Help me decide career path

[Pongoo]

I will try to make a long story short. My wife and I both pretty much hate our jobs. I was looking at help wanted ads and finding nothing that looked good or payed even close to what I make now. $17. 20 a hour. I feel stuck of course. All of a sudden nurse came to my brain. Kinda always thought about it and was yelling at me to do it. Talked to my wife and she wants to do now also. Only problem is we can't afford to both go, plus we have a 12 year old we adopted that requires a lot of attention. We basically came to the conclusion she will go part time at University of Cincinnati to get her BSN and start out part time for the first 3 years. After that she will go full time since the program pretty much requires it the last 2 years. We will be better of financially then as well and she can quit her job. We are both age 33.

Since I carry the insurance, I will go to a strictly RN school Hondros that has a 2 1/2 year program to become a RN. I know I will apply at least a year in advance so I can get the CPR and things needed to join the program. I will not join untill my wife gets a RN job, which scares me since I want to go to school as soon as she does, but I read some people that graduated in 2009 still can not find a job today. I planned on giving her 6 months to find a job in my plan. Here are my questions if you would be so kind to answer :)

1. Is there still a nurse shortage? If not why can't some of these grads find a job?

2. I would like your opinion on what "field" career path to take like ICU, ER, whatever that my wife and I can choose that will be high in demand and easy to find a job. We also, after I get 5 years of experiance, want to become travel nurses. We don't mind working hard, at least not me.

3. My wife will get her BSN and I will just have my Associates. Will us working together with a different type of degree hurt us much? I have read of couples being travel nurses and we like to travel.

4. Is 6 months enough time for her to get a job after graduation? Will probably be year 2015/2016 when she graduates. Just don't want to commit to the school only to find out she is still unemployed and I will have to quit my job to go of course since its fast paced. I will be 38 or 39 then as well.

Of course this is the plan for now. That long a lot can change, but there it is. Thanks for reading and any help you can give will be appriciated.

[Sophia36]

Hi, I am not working in United States, but I think I can leave some comments as a RN.

Now I am practicing in Aus

tralia after graduating my nursing course in my home country. I was planning to go to America but I moved to Aus by chance. :-)

First of all, I think Nursing is really good job in financial wise. If you like travel, you can be a nurse in other countries around the world very easily.

In terms of shortage, who can predict the future? However, compared to other jobs, yes, I think you are on the right track. Specially travel nurses.

Also, you will know what specialty you like while you are doing the placement in the course. If you do not like, it is hard to work in special area although it is good money. For me, I can not work in ED, as I feel fainted with trauma patients. :-)

"33yr old is still young." My preceptor, she started her nursing in her 40's and she is enjoying her life now. I think 5years in 30's is nothing.

I hope this give you some idea.

Cheers,

[bill4745, RN]

Contrary to popular belief, there is no nursing shortage in the US right now. New grads as well as experienced nurses are having difficulty finding jobs. It is difficult to predict the future. Hopefully things will be better by the time you two are done school.

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

wow our situations are so similar, I am also 33 yr old male and hoping to go for nursing. My wife , 25, also wants to do the same, we got a 3 year old. What I have done is I already started my prereqs in 2008, just doing 1 or 2 courses per semester. Yes two years passed but at least I am slowly getting to my goal. I only have 1 more prereq to do before I can apply for the RN but I changed from the RN degree to pre BSN AA, as I can't quit to get into an RN program at this time in this economy. My wife is going for LPN. Reasoning is I will have prereqs covered for either program(did the RN preq first) I am hoping she can get a job as LPN, and then I can easily choose to apply for the RN or BSN. I am the sole income earner at $16 per hour, I thought of BSN because i am more "academic" while she is more a doer type she she opted for LPN. The LPN is about 10 to 12 months, and later she can do LPN to RN once she is working in the field. I also cant quit and rack up student loans, because of issues I am hearing about getting hired as an RN.

I have also thought of LPN as the times are more convenient, but since she is a stay at home mom, she is going to do that full time, and we wont really have to risk much financially.

You can both start taking prerqs in which many of the courses can be done online through your community college while you can still work full time, stick with your state public system, so you wont have problems transferring credits. That is what I did, and still able to have a 3.4 GPA, working full time (and overtime). After you get that out the way your wife can quit , if you can survive on a one person salary, and she can go strong full speed ahead with the BSN, and you can continue to the the pre-BSN AA. The other option you can do, is your wife can go for the shorter RN program, which will cut 2 years off, and then she will be able to test the waters as far as the job market, but I do think her getting a BSN is the better route as she will be more employable. When we get this done, we also plan to look at the Canadian/Alberta job market, your job options are not as limited as you think, that province really needs RN's. When you get your RN you are not limited. I believe, many new RNs and not getting the "job they want" as opposed to "not getting a job". The world is your job market!!!

[needingchange77]

Wow...judging from the posts above a lot of us in our 30's are in the same situation...I posted this a couple of weeks ago too:

My husband and I are in careers (dead-end jobs more like it) that we hate! He's in management (used to be a police officer) and I work in administration and am chained to a desk all day. You might also like to know we have a 4 year old son :) There has been restructuring at hubby's employer and his position is now a dead-end job w/no hope of advancement; also, since earning my BS in Business Mgmt. 10 years ago, I am less than thrilled with the idea of sitting at a desk all day for the next 30+ years (we are both 33).

So, hubby decided to pursue an ADN at the local community college (he's started pre-reqs and he'll finish those at the end of Fall, however, then there is a "wait list" of about 1 year before you can start the NURS clinicals due to lack of space, so he'll take the other required courses in the mean time like A&P's, Micro, etc...as those are not required to apply for the NURS program) He should finish his ADN by Fall 2013. He's scared of the pre-reqs more than anything (Math, Chem) because he has never taken those at a college level (only has about 20 credits behind him)! He's financing his eduaction by utilizing the GI Bill for veterans, so we are lucky his education will be covered by this completely.

Now, I have been laid-off twice in the past 10 years due to the nature of my job (HR) and honestly, since having my son I no longer want a corporate job- to me it's useless. I want to do something that is meaningful and rewarding (and of course offers more opportunities than my currrent career field). I had explored teaching, but I don't think it's for me...and a lot of teachers are always laid off in Northeast Ohio where we live. I have a few friends who are RN's, and some LPN's, and of course they are encouraging me to pursue nursing too. I've been doing my research into schools/programs and even though I have a bachelor's the Accelerated BSN is too expensive at the schools in my area so I am choosing to pursue the ADN like my hubby. Luckily, I only have 1 pre-req to take (Chem) and then I can apply, and once admitted to the ADN program, I'd have to "wait' as well and then I could take the A&P, Micro, etc. jsut like he has to.

Whew...thanks for hanging on this long! :) So, my tentative plan is to leave my job once I am accepted into the NURS program and can start clinicals and NURS courses (the other support courses mentioned above can be taken evening and weekends so I can keep working for now). Since NIETHER of us will be employed, we'll have to pay for our own health insurance (I've already gotten several quotes for family plans from insurers), we'll use the "extra" money from the GI Bill to cover other expenses like childcare (son already goes to a wonderful program)food, gas, etc...BUT we'll need to takle out student loans to cover our mortgage payment for the next 3 years. I have thought out and planned this out and have even completed the FAFSA to make sure we'd get enough student loan money to do this! AM I CRAZY??

I know I could wait until hubby's done in 3 years, but now that the IDEA is in my head, I CANNOT get it out! I have no patience for this job anymore since getting this idea a few months ago...also, my son is going to be in school and I feel I'd rather us BOTH get our degrees out of the way before our son is in 3rd grade and beyond and has activities, sports, more homework, etc...

What do you all think? Have you heard of ANY other couple who has done this or attempted it? BOTH people in nursing school? And, the thought of borrowing about 30K in loans to cover expenses is terrifying...BUT, if we are both in careers we enjoy, and are making more money, and have more opportunities than we do now, won't it be worth it in the long run?

[needingchange77]

I've heard from nurses in this forum and from a few I know that the recession has also affected the nursing profession- especially LPN's (which is what I considered doing first while hubby is going for ADN). It sounds like new grads are having a hard time securing employment. BUT, by the time we all would graduate in 2-3 years, that could change. I'm in NE Ohio by the way, and we have the Cleveland Clinic, UNiversity Hospitals and numerous other hospitals as well...

[cebuana_nurse]

I hope things would fall into plan for both of you. I agree that Nursing is such a rewarding profession in all aspects as long as you are not just in it because of the money you make. There is so much more to nursing aside from making the big bucks. As to your plans, please include the test taking for licensure as this would also take time and the fees included in case you can't pass upon first attempt. The earlier you pass your boards, the easier you get a nursing job. Anyways, good luck!

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

hey needingchange77, I know what you mean, sometimes I wish I can't just wait to walk in my job and say I quit, I am now a "registered nurse see ya!!!", but the thought of racking up that much in student loans is scary. I do not know if you watch The Suze Orman show but student loans, are stuck with you forever. But I know what the problem is with us in our 30's I keep thinking wow soon I'll be forty and retirement is right there and what have I really done with life life? Work a dead end job just to get a paycheck, or something meaningful...I guess thats how most people in their thrities are thinking.