2nd Career in Nursing?

[maverickman]

Hello all! I'm a recently retired male military member. My background is IT and electronics. As you all probably know, the healthcare field has above average employment opportunities so as I'm trying to decide on what career path to follow in my post military life, nursing, healthcare admin, physical therapy, healthcare IT are among many healthcare fields that have come up in discussions with the wife, family, and friends. I'm 42 years old, have the Post 9/11 GI Bill to fund my education and live in California although I am willing to go anywhere in the world for a job that's worth the relocation.

My concerns when it comes to the healthcare field are:

- With close to 0% clinical healthcare experience on my part, is their empathy, understanding, and patience in nursing school for the nursing student to go from "can't take the site of blood and guts" to "oh, ok, I can take care of that (whatever procedure called for)? Is their any continuous organized training or mentoring going on once out of school?

- To work as a bare bone, basic nurse (I know you are all special!;-)), is having an RN the only standard required to put you on an equal playing field with other RN's when it comes to job functions assigned considering there are ADN-RN's and BSN-RN's?

- How are male nurses treated in the workplace? Well-respected, accepted, treated as an equal among the heavily female population? Used more often in specific situations-lifting, confrontational patients, overtime or short notice recall?

-Would going to an accredited, for profit nursing school be a disadvantage when it comes to job hunting? I know its more expensive but their course timelines work better for me and my GI Bill would cover 100% of the tuition.

-After experiencing the nursing life, would you do it all over again? If you had an option to retrain for free, would you further your nursing knowledge and career or go into another career field?

Much thanks!

[PrayeRNurse, ASN, RN]

First as a new grad RN and weeks from a BSN, former Air Force Vet, with years of medical background. New Grads don't get hired fast. There is no nursing shortage.

Your IT training would help in nursing innovations. When you look for a nursing school make sure it is accredited. Then look for one that focus is on innovations. It is helpful to be post 9/11 vet for jobs. BSN is what most require now so maybe start there. You could start as a RN then do a RN to BSN.

My daughter is a nurse and she would get ill at the sight of blood, now she is fine. You learn to deal with it the same way you get use to bad duty assignments in the military.

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

Male nurses are needed in healthcare in my opinion. there are other threads on this here on allnurses. Like the pp pointed out there is NOT a nursing shortage but men get preference from what I have seen in the hiring process. However men also have less tolerance for BS and be more outspoken which is a good thing really but can cost you your job. I have seen 2 guy nurses quit with no notice in my career for this reason. one of them had previously told me he flipped the manager off and walked out on his previous job but got another job the same day. However that was 10 years ago when there was a shortage. I have heard the turnover is higher among male nurses and they exit the profession more frequently. So it is kindve a double edged sword so to speak.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

That is so true hope.

My friend said that he goes into interviews and if the interviewer doesn't cut to the chase pretty quick, he's outta there. He states his qualifications and experience and listens to their description of the job requirements, but won't put up with any behavioral question baloney. He told me he once cut off a NM and said, "Are you interested in me for the job, or not!?" He got the job. I interviewed with the same NM a week earlier and didn't get the job. I played by the rules, LOL!

[roser13, ASN, RN]

"As you all probably know, the healthcare field has above average employment opportunities "

As long as you don't believe the media hype and venture into the field of nursing with full knowledge, you should be ok. Your previous statement (as in the quote above) is nonsense and should not be a basis for your career choice.