did Community Health seeing uninsured patients at a clinic. I notice that the school I graduated from now does not offer the GNP in isolation, instead folks get an ANP/GNP degree. I think this is better because I know of at least one NP working in a subacute nursing facility who cannot see any patients in the facility who are younger than 55. Typical day. I make a list of at least 10 patient to see for the day. Usually it is folks who are on antibiotics or followups. I also do a comprehensive exam on the new admissions. Kind of like visiting folks' homes except they all live in the facility. I review the charts of 5 patients I want to see in the morning. then in the afternoon I see another 5 or 6 patients. Sometimes the RNs or LPNs will ask me to see a patient or a physician will ask me to check on a patient...... I answer family members questions. Many folks are a the end of their lives. I've had patients who are "comfort care" due to failure to thrive. Many of my folks are short term rehab after surgeries. I write orders for procedures and medications, etc. etc Hope this answers your questions.

Not sure if I count. I did floor nursing after getting a BSN then due to the stress, etc. went back to school part time to an adult nurse practitioner program where the first two or three classes were online. I continued working.....though I eventually had to cut my hours back when I had to do the face to face classes and the clinicals. It took me about 2 and 1/2 years for the Adult NP program. Some people have scholarships through their universities which allow them to go to grad school for free or less though they have to work as nursing school instructors for a year or so after they graduate. When things would be stressful at work I'd realize I was working towards a goal. I have now been an NP for about 2 and 1/2 years and am glad I went back to school...

Diabetes, Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia.....definitely.

Back to college at age 42 with a non nursing degree that was 20 years old. Started nursing school at age 43. Earned my BSN by age 45, worked a year as an RN in a hospital, returned to school and continued working part time, graduated from school with a MS from an Adult NP program at age 48 and passed the NP boards a few months later at age 49. I am now 51, have been an NP now for two years...... Had no trouble finding a position as a Nurse Practitioner.... My age has never been an issue, neither as a nurse, nor as a nurse practitioner....

Around 5 and 1/2: graduated in 2004 at the age of 45, then 3 and 1/2 years as a bedside nurse, almost 2 years as an NP. (acute rehab for most of the time.) Now community health and primary care NP

wow.. I just left hospital nursing after about 6 years. (3.5 as a staff RN working at the bedside and a year and a half as an Adult NP. I left my NP job after tiring of workin 10+ hours a day at a job which required a 3 hour round trip commute Monday through Friday. I am now working as a Community Health Nurse Practitioner for an organization that sounds similar to yours. Low income, uninsured folks. I now work 8 hour days, Monday through Friday and have found Community Health very laid back. Still getting used to not having to run to "rapid responses" and the hospital regimen, and I have no plans to go back to hospital nursing.

Sometimes they are discharged to places like this one in DC http://www.christhouse.org/ other times they end up back on the street....or back in a shelter or group home.

Had a previous degree in another field which I never worked in. Decided at age 42 to go back to school, even though I was married and a housewife with a house full of kids. I took the prerequisites I needed at a Community College one at a time mainly , though I think one semester I had two classes and started nursing school at age 43 (since I had a previous degree I had many of the required prerequisite classes), My teenaged sons tutored me in how to use the calculator for statistics and how to do the math. Math was my weakest subject in high school. Graduated at age 45 with a BSN and passed the NCLEX to become an RN in July 2004. Lasted one year at the bedside before I decided to take a class or two at a time and work towards becoming a nurse practitioner. Finished the NP coursework at the age of 48 (one month shy of my 49th birthday). Became certified as an Adult NP at the age of 49. I am now 50 and by the grace of God I have been a nurse practitioner for one and a half years. Age was not a hindrance to me finding a job.

I work inpatient cardiac rehab. CABG x 7 is the most I've seen.

Wow - this thread is still going strong.. I posted a little over a year ago when I was in school to be an NP and have now been an NP for over a year. I worked as an RN one year before heading part time to school to be an ANP. By the time I graduated I had been an RN in a hospital (full, part time, and PRN for 3 and 1/2 years). (my work hours increased as the work load and clinicals increased). I would not recommend to anyone to go straight through school to be an NP. Though it is definitely possible. #1. My relationship with the RNs I work with at the hospital is closer than it would have been had I never worked at the bedside, inserting the foleys, passing the medication, running room to room, cleaning the poop, pee, etc. transferring the patients from bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to bed, dealing with patient and family member complaints.. I feel I can understand what they are going through and have a good relationship with the RNs I work with. 2. I knew all those labs and medications from working as an RN and this helped me as an NP (I am in a hospital). I knew when the sodium was low that the patient would often be put on a fluid restriction, I knew that the INR goal for treatment with Coumadin was usually between 2 - 3. I knew that when the potassium was elevated that there was Kayexalate to be given. I knew that Ciprofloxacin could cause the INR to become elevated when the patient was on Coumadin. etc. etc. Not sure about all NP programs but when I started mine the teachers assumed you already knew these things. Many more things would have been "Greek" to me had I not worked as an RN (however little it was) before I started the NP program. Looking back over this first year as an NP. I'm glad I had that RN experience before I began practicing as an NP. That being said...I enjoy being an NP and am very happy I returned to school. :)

Nope you are not crazy. I started nursing school at age 43, graduated with the BSN at age 45 and actually discovered that I'd passed the boards to be a Registered Nurse exactly 5 years ago today (July 4, 2004). After a year of working in a hospital and missing many holidays, weekends (I worked every other weekend) I began school part time while continuing to work (eventually having to cut back on my hours due to clinicals, etc.) and graduated in about 2 and 1/2 years with a Masters as an Adult Nurse Practitioner at the age of 48 (closer to 49). Been working for one year as an NP....

nine, as a bedside nurse in acute rehab....and I was the charge nurse for the evening...one was a readmission who showed up somewhere in the midst of the shift... I also had at least one nursing assistant's help.

One school's musical take on how it feels to survive a semester in nursing school. :)