No BS, what's the reality of starting as an older male, with a previous degree?

Ariko · Oct 23, 2009

I got my RN at 54. I love nursing, but now, just my age (61) makes floor nursing physically unrealistic. So I do clinic nursing and I love that too. PM me for more details, or we can talk.

Bill E. Rubin · Oct 23, 2009

I've mentioned it in a couple of other threads, but I'll chime in... I'm 47, and got my BSN at age 46 after a 20-plus year career in software engineering and management. I have no regrets, and generally love my work. However, there are some things have taken me aback.... I mentioned them in this post: https://allnurses.com/men-nursing-forum/male-female-dominated-426944.html#post3913022.

Things that I find hard are the holidays with the seniority rules (especially given that my birthday is on New Year's Eve). Nobody can quite relate to what I go through being 47 and at the bottom of the totem pole. Tough when you're married and have a kids and everyone else that gets yanked around to work the crummy shifts around the holidays is like 23 years old.... And the people that are closer to your age make patronizing comments about paying your dues and all that when, at my age, I've already paid a helluva lot of dues... it's the reality of hospital nursing, but I always feel lonely around this time of year.

Anyway, these are subtle nuances, but for the most part, I really enjoy what I do and the feedback I get from my patients is like nothing I've ever experienced in any other line of work I've been in.

november17, ASN, RN · Oct 24, 2009

I work with a 52 year old male that just got his license. He's probably on par with most new nurses. His only fault; He tells endless stories about his "old job" , he's got a computer programming background. Nothing worse than hearing his war stories about programming databases using software I've never heard of! Just don't be that guy, ok.

wje9516767 · Oct 25, 2009

Great information, talking about your old jobs is akin to comparing your new girl or boyfriend to their old....not a great idea, unless you enjoy the hunt....over, and over, and over...

THANKS!!!!

wje9516767 · Oct 25, 2009

If anyone who responded wants to email me with a few more thoughts.... that'd be great...

Thanks a ton..~!

november17, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2009

Great information, talking about your old jobs is akin to comparing your new girl or boyfriend to their old....not a great idea, unless you enjoy the hunt....over, and over, and over...
THANKS!!!!

I was just joking, btw

nursemike, ASN, RN · Oct 26, 2009

Got my RN at 48, after seven years in healthcare in an unlicensed position. Big change from 25 years as a carpenter, but the time spent pushing beds was a helpful transition.

On the whole, being a nurse has been a great experience. Love my coworkers. The work is hard, at times, but interesting and rewarding. My knees ain't what they once were, but there are situations where life experience is more useful than nursing experience. Put me in a code and I'm standing in the corner, peeing myself with the 23 yr old girls, but send me a disgruntled family member and I can talk things out and work out a solution. (I exaggerate. That's something I do, sometimes. But there's an element of truth in there, somewhere.)

One thing I try to remind myself regularly is that anything I've ever done that was all fun, all the time, I had to pay to do. But I had a pretty good time, this past weekend, and even on a bad shift, there are usually some good parts.

I work weekend nights, plus one other nightshift--usually Friday, although it can be any weeknight. Having a pretty much set schedule has some advantages, and most of our weekend positions are filled with people on the weekend program. I count it as a plus to see a lot of the same people every week--you get to know each other pretty well. But I also like most of the non-weekend people who rotate through.

I like nights. I've toyed with the idea of going to days, to be able to "sleep in" until 0800 on my days off and have a life. Nights are plenty busy, but less frantic, and it does seem like my fellow zombies have less energy for melodrama. Collaborating with a second-year resident is more satisfying than getting your butt chewed by an attending. There's less support from ancillary services, so we're more inclined to rely on each other. The boss is home in bed, so sexual harrassment (the best of all forms of harrassment) runs amuck.

It's entirely possible to have a miserable time as a nurse. But some people do work pretty hard at it. If more nurses were men--especially middle-aged men-- there would be a lot less stress, and only slightly higher patient mortality. Probably closely corellating with football season.