2nd degree nurses

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Hello,

I am looking to hear from some 2nd degree nurses. Can you please give me some information about how you knew that nursing was for you. What made you leave behind the first career. Was it hard to leave the first career and the security of the first career to go to nursing? Could you please tell you age and the path that you took to nursing.

Thanks!

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I think most people leave their first career because there WAS no security. That's what makes nursing so appealing.

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Really? Ok, Thanks!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

I left my first career because there was nowhere for me to go. I found my job very boring and tedious and wanted something more exciting, something that would offer me opportunities to change things if I got bored later down the line.

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Thanks for your response!!!

How long have you been a nurse now? What made you chose nursing? Did you volunteer in a hospital or have a lot of nurse friends?

Your reasons are some of the reasons I am looking to leave my current job. I do not have a lack of security but more a lack of purpose, or like you said excitement. I have two degrees already that are kind of generic (BS Organizational Mgmt and MBA). I thought I needed these things to get a more fulfilling position but still no luck.

Did you have to take a big pay cut starting as a RN?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

I have been a nurse for a little over a year. I had been working in healthcare before I became a nurse and wanted a more patient-centered position in healthcare. I didn't have a lot of nurse friends (one family member), and I didn't volunteer. I just kind of knew it would be a good fit for me, though looking back...I had NO IDEA how difficult nursing would be. Nursing school didn't even begin to prepare me for that. There's no way to see it unless you work as a nurse or CNA.

I took a small pay cut to start as an RN because I had only been in my other career for 5 years and was still pretty entry-level. If I was management the cut would've been larger. I used to work as a lab tech in a major hospital and my previous background was BS Biology.

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Thanks for the info!! :up:

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I went back to become a nurse because I always wanted to be one. My family pushed me towards management for many reasons and I enjoyed running social service programs for 12 years, but I still wanted to be a nurse. It was also getting to the point I was bored with sitting in an office, bored with paperwork, with doing the same thing every day. I'm still a baby nurse, but love love love my career change, even though I have a ton of school loans, and come home from work exhausted, I LOVE it

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I'm coming from an IT background but am going into Nursing b/c I want to join the USAF. Due to my current age of 31, the USAF's age requirements makes Health Care my only way in. Plus I want to "make a greater difference" for people compared to my IT work.

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Specializes in ER - trauma/cardiac/burns. IV start spec.

I started nursing school in 1991, graduated in 1993 and began working in the ER. I had to leave nursing in 2005 due to a latex allergy. I had been in computers before I started nursing. I had thought about going into nursing right out of high school but was scared off by the math requirements. Funny when I did finally go to school math was not a problem for me. My only regret was that I did not go into nursing sooner. I really loved it.

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My degree is in Communications. I had worked my way from a cubicle to an office (no windows, white walls). I just got to a point where I was miserable going to work and sitting all day, not really benefiting anyone. As I got older, I wanted to do something with more meaning and more action. I am halfway through pre-reqs and will start nursing school summer 2013. It is an accelerated program so on top of not working, I will incur quite a bit of debt. I go back and forth every day on whether this is a good decision. I feel very guilty about incurring this debt when I already have a degree and I should be saving for my kid's college, not mine.

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Specializes in ED.

I am 27, graduate from my ADN program in December. I will be frank, I loved what I did before, and I busted my butt in college for four years to get that degree. But I did not make enough money to survive comfortably on, and it offered NO benefits whatsoever. I need health insurance and a 401K, and I cannot squeak by on $12 an hour. So nursing school it was.

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