From Computer Science to Nursing.. need help!

[chiliwings]

hi, like most of you here, ive been considering going back to school to pursue a nursing degree. i graduated with a degree in bs management of information systems. it has been almost 4 years since my graduation and i must say that i never really quite achieved that dream job of mine yet. with the way the current economy is right now, with companies laying off it people left and right, it is hard for a recent grad to find a decent job because not only are we competing with recent graduates but we are also competing against people who had years and years of experience but unfortunately got laid off. well needless to say, i am considering different possibilities right now and as most of you are well aware of, healthcare is the number one most stable industry to be in right now. anyway, i honestly love working in the it industry. but not to sound materialistic or anything, it is just not worth it anymore compared 5 years ago when the dot-com industry was at its peak. almost 3 years of web and graphic design with about a year of software support and occasional database design, i am still making entry level salary which is definitely not good. with my salary, i cant even move out of my parents house because obviously i cant afford rent. and with my employer cutting off employee medical benefits in order to cut costs, well that's just the last straw for me!

i originally didnt consider nursing because all i knew about nursing is that they are the ones who pretty much put up with the doctor's crap. (sorry if i sounded harsh, but you get the idea.) they are overworked, yet not at all appreciated. however, after about a month of "researching" into the field, i found out that there are actually other areas of nursing that one can specialize in other then the traditional bed side nursing. anyway.. my point is, is there basically an area in nursing where i can also, even in the smallest of ways, be able to apply what i learned in computers and technology? because i would really hate it if i abandon it all together, although i am open to venturing into a different field.

if any of you are having the same experience, i'd really appreciate it if you would share them. how did it feel leaving a field you've been in for years and move one to something entirely different? thanks a lot and good luck to everyone!

:imbar

[Sailorboy]

Yep, I agree with you. I have lost my love of IT mainly because of the way we are currently being treated. Longer hours - no respect. I start nursing school in October. I too am looking forward to it.

[ChrisA]

Yup, it occurred to me: I've I'm going to be working long hours and getting little respect for it, I'd better at least be saving a life once in a while.

[chiliwings]

*Sigh... too bad things turned this way with IT. Long hours and the pay sux (at least in my work). Plus from the way things are at work, we arent getting as many projects unlike before..most our clients wanted to shift all projects overseas. It's hard competing with equally qualified but lower paid programmers overseas...! :angryfire So as far as raises go, I guess I should not get my hopes up!Argh! Sorry for ranting but this is the major reason I decided to go into nursing. I dont mind being over worked as long as I am appreciated, you know what I mean?

Thanks for letting me rant! If there are any others who jumped ship from IT, let's hear it!

[agent]

I would be concerned about your intentions for going into nursing.

[Crucial Built]

bHi,

I graduated with a BSc Hons in Information System four months ago and still yet no job. Comparing my case to yours, IT field market is dead.

That was why I am planning of changing my career into Nursing and I have been doing research on various field in Nursing

The economy is really bad in IT section and they are laying off people, even those with 20 years experience and employing high school student by paying them pocket money and also moving job abroad.

Believe me you are on the right track and things are okay in the health care section.

May God bless us in what ever we lay our hands on.

[trekker76]

Hello,

I know the job market can be frustrating in IT, my husband is an IT professional in DC. This area has experienced quite a slow down in IT and pick up in nursing over the past five years. As a result, many IT graduates are disheartened and trying to get into nursing.

Your letter sounds very much like a lot of them. But I must warn you, no matter how well you did in your previous degree, wanting to be a nurse for the job security just won't cut it with admissions committees. I'm graduating from a competitive second degree program in August, and one of the admissions reps told me when I was applying that they had hundreds of IT people applying because they were out of work and none were accepted.

I don't want to discourage you, but I think you should know this before you start applying places. Also, even though you can eventually go into nursing informatics you have to do you time in nursing school and afterwards as a bedside nurse to gain the knowledge and experience unique to professionals in this field--their bedside experience is why they're so valuable. Are you willing to give bed baths, pack bed sores, clean up after incontinent people for a couple of years? This is the reality of nursing school and the year or two after.

There is a nursing shortage, but ill people need nurses who want to be their nurse. You seem to love and be good at IT, perhaps you shouldn't give up at that quite yet. Maybe you could go back to school for further education in the field you love.

At the very least, don't write anything like what you wrote in your post for your admissions essay. Volunteer and get some real nursing experience to talk about.

Good luck and take care.

[Sheri257]

Your letter sounds very much like a lot of them. But I must warn you, no matter how well you did in your previous degree, wanting to be a nurse for the job security just won't cut it with admissions committees. I'm graduating from a competitive second degree program in August, and one of the admissions reps told me when I was applying that they had hundreds of IT people applying because they were out of work and none were accepted.

This might be true with some programs, but not the ones in my area. All they care about is your GPA in pre-reqs. There is no other criteria except things like residency, minimal unit requirements, and things like that. Out of six programs I believe only one brings you in for an interview where that issue may come up.

[trekker76]

Ideally, nurses should be invested in the outcomes of their care beyond earning a paycheck. Vulnerable people's physical and emotional health are at stake. Teamwork is necessary for patient safety, and the foundation for that teamwork should be genuine care for patients and willingness to meet all of their needs. Being a good nurse requires educated, intelligent people to do BOTH interesting AND devalued tasks like those mentioned in my previous post. Nurses are the eyes and ears of the health care team. If you are not fully present in your job, you will not see or hear pateint's needs until they have gone neglected for so long they cannot be ignored. That involves unnecessary suffering.

When you don't really want to be there, in an often unpleasant job like nursing, you will grow to resent your work. It could become about not having to do more menial work than so-and-so, which downward spirals the unit into very poor nursing care and outcomes. You could find yourself trying to get assigned to the "easy" patients as a matter of everyday life. Your co-workers could resent you. The way I've seen this play out in the real world is that nurses like me end up picking up the slack for nurses who are there for the paycheck, else the patients suffer. It totally sucks for everybody.

Please shadow a nurse on a medical/surgical unit for at least one day before you apply to nursing school. Without experience, applying to nursing school is like applying to be a CS major having never seen a computer because you hear the pay is good. I'm not saying you couldn't be a good, caring nurse. I just haven't seen evidence of that in what you've written. Not everybody is cut out for nursing. Have you considered the ethics involved in caring for extremely vulnerable people? Do you realize that patients are sicker now than they ever have been? That many develop bed sores in two hours laying in the same position?

If you discover a passion for nursing, awesome. But if you go into it for the money, realize that you could be degrading the work environment for those who have a passion for it, and negatively influencing patient outcomes.

[Sheri257]

If you discover a passion for nursing, awesome. But if you go into it for the money, realize that you could be degrading the work environment for those who have a passion for it, and negatively influencing patient outcomes.

Why is is that everyone assumes that if you're going into a career for the money, you're going to do a lousy job? I've worked in jobs I absolutely hated, but I still did a good job.

Isn't it possible that you might be able to better care for other people if you don't have to worry about being laid off all of the time and know that you're finally going to have a stable career and paycheck?

Besides, if some nurses aren't in it just for the money, I'm sure your employers would love to take back that paycheck, since there seems to be an abundance of nurses who claim they're Mother Teresa or something.

:chuckle

[cincymom]

Hi chiliwings -

I too am moving from IT to Nursing. I was a systems analyst, making around 50K. Not a great salary - not terribly bad either. However, 60-70 hour weeks were very common. Salaried postion - No overtime, no compensatory time off. Basically on call ALL the time. I've read a lot on this forum about nursing not being as flexible as we may believe, but in IT there is NO option to work days, weekends, or nights. The current situation in IT forces those who want to keep their jobs to accept the schedule they are given -- in my case it often included all: days, weekends, and nights. No additional compensation. (Not even the feeling that what I was doing really benefitted anyone.)

I've been off work for two years now - searching for a position that would allow me to also raise my two sons. The only things I have been able to find are full time analyst positions (meaning 60-70 hours again) or consulting positions with no benefits - which also require extensive travel. I know a lot of nurses -- none of them have looked very hard for a job. In fact, many of them were approached while still in school by area hospitals.

One final note: one poster wrote something like that it might be difficult for a former IT person to get accepted into a nursing school regardless of how well the applicant had done academically while obtaining the first degree. My personal experience: I applied in April to one school; got my acceptance letter in May. Go for it! :)

[trekker76]

Hi Lizz,

I chuckled at the Mother Teresa comment. I think nurses need to be compensated their market value, which they're not, because they don't negotiate for salaries and allow managers to manipulate them with bleeding heart tactics.

Although I have not met a nurse who doesn't like the job but serves as an effective team member, I am willing to entertain the thought that this is possible. Afterall, I was a great cashier in high school even though I didn't *like* the job.

The way nurses are evaluated is totally different from one place to the next. And with the shortage, I don't think they're held accountable for a lot of oversights. This includes nurses wiht all motivations.

Could you write a brief list of what entails doing a great job as a nurse? I think this could differ greatly from one person to the next.

Thanks!

[Sheri257]

Could you write a brief list of what entails doing a great job as a nurse? I think this could differ greatly from one person to the next.

I'm one of those downsizees (although not in IT) who's 42 years old and working on another career. Therefore, I'm just a student so, quite frankly, I wouldn't know.

I just get frustrated with of all these posts saying it shouldn't be about the money. That's great in an ideal world, but it doesn't exist. For those of us who have been kicked around in other fields, it's incredibly frustrating. After awhile you are looking for a career where there's a labor shortage, just because you get tired of working your butt off just to get laid off, once again. You gotta eat, pay the mortgage and you need options.

I've worked a dozen jobs in the last 20 years in a variety of areas. All of the stuff everybody complains about doesn't sound that much different from all of the other jobs I've had, that is, when you talk about lousy pay, poor working conditions, greedy management trying to screw you, etc. To me, it's like, "What else is new?" Just give me a career where I at least have some choices if it is really all that bad, and at least I don't have to worry too much about pink slips and constant rounds of layoffs.

I have no idea if I'll be a good nurse or not, but I'm sure as hell gonna try. I'll do a good job, like I always have, whether I like it or not. I do take the responsibility seriously and I study my butt off. I'm also taking additional courses to acquire additional medical experience. So I guess that's all I can do.

But maybe you guys could give us downsizees a break every once in awhile. You're always saying, if you don't have the "calling" or the "passion," do something else. Well, we have. It's not that easy or simple. If it was, all of these nurses who complain about their jobs would be doing something else too.