Nurse to Teacher

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There are a lot of articles talking about teachers becoming nurses, but has anyone out there ever gone from nursing to classroom teacher? I’ve always had the idea in the back of my head that I should become a high school science teacher.... but it’s hard to throw away my hard earned bachelors in nursing! And take the paycut of starting a new career... and the teacher job market

I’ve been a nurse four years now, bounced around surgical, medical, ER, even floated to post partum and other specialties. I started my masters toward NP... But I don’t find nursing fulfilling. Educating patients when I worked in a slow Emergency room and learning from the doctors on staff about every incoming diagnosis proved my FAVORITE job, but healthcare doesn’t allow for that kind of time anymore. Everything has to be done fast and education is left in the wayside.

I dont want want to teach nursing clinicals, I just want to lecture, but I’m not interested in conducting research or writing a thesis. Nurse, NP, teacher, box tomatoes at the grocery store? Any suggestions or advice is welcome! I just don’t know what I want to do anymore

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I know of one, long time, elementary school nurse, that quit nursing and became an elementary school teacher; she's been teaching now for over 15 years and says she loves it.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

"Educating patients ....was my FAVORITE job" .....

need to look into home care as that is 80% what we do; shadow a nurse to see if this may be your niche.

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I totally agree with @NRSKarenRN! Home care could be your true calling...or you just bite the bullet and get your MSN so you can lecture Nursing students, while maybe even still working in the hospital part time to keep your skills, etc

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I did clinicals for Public Health Nursing at a high school that had 2 RNs that taught there. They were both school nurses for the district. One taught in the Health Careers Academy and the other taught medical assisting for the ROP (Regional Occupational Program) program on campus. They both had MSN, plus teaching credentials. The nurse that taught in ROP had some sort of additional vocational teaching certification.

The college credits that these nurses had earned (+their years of experience in nursing) put them in the highest possible pay scale for the district. It seemed like awesome jobs.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

I had a buddy I worked with in OR 30 years ago who went back to school and got his degree in special ed. His best childhood friend was a special ed teacher and I'm relatively sure that had a lot to do with his decision to leave nursing and purse a job in education.

I spoke with him years ago, once he was working in education for some time, and he said, "It's great! Straight days, no weekends, no being on call, Summers off, and every now and then we get snow days because we don't want our little fellas slipping and falling in the snow!"

Good luck to you Ehlissa!

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Eek. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. They have their own version of our issues. My all time favorite teacher from high school just announced she is quitting after over 20 years of administrative bs. She's going to sub. I switched from a teaching degree to nursing myself. One assignment in teaching clinicals was to interview the teachers. Hands down administrative bs tying teachers' hands was the biggest complaint.

Teachers' hands are tied just as much as ours if not more.

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On 5/22/2019 at 8:37 AM, OldDude said:

I know of one, long time, elementary school nurse, that quit nursing and became an elementary school teacher; she's been teaching now for over 15 years and says she loves it.

She knew somebody to get a job. Otherwise, no way.

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Job market. The migration is from teaching to nursing for a reason. Job market. Please do not invest in useless education.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
3 hours ago, Oldmahubbard said:

She knew somebody to get a job. Otherwise, no way.

I see you understand these things...she started teaching at the same campus she was a nurse.

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Some great advice here,especially about checking the job market before diving in.

My thought is: does your area have a need for per diem school nurses? Maybe you can sign up for a high school. Maybe you can offer to do a one time health education class once you're on board somewhere. Choose some age appropriate health topic and see how you feel making a teaching plan, standing in front of students and talking about what you know. Give yourself a chance to see if you really like the environment. Talk to the teachers and see how they feel.

Nurses have the unique ability to enter into almost any arena because nursing is everywhere. Use that to your advantage to explore this other career without losing anything.

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My highschool science teacher was actually an ex- RN! She said there was "too much charting." Of course, I had no idea what that meant at the time. I say go for it. Maybe keep a PRN job on the side. The beauty of nursing is that you can always come back.

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