Nurses over 50 &/or with health issues affecting work

live4today, RN · Feb 1, 2002

RNkitty,

Here is a special message for you since I noticed your birthday is tomorrow (February 1):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

AND THE WHOLE WORLD IS SINGING, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

*********************************************:)

ENJOY YOUR BIRTHDAY, RNKITTY! MAY GOD BLESS YOU WITH MANY MANY MORE WONDERFUL YEARS OF GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS! :)

"LIFE CAN BE A BOWL FULL OF CHERRIES IF WE BUT CHOOSE THOSE CHERRIES WITH RESPONSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, MATURITY, CAUTION, AND BY KEEPING OUR EYES WIDE OPEN...CAREFUL TO THROW OUT THE ROTTEN ONES!"

RNKitty · Feb 1, 2002

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

What a wonderful post! Thanks Renee!

live4today, RN · Feb 1, 2002

How's the birthday woman today? :) Sure hope you are being pampered on your special day!

IT'S YOUR DAY! WORK NOT!!!

RNKitty · Feb 1, 2002

Actually, your post was the first birthday greeting of the day. I still had duties with my kids, but my hubby came home early and made dinner. I got to "open" presents that he didn't actually have time to wrap.:) He is currently doing dishes and putting the kids to bed. Tonight, we have a neighbor coming to watch the kids so we can go out together. We are going to a bar up in Collegetown in Ithaca. I have never actually been to a bar - can you believe it - 28 years and never been in a bar? Anyway, earlier this week I had a massage as a present for myself.

Tomorrow life starts again. I work 12 hours. Then I have 5 days with the kids pretty much on my own, as my hubby is in his last year of grad school, has two jobs, and is interviewing heavily these two weeks for summer internships and jobs post graduation. I really hope he gets something west coast, as that is where all the family lives. I hope it will be our last move because I don't do well with constant change and I want to orient to a job and stay there! (I have had 5 jobs in 5 years, one I left because of poor work conditions, but the rest I had to resign because we moved.)

Thanks for the good wishes!

Franca · Feb 2, 2002

Hi,

I'm a new allnurses member.

I'm late 40s and am/was :confused: looking into entering nursing school to be an RN and eventually studying for a BSN while working in the ED, my hoped for specialty.

My other hope was that nursing, in addition to involving people contact/care, involved establishment of community as a team; but, two thoughts pop up for me after reading these posts.

1) I'll be in my early 50s before I start and complete nursing school.

2) The response of mgt. to you all does not give me a picture of community. I am not naive, but I thought it possible to be a nurse for a hospital, to desire to belp the hospital be the best healthcare facility it could be; in other words, I thought it possible to commit to the facility's success (and therefore good patient care) and in turn that the facility would want to commit to my success. I thought a facility investing in staff development would want to keep that staff. An "I can hire two new grads for the price of you" is short-sighted, very bottom-line thinking.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

By the way, have any of you considered gaining further education, if needed, and going into teaching? I read in the news that a shortage of nursing educators was expected. You all have strong clinical experience, and you seem to have compassionate hearts, wanting to be treated kindly like you have treated others, and those two facts make me think you'd be very good teachers. Or, is research an option?

As far as how you have been treated, oy!; it makes me think I'd be as well off in medical transcription (7 years thus far, but I'd like people contact in a helping capacity) where my boss actually appreciates me and I work from home. The account is specialty clinics and/or hospital reports (op notes and discharge summaries). Look at the aamt.org site to see what is required as to being an MT, and look at the MT Chat site to see what kind of knowledge is required, http://www.mtchat.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=1 . Also Linda Andrews' site for her school, answers a lot of questions, such as how much an MT can make. She's an honest woman and will answer directly any questions you have if you email her. http://www.andrewsschool.com/transcription/

Or, how about the medical coding field?

Brian, I hope it is okay to post this information. I get this "it's not right" attitude going and I start looking for answers. MT'ing might not be anyone's cup of tea, but I want to offer some alternatives. Plus, with MT'ing from home you can set your pace and rest when needed.

I understand desiring to be valued and desiring to be a part of something good. I regret that the facilities you've described (which quite possibly are the norm) don't support those desires.

I figured I'd manage in spite of my age by using various "helps" that folks learn as they age--of course, what "helps" work for physical exhaustion or pulled ligaments! However, I had not known about mgt.'s attitude toward age when limitations as to working all out are encountered. Is this attitude or the climate different in hospitals in other countries (as opposed to the USA)? I'm not against taking another language class in addition to the Spanish class I am signing up for this summer!

nightingale, RN · Feb 2, 2002

Franca:

I took out the info with the job telephone number. This could be considered "advertising" and is against the BB policy. It appears you were innocent enough in your discussion and offer of the job oppourtunity but none-the-less is still a type of adveritising.

It is not my intent to inhibit your dialogue. I enjoyed reading your thoughts. Please continue posting and welcome to the BB. You sound like you have the makings of an excellent nurse and I hope you opt to go with the nursing program.

In peace,

B.:)

Maureen007 · Feb 2, 2002

[b]:) [i][u]

hi there, my story is similar-hurt my back taking care of a kid with braces, that i had to lift to catherize, and they moved me to a hs then all around the district.finally gave up when i met my principal - waterloo! retirement for me saved my sanity.i still work part-time.renee, you are good at giving advice and looking things up-you should try some type of resource informatic type job.

live4today, RN · Feb 2, 2002

Hello there birthday woman

Sounds like your birthday today was indeed a very special one!

Good for you! You deserve to be pampered every now and then. Why, I would LOVE a massage myself right about now. My neck has been stiff for about a week. Maybe I can get my hubby to give me a neck and back massage before crashing tonight. He truly missed his calling because he is without a doubt the best massager I have ever had give me a massage. I tried to talk him into becoming a masseuse, but he says, "No way!" He's also an excellent nurse!

I totally understand the moving around bit as we are a military family. I've given up more good paying jobs just to be wherever the military sent us. That should soon be over as he is already into his 20th year. One more year here in Texas, then our next move should be our last. We are looking at going to North Carolina where they have a major retirement area at the airborne base, so hubby will feel "right at home" (he's airborne). It will be so nice to settle in somewhere at last.

Well, I hope and pray your weekend is as wonderful as your birthday was for you! :)

"The moment may be temporary, but the memory is forever." -- BUD MEYER

live4today, RN · Feb 2, 2002

Hi Maureen,

Thanks for the compliment! :) So you think I should be an informatics resource person, huh? Hmmm, I'll look into what that entails to see if I have the personality for that. Thanks for the suggestion. Right now, I could use all the suggestions I can get from you nurses on this BB since I'm (almost) five years inactive as a nurse and trying to get my foot in the door again. I've been hoping for Newborn Nursery since I don't have to worry about heavy lifting on that unit. You see, I had a severe right arm injury almost five years ago that took me out of nursing all this time. I won't be able to lift anything heavier than a newborn anymore. Have a great weekend, Maureen! :)

Franca · Feb 2, 2002

Thank you, Nightngale1998, for graciously removing the number. Thank you too for your encouragement. This thread has been excellent.

Sincerely, :)

Karen4HIM1951 · Feb 2, 2002

It's almost too late (ll58pm) but - Happy Birthday Nurse Kitty!

I hope you had a great evening out!!!

I know what you mean by moving 5 times in 5 years - Because of my husbands work we had to move 6 times in 7 years!

The job changing was HORRIBLE! I'm glad that My hubby got laid off when the company downsized back in l994!!!!! We had just bought a house so we got to settle down!! Even though it's in a different state then family!

NancyRN · Feb 4, 2002

:eek: I didn't go to nursing school until I was in my 40's and all my children were grown. The whole time I was in school, my instructors said things like "You have to know how to do this just so you can supervise your Nurse Aides, but you'll never have to do all the heavy work, as RN's". Ha!

Now at 50 I'm being asked how to bring in more young nurses because we "old" nurses can't handle the physical demands. When I get sick I'm more interested in my nurse's level of experience than in her brute strength. Besides, can you imagine asking older executives to help recruit younger executives to take their jobs away from them?

I see us, as nurses, playing the "Ain't It Awful" game, but not getting any changes made. What IS the solution? Nobody says a doctor should retire when he can no longer lift a patient or work 12 hours on his feet without a break.

There is no real shortage of RN's. There is only a shortage of RN's who are willing or able to do hospital nursing. What can we do to change things?