I am working on my pre-reqs to get into nursing school next fall, and if everything works out, I would graduate in Spring '09, at the age of 40. I was wondering how nurses generally feel about this. How will my co-workers take to me, a 40 yr old man, starting over in a field they may have been working in since their mid 20s? I've heard good and bad from a few friends who work in hospitals and was hoping you all might let me know what you think, how you would react, or any good stories you can share about working with older grads just starting out in nursing.
At 37, I know much more about myself than I did at 27, and know I have a great deal of compassion, I'm customer service oriented, and I work well under pressure. I think these will be assets in nursing.
As a student who is actually past 40, one of the issues I've had to deal with is the opposite -- taking advice and instruction from RNs during clinical who are literally young enough to be my daughter. It's been a humbling experience.
Nursing is also a second career for me. I retired after 23 years as a Police Officer, my wife and I moved to Florida, and I started nursing school at age 49. At my age and being a male, I was a bit apprehensive before starting school, I figured I'd be both the oldest and perhaps the only male in my class. As it turned out, neither was true.
There were several students both my age and older, and during a couple of semesters the males actually outnumbered the females in my clinical group. The only time it was a problem was for the OB/GYN rotation, the floor nurses didn't quite know what to do with all the guys in the group!
Anyway, it all turned out fine for me, it so happens that the floor I work on has several male nurses as well. Some nights, we're actually a majority! :chuckle
firstyearstudent
853 Posts
As a student who is actually past 40, one of the issues I've had to deal with is the opposite -- taking advice and instruction from RNs during clinical who are literally young enough to be my daughter. It's been a humbling experience.