From airline pilot to nursing student?

[Iflew]

I need a Advice on a possible airline pilot to RN career change.

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on a possible career change. For the last eight years, I was an airline pilot. Suddenly, my extremely profitable airline closed about a half year ago. There are many thousands of well-qualified airline pilots out of work right now. The age 65 rule has done away with attrition (retirement age used to be 60, but now it is 65, so for the next four years basically no one will retire). Combine this with the economy, and I have no real hope of finding a job for at least a year or two.

Becoming an airline pilot was a long, hard road...very expensive, with extremely low pay for a good number of years. It usually takes ten years before you can win the lottery by getting an airline job flying full size jets. Ever wonder why you hardly ever see a pilot under 30 at the big airlines? When things do turn around eventually, I will probably be able to get a job flying a 65 million dollar commuter jet for the pay of $18,000 first year, and maybe $20,000 second year. My 12,500 hours mean very little. Third year maybe an upgrade to captain, then $65,000. Oh, and I would almost for sure have to have a second residence as I would probably have to commute to work. Pretty tough to have a house, and a second place to stay on only $18,000 a year ! If the public only knew! I had worked for one of the lowest pay airlines that flies full size jets, and would be making $100 an hour right now if I still had my job. I just don't think I can stomach starting so low again. In aviation, seniority is everything - you basically start over at the bottom if you are unlucky enough to lose your job.

I am asking for advice to those in the nursing field already as I am considering jumping into this - especially since the airline was required to have $10,000 available for retraining. I don't mean to make this so lengthy, but feel it would give you a better idea of where I am coming from...and I REALLY do appreciate you taking the time to give me advice! I was the one who talked my Sister into nursing when her career tanked. Luckily she ended up getting a job as a HUC / CNA when my Dad was in the hospital for a hip replacement (beating out 121 others). She then acquired her LPN while at the hospital, and then her RN on-line through Excelsior while working full-time, and now makes $31 an hour.

She primarily works with post ops in ortho and neuro and describes work as almost always busy, and stressful. The union hospital in the Twin Cities routinely makes them handle more patients than they are supposed to. She said she is unable to stay properly hydrated as it would require restroom breaks for which there is no time. The two required 15 minute breaks often don't occur. Lunch breaks also are sometimes cut short. Most of her co-workers are competent, but some are lazy, and make quite a few mistakes.

Is it really that bad with most of you? How often do you have a bad day?

I have always had some interest in the medical field, and actually assisted her in some of the difficult areas of study as she went to school. I only have an expired first responder certificate. I definitely have compassion towards people, and used to enjoy flying air ambulance (RN, and EMT-P crew), and transplant teams. I don't mind paying dues, but can't say that I would be happy changing bed pans, and having a doctor talk to me in a condescending manner for the rest of my career.

How often are doctors condescending? Charge nurses? I always treated flight attendants, mechanics, and baggage handlers with the utmost respect. I couldn't stand the pilots who acted superior because of their many extra years of schooling / training! I'm not used to anyone talking down to me (yes, some of the typical pilot cockiness), and am wondering how much this occurs. Once in a while a TSA screener would have an attitude, but such encounters were brief. I don't know how my psyche would deal with this being an everyday thing.

A high level of professionalism is the norm with everyone who is involved with the flight. From what I have read, and heard, this will not be the case in a nursing career. True?

How does the public perceive male nurses? How do co-workers treat them?

As a white male, I had to deal with the reality of prevalent reverse discrimination...some airlines often hiring others with 1 /10 of the experience. Will I as a male be able to take advantage of now being the minority?

I was shocked to hear one of the presidential candidates mention something to the effect that those at the bottom...the fire fighters, the nurses, ... need to be happy basically for it to "trickle" up. I never thought of a nurse being one of the "bottom" careers. Sorry to admit it, but my ego is giving me difficulties about switching into nursing. I'm used to being in one of the top careers, and the public holding me in very high reverence. I am surprised that something as important as nursing seems to be such a thankless profession.

Is there a very strong feeling of personal satisfaction? At the airline, I had the prestige, but never had the feeling of helping or making a difference.

Union members - I'm told that if you push to follow union guidelines that you are considered a black sheep, and you end up paying for it. Is that true?

As pilots, we always watched each-others backs, and worked as a team. CRM - crew resource management was our theme. I have been told that quite a bit of bad-mouthing / gossip / back stabbing goes on in nursing. Is it usually like that for most of you?

To recap, my reasons for going into nursing would be as follows:

Job satisfaction - helping / making a difference.

Decent pay for a relatively short period of schooling.

Independent of the economy...I would have a job in the future.

If you go to a different company, starting pay is livable.

Many different specialties to go into.

Reservations would be the gross aspect, the continual high stress, lack of adherence to union or hospital developed rules, being assigned too many patients - compromising safety, burnout, being a male, contracting a difficult disease, and condescending doctors / charge nurses.

I'm all ears!

[janenkoli]

Nursing is a high stress job,and sometimes you do not get the respect your deserve for being a profesional,with the doctors, you have to set your limits with some of them that act disrespectful, but as a male , you will get more respect from doctors, nurses, patients and family members, not to say that they do not respect female nurses. Male nurses handle the stress of nursing better than female nurses because of being who they are(male) they do not take life as serious,male nurses also tend to get up the career leather faster than their female counterparts for reason i can,t explain here:twocents:, i will reserve my . As a nurse, you may not become a millionaire but you will make decent wage to support yourself and family, there are different areas of nursing, you do not have to work as a bedside nurse, you can start your own business, work for insurance companies,pharmacy sales rep,nurse consultant, case management,school nurse etc. To be a nurse all you need is to be a peoples person and willing to make conpromise when the need arise and you will never be out of work. Hope this helps.

[uscstu4lfe]

it's stressful, but i would imagine that flying a big metal thing through the sky is stressful too. you will eventually get used to it. most of the doctors are nice. if youre looking for less stress, you can work nights - which means a few things - no doctors (rare), no family, no administration, no physical therapy, patients usually resting/sleeping. day shift is much busier. i find that males nurses are usually treated better than females, so you are at an advantage there.

[Sandy_dfw]

Hiya!

I am currently a flight dispatcher for an airlines and also changing careers

to nursing. With your back ground you should do good.

Good luck in your career change.

Sandy

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

In addition to what the above posters have said I would add

Nursing is stressfull

too many patients

12 hours no breaks

However, working in the ER I love the teamwork, have always felt an adequate level of respect (except from drunks and psyches sometimes), have some jobs that pay me over 50$ an hour when available.

Have the opportunity to do travel nursing

All of the above are dependent on what unit you work and what facility

Right now I have a really nice ER job in a place with patient ratios, good teamwork, no backstabbing and almost always get my breaks

It took a while to find this job but worth it.

Do not assume that nursing is recession proof however because lately there has been a severe tightening of the hospital belts and agency jobs (higher pay, but decreased benefits) are drying up in this economy.

Nursing requires a high level of responsibility. If you are not careful patients can die,

I can think of no other job path that will have more avenues of opportunity for you than nursing. There are a million different types of nursing jobs, some that I don't even know about. Nursing experience can open a lot of doors.

Try it, you might like it

[cpkRN]

You just have that "pilot ego!" Kidding...

I'm coming off of nearly 8 years as a flight attendant for one of the "Big 6." I'm sorry about your airline. Were you at ATA by chance? I used to commute to EWR out of IND. It was certainly heartbreaking to witness what was once the pride of Indianapolis pulling out of IND gate by gate .

Anyhow, aside from wanting to be a flight attendant for most of my life, nursing was never far behind. Being in the airline industry just felt too risky for me anymore so I decided to go to nursing school. While I certainly miss the international lifestyle, I feel great about my choice and am excited to become a nurse.

I definitely wasn't making anywhere near the wage of a pilot, but I had just enough senority to make a livable wage. I'm with you on the seniority worries.

I don't regret my decision one bit; however, we both know the fundamental differences between what goes on on either side of that reinforced cockpit door so, your outlook is probably a bit different than mine. Especially since I feel that dealing with abuse from airline passengers will (hopefully) have prepared me for the demanding patient. Also, working alongside those coworkers who'd been flying for 30+ years that were "eating their young" hopefully has prepared me for that other possible downside of nursing.

I'm sorry I can't offer you more advice since I'm still a student, but it sounds like you really have a great idea about nursing/nurses. I say go for it! It surely wouldn't be fun to "downgrade" from flying the big guns to flying a regional jet. I think the stress of being responsible for the aircraft would be right up there with the stresses of nursing. I rode in a 777 sim with my best friend while he was going through his type rating and those emergency scenarios are just crazy! My heart was in my throat the entire time.

Sorry so long winded, just wanted to offer up a few words to a fellow ex-airline employee :wink2:.

[Sailingshoes]

I was a FA for 12 yrs and am also an RN of 10 yrs so I have a little insight. While I think that my 2 professions are uncannily alike (patients/passengers, doctors/pilots, hospitals/airports), I think you will find nursing to be vastly different than being a pilot. Being a nurse is much harder physically and psychologically, much harder than being a FA or pilot. Also, being a pilot is at the top of the totem pole and being a nurse the bottom. I think the problems in nursing stem from the field being predominately female hence the repression and all the issues going along with that. I wish there were many many more males in the field! You would have a reliable job and you could bring a lot to it with your leadership skills and probably be more respected just because you are male. And yes, you would be helping people which is what it is really all about. Also, there are many different types of nursing to chose from so hopefully you could find a good fit somewhere. It sounds as if you have already thought of these very same negative and positives that I have mentioned. As far as some of your other concerns, most doctors are nice, other nurses - what you make of it, I've never caught any disease or even the flu, just don't compromise safety (work at a decent facility), be sure to counter balance your stressful workdays with quality off days, and being a male is a plus. I'm curious what you will decide...pilot gone nurse!

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Being a Pilot you bring appreciation for safety and eliminating risk. You also have an appreciation for critical thinking and being detail oriented. You also have experience working within a large organization, all skills that a nurse need.

On the other side: As others have mentioned you would be going from top of the pecking order to the middle of the system. Also being in school most of your instructors will be women. How you would take to nursing would be relative to your attitude towards women in positions of power over you. I work as nursing instructor and have seen all my male students get good reception from staff, other students, and patients.

Also being a Pilot you have experience in a position working 24/7, 365 days a year and working odd shifts. One issue nursing has not addressed in fatigue, I know in the airline industry there is a cap to how many hours one can work, this is not true for nurses and working double shifts is not uncommon.

Also there is a physical side of nursing, which I don't think pilots experience. Are you able to stand on your feet for along period of time?

Other all I find mature students do very well in school and go on to have productive nursing careers.

[smilingryan]

If you do not feel that you can change bedpans or deal with condescending doctors then do not change careers. Speaking from someone for whom nursing is a second career, one of the most important things to remember is that it is a new career, and, while some of the skills from your previous profession will transfer, you will know less initially than a 22 year old with one year of RN experience, which can be challenging to internalize, as you are used to being more than proficient. So expect to be very, very humble, as the learning curve is steep.

[jenrn615]

I am an RN of 13 years and married to an airline pilot. I think your career change is a fantastic choice. My husband is very active in the union so I understand your experience. My husband's highly profitable airline will also be shutting down soon also, ironically, so I know the career change you are facing and feelings you must be having. As a pilot, your prestige comes from being able to tell people your a pilot and having an exciting profession and knowing you have alot of experience. I can tell you as a critical care nurse, I too felt that pride in telling people what I did for a living. So you can understand better... working on a regular (ortho, neuro, etc) floor is comparable to working at the commuters as a 1st officer. When you set a goal to specialize you will be taking a step up (critical care, Cath lab, Endo, recovery, etc) In these sort of jobs you get treated better by physicians, administration, families. Doctors were always respectful to me in the unit. The rely on you a great deal there. This is like being a 1st officer at southwest or american airlines.

There will be a learning curve and you will have to be humble. There are very few nursing positions that will equal being a captain @ UPS or FEDEX.

Every hospital is different though. Every hospital has a culture. Evn every floor in a hospital has it's own culture! The difference between the airlines and nursing is that you can change jobs much faster and with less fan fare. No delays for a class dates!

You just get a job, see which doctors you work with and what specialty interests you... then educate your self, network and move into those fields.

My husband now needs the computer to apply to what flying jobs are left out there! good luck!

I wish I could talk to you. I KNOW what you are going through.

Also, not all nurses are union. Nashville, TN (where I work) is not. Working the floor is ALWAYS going to give you lower staisfaction, but the best expeirence to learn what you need to learn and move up. Coming from the level of professionalism that you have come from, I would advise you to get your RN asap. Being an LPN will not give you the job satisfaction you desire.