NP: Age limit?

Nursing Students NP Students

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Hello all Advanced Practice Nurses,

What is the age limit to apply to NP program in your opinion? When do you think is late to do so? Is 50 late? 55? What is the rate of success in this field for the nurses older than 50?

Thank you!

romanti

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
18 hours ago, Mergirlc said:

@FullGlass I'm just curious, which states did you apply in where you received numerous offers? I'll be in the same situation in a few years & am targeting the MidWest to try to start. I like Ohio. I am a California native and know it's best to get the hell out of here because prices keep going up.

No kids, no spouse, so I can move anywhere.

I'm in California. I focused my search on everywhere except L.A., Bay Area, and San Diego. There is a very high demand for NPs in California.

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Specializes in Med-surgical; telemetry; STROKE.
3 hours ago, FullGlass said:

I'm in California. I focused my search on everywhere except L.A., Bay Area, and San Diego. There is a very high demand for NPs in California.

Thank you, FullGlass. What kind of patients do you have? What exactly do you do?

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
58 minutes ago, romantic said:

Thank you, FullGlass. What kind of patients do you have? What exactly do you do?

I started out in primary care, but then switched to behavioral health.

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Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

I am 51 and have been an RN since 2008 (but only an NP since 2019). I plan to work until at least 75 or deceased. I will accept a limit on my age to practice as an NP as soon as they place age limits on Supreme Court Justices and Presidents. If they can decide the details of our daily lives and carry the nuclear codes to destroy the world, I feel capable of prescribing my Prozac, and SAM(e).

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Specializes in retired LTC.

myoglobin - well said.

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Specializes in medical surgical.

I finished NP school at 52. It was somewhat difficult to find a first job but I attribute that to over saturation and not age. Many MD's work into their 80's but at a less capacity. That is my hope. I just do not know what I would do in my retirement years. I do not play golf or tennis.

On a side note my son finished his BSN 2 years ago. At his graduation I met two people in his graduating class that were going on to become NP's. Both were in their 50's.

I believe one has to weigh the cost. If you are borrowing 100k do do this I would say "no." If you can find a lower cost school I would go ahead. I moved across the country to save 80k plus I went to a brick and mortar school that set up my clinical rotations.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
22 hours ago, myoglobin said:

I am 51 and have been an RN since 2008 (but only an NP since 2019). I plan to work until at least 75 or deceased. I will accept a limit on my age to practice as an NP as soon as they place age limits on Supreme Court Justices and Presidents. If they can decide the details of our daily lives and carry the nuclear codes to destroy the world, I feel capable of prescribing my Prozac, and SAM(e).

I agree with what your saying in theory. The reality: not one Supreme Justice, politician, or singular person can control all said things, even code to nuclear destruction. It is a group decision, so to speak.

A NP who is older, and may have cognitive issues, acting alone can destroy a life or lives with a single prescription. This goes for MDs and PAs as well. But I think if physically and cognitively able, one should carry their livelihood as they wish, regardless of said livelihood

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Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

Well, I would argue that one Supreme court Justice can make a profound difference (for good or bad) just look at all of the 5-4 votes on issues ranging from abortion and civil rights, to voting and gun rights https://yiqinfu.github.io/posts/supreme-court-kennedy-retirement-ot2017/. The MD's/NP's also typically do not work in a vacuum. Pharmacies will often not fill dangerous prescriptions or at least call them in to question. Also many people of younger and "middle age" have cognitive challenges such as ADHD which might create challenges equal to or greater than those present in the average older person (not suffering from dementia).I know this because I treat many RN's, MD's, and NP's (not to mention computer programmers, cops, and drivers) in the 25 to 50 age range and their degree of impairment from ADHD is significant in areas such as "making careless mistakes" and "difficulty paying attention even when spoken to directly". Also it is a "rare week" where I do not see clients who are placed on dangerous and potentially deadly combinations of prescriptions from their young or middle aged MD's. Patient's in their 80's on decades long high doses of benzo's for anxiety (in spite of having alcohol use disorder). Patient who have been on high dose lithium, yet havn't had labs done in years. Older clients on two or three different medications with anticholnergic properties in spite of showing signs of cognitive challenges. Patients on high dose immediate release amphetamines for ADHD despite having a resting pulse in the high 90's, Stage II hypertension and being a smoker. Again it is the rare week where this is not encountered with my intakes and most of these providers (who started them on these protocols) were not older providers.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

I was 41 when I got my RN and 44 for NP. I too plan to work into my 70s (but probably no more than 16 hrs/week), assuming I'm still alive and cognitively intact.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
1 hour ago, myoglobin said:

Well, I would argue that one Supreme court Justice can make a profound difference (for good or bad) just look at all of the 5-4 votes on issues ranging from abortion and civil rights, to voting and gun rights https://yiqinfu.github.io/posts/supreme-court-kennedy-retirement-ot2017/. The MD's/NP's also typically do not work in a vacuum. Pharmacies will often not fill dangerous prescriptions or at least call them in to question. Also many people of younger and "middle age" have cognitive challenges such as ADHD which might create challenges equal to or greater than those present in the average older person (not suffering from dementia).I know this because I treat many RN's, MD's, and NP's (not to mention computer programmers, cops, and drivers) in the 25 to 50 age range and their degree of impairment from ADHD is significant in areas such as "making careless mistakes" and "difficulty paying attention even when spoken to directly". Also it is a "rare week" where I do not see clients who are placed on dangerous and potentially deadly combinations of prescriptions from their young or middle aged MD's. Patient's in their 80's on decades long high doses of benzo's for anxiety (in spite of having alcohol use disorder). Patient who have been on high dose lithium, yet havn't had labs done in years. Older clients on two or three different medications with anticholnergic properties in spite of showing signs of cognitive challenges. Patients on high dose immediate release amphetamines for ADHD despite having a resting pulse in the high 90's, Stage II hypertension and being a smoker. Again it is the rare week where this is not encountered with my intakes and most of these providers (who started them on these protocols) were not older providers.

Supreme Court--it's just not a 1 person vote, there are multiple people voting, so that's not a single person. With practitioners, if a script seems valid, it will get filled regardless of age/cognition of provider. I agree that cognition can change at any age. Many older providers choose to ignore the signs of their own slowing down.

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Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.
7 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Supreme Court--it's just not a 1 person vote, there are multiple people voting, so that's not a single person. With practitioners, if a script seems valid, it will get filled regardless of age/cognition of provider. I agree that cognition can change at any age. Many older providers choose to ignore the signs of their own slowing down.

I am not sure that this statement is any more true than "many younger providers fail to recognize the challenges to their cognition created by a plethora of circumstances ranging from substance use to conditions such as ADHD and MDD.". My point is that their shouldn't be set age limitations in terms of age on any position, rather they should reflect the unique situation and capacity of the individual. I doubt this is something that you really disagree with.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
12 minutes ago, myoglobin said:

I am not sure that this statement is any more true than "many younger providers fail to recognize the challenges to their cognition created by a plethora of circumstances ranging from substance use to conditions such as ADHD and MDD.". My point is that their shouldn't be set age limitations in terms of age on any position, rather they should reflect the unique situation and capacity of the individual. I doubt this is something that you really disagree with.

I don't disagree at all; if someone's cognition is poor, they should not be working, regardless of age. But in 27 years, I have known many older providers (usually MDs) who are starting to slip, and refusing to quit because of (pick a reason), and no one questioned any of their orders if they seemed somewhat reasonable. Sad, but true, in many more instances than anyone chose to acknowledge

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