Is there nursing after 50?

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Does being 50+ mean I have to quit nursing and go into poverty for the rest of my life or am I supossed to kill myself?

hey there, malt123. i'm in wi too.

i'm so sorry you've run into all these obstacles. i do, however, want to make an observation (with great tenderness). many of your posts come across as defeated rather than challenged. i don't know if you're presenting this shadow when job seeking but if you are, it might be complicating matters.

i'm sure there are all kinds of things we don't understand about your situation, but you mentioned not having a car and having to stay in the area. you also made reference to back surgery, although you didn't specifically say you'd had it. then there was your concern about being over 50, your opening message in this thread.

the combination of these things might make life extremely challenging but none of them, in and of itself, should keep you out of the workforce.

if back surgery was involved, you might qualify for counseling from the department of vocational rehabilitation (dvr). these folks might be able to help you find something in nursing, or they could help with additional training or adaptation.

why do you have to stay in this particular area? not trying to be nosy. i'm just curious. being without a car is much easier in a metro area where bus service is available. please share as much as you feel comfortable with (or pm me) about your circumstances. i'm a firm believer in getting creative, especially when someone says something can't be done.

none of this is criticism. i'm just thinking back to times in my life when i felt overwhelmed. i had to borrow other people's vision and hope because my own was skewed. i'm no mary sunshine. i had to fight my way through years of depression to get to (and through) nursing school. if you're stuck in a black cloud, don't fly by sight. find encouragers who will help you plot a course *despite* what you feel.

i hope you can find the right niche.

warm regards,

miranda f.

sorry if i gave the wrong impression and no i haven't had back surgery. i have been burnt real bad by a facility after working for over a year for them. everyone at the place saw and even commented on it one other nurse asked me "why are they doing this to you?" i felt like i was being attacked on a daily basis. i know i have never done anything that would desreve this type of treatment. it was like getting pushed into a pit of snakes and they kept biting and you can't get away.
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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

I am 52 years old and have been in nursing for 28 years! I work in the OR so 8 hour shifts are out of the question, I work up to 16 hours a day, my own choice and will work circles around anybody 30 years my junior. I just laugh when I hear from my younger co-workers that they are tired and worn out, and this is just after 8-10 hours. I do get tired but that isn't an issue, so go out and do what you want to do and forget about your age. There are plenty of jobs in nursing that doesn't require alot of stress and physical assertion. Sue the SOB's if they even think about your age as being a factor. Mike

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can't find the thread "Mature nurses over 50"

It probably died! :chuckle

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Those are strike companies--they provide scabs, oh, I mean, warm bodies, to striking hospitals. As long as you are breathing and have an active license they will take you. I hate to recommend to anyone that they do strike nursing, but the strike nurses I have seen were either very greedy or in dire straits--i.e., facing homelessness due ot huge gambling debts, etc. and had little other choice.

All the ones I worked with, except for one, were real whippersnappers who took vacation or leave to work the strike. And they put most of the regulars to shame. I've never seen CNAs cry so much because they found out there were still nurses who would actually get off their butts and help the CNAs bathe a patient...and even assess a pt's skin without asking the CNA what the pt's skin looked like. This was just my experience of course.

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I dont drink

and maybe even a lap dance at the 19th hole

I may reconsider golfing. Can you hit the other golfers...for money? :chuckle

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I'll be 52 next month. do have the old arthritis set in early due to an accident. Many of the places are suprised when I tell them I want full time. 2 years ago I was working 6/12 hr shifts a week. Now nothing and I can't stand it.

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I'll be 52 next month. do have the old arthritis set in early due to an accident. Many of the places are suprised when I tell them I want full time. 2 years ago I was working 6/12 hr shifts a week. Now nothing and I can't stand it.

Malt, a friend of mine was in a bad car accident, and she can no longer work med-surg. She is in her '60s, believe it or not, and is nowhere near ready to retire and/or be on disability--she has more stamina than people half her age. I just spoke to her at Christmas, and she is training to do dialysis nursing, and I believe the other driver's car insurance company--or possibly voc rehab, through the state--is paying for her training. Could dilaysis nursing work for you? I have seen free standing clinics near my home where they will actually train you.

Another option--search your local newspaper for nurses wanted to do HEDIS reviews, or nurses wanted to be monitors at CNA certification tests. Don't ask me what that second one is all about--I have not a clue--but an RN I knew that was morbidly obese and could no longer work the floors started doing that--being a monitor at these exams--and does it full time. You might also see ads occasionally for nurses wanted to do chart audits for hospitals having a hard time passing JCAHO accreditation.

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I may reconsider golfing. Can you hit the other golfers...for money? :chuckle

Randy, not to hijack the thread but--you live in Waianae? No kidding. I used to live in Waipahu--though I left in 1978. I was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Some of the corpsmen used ot moonlight at the Punaho (sp?) clinic in Waipahu (I didn't.) Sure liked the smell of the pineapple, plumeria and jasmine and gardenias that grew in Waipahu--sadly, I know that the pineapple fields are long gone.

Isn't what we used to call Electric Beach near Waianae? Where little baby sharks were attracted to the warm water?

One of my dearest corpsman friends from back in the day lives in Kaneohe, near the cemetery.

My brother lives on the Big Island. Maybe you and I can arrange to meet sometime this summer or fall, when I come visit him.

Shaka, bruddah!

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I never dreamed that there would be so many responses on this thread. I remember a time when I was still an LPN I was working with an RN that was in her 70's she was great, but this other LPN would always give her a hard time because of her age. I just switched some duties with her and we got along fine. another place I worked this older RN had the same problem with the other LPN I ended up becoming friends with her she was a wonderful person. Now that it is happening to me I don't know how to deal with it. I was always better at taking care of some one else.

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admittedly i have not read the replies to this thread.

but after reviewing the trials and tribulations of my nsg career....the difficult patients, demanding and egotistical mds, overwhelming demands and expectations, little/no respect or recognition, i just wonder how there can be 50 after nursing.... ;)

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sorry if I gave the wrong impression and no I haven't had back surgery. I have been burnt real bad by a facility after working for over a year for them. everyone at the place saw and even commented on it one other nurse asked me "Why are they doing this to you?" I felt like I was being attacked on a daily basis. I know I have never done anything that would desreve this type of treatment. It was like getting pushed into a pit of snakes and they kept biting and you can't get away.
actually that would make me more depressed and cause a lot of physical pain. I think I would rather die than have to live like that
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Because I am not getting hired and the last DON fired me for petty stuff. I was there until this nurse passed state boards she was from another country and had failed then twice, she had to work with an RN until she passed boards then they got rid of me. she was 25 and yes I was told that I was too old

If you were fired, you need to look at why......... Telling you your age was the issue was just to get off the subject. I would take a good hard look at your work wthic and why they fired you. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age, you would be fired for no reason. Sorry to be blunt here, but that's my take.

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