Leaving Nursing for Another Career

[cocoa_puff]

Has anyone thought about or actually left nursing for another career? What non-nursing career would you be interested in?

I would like to do something anatomy/lab/research related, with a predictable work environment, routine, minimal patient contact, and lots of science!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I would love to be an independently wealthy food critic, wine taster, espionage novelist, and world traveler bankrolled by a trust fund. However, these aspirations are only in my dreams...

[AvaRose]

Author...I already took a stab at writing a novel and have one finished and another halfway finished, but the whole finding an agent part sucks a bit.

[Cat365]

Works for me...at least until I remember that I'm fat and can't dance.

Someone I attended school with told me I could get a job where she worked. Turned out she was an exotic dancer. I pointed out that I couldn't dance and she said that didn't matter.

Lost chances.

[cocoa_puff]

I always said I wanted to be on Broadway, except I can't sing, dance, or act

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I always said I wanted to be on Broadway, except I can't sing, dance, or act

I sometimes imagine myself to be a singer and saxophonist. Nonetheless, I cannot sing or play any musical instruments, so the singer and saxophonist roles will remain a figment of my imagination. :)

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

I want to be independently wealthy and live on the beach....

I'm not going "back to school" for anything *much (except maybe a short program)...so maybe something simple like a lab tech....some science there and not a lot of contact with "the public", like someone else eludued to...a nice place for a nurse to hide.

[cocoa_puff]

so maybe something simple like a lab tech....some science there and not a lot of contact with "the public", like someone else eludued to...a nice place for a nurse to hide.

I was thinking something along the lines of lab tech or medical laboratory technologist. I can see myself happy in that type of behind the scenes role. I'm the type who likes to "hide" in the lab. One of my favorite parts of my shift is running down to the lab or blood bank to get a break from my patients and all their drama.

[Graduatenurse14]

Works for me...at least until I remember that I'm fat and can't dance.

Viva, you know they don't really watch for the dancing, right????

[djh123]

No, but I left another career for nursing. Crazy as that might have been... but there are quite a few nurses who had another career previously.

[lasair]

After only two full years of nursing I know I cannot do this for the rest of my life - I want to become a complementary therapist, I studied holistic massage and will do my aromatherapy this year. Maybe in a few years I can combine the two or something....

[DeeAngel]

I didn't leave for another career, I just left the professional completely. They ask too much of nurses anymore and the patients are a mass of entitlements, it's just gotten crazy. It's just seriously not worth it for me to work as a nurse at all, I am just enjoying retirement.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Cool to see so many fellow novelist wanna-bes! I'm about halfway through one novel and outlining my second, so it would be pretty sweet to publish those some days and live off my imagination. If I get any better at this composing thing, starting a band and making millions from that would also be acceptable.

Realistically, I'll probably stick with nursing and do psych NP or CNS someday. If I were to leave the field entirely, I'd do counseling psych, forensic psych, or social work. I love my patients, but the physicality of being a nurse is not gonna work for me forever.