58 years old - Am I too old to start nursing school??

[edmia, BSN, RN]

I do think that is too old to start nursing school, unless you have a clear goal in mind. For example, you have a job lined up before even starting (as in, a friend with a family practice wants to hire you at their office). I had a classmate who was about 60 during school, but she wanted to do the psych NP right after as this was her passion and she was already a therapist. She wanted to prescribe.

I cannot see a new grad in their 60s getting hired in today's job market.

The homebirth midwife is another thing altogether. They already have a practice and will probably go on to a CNM. So again, they have a clear purpose for that degree.

It's not ageism, it's reality. Nursing, bedside in particular, is a draining job.

[quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN]

Are you looking at earning your LPN or your RN? I just graduated in Feb. and am an LPN and I am 59. I work in a nursing home and am loving my job. I choose to work evening shift as it works best for me. I don't think I could handle day shift and my mental health can not handle night shift. I also went to the school to be a nurse to volunteer on mission trips. I don't know if you have taken any prereqs or Gen Eds, but if decide to move forward, get as many of those out of the way before you start your nursing classes.

I also choose to work part time and to fill in PRN. That way, I am able to maintain physical stamina as well as mental stamina. So assess what you are doing this for and what your goals are. Maybe take an extra semester to finish too. Just some things to think about.

[Julius Seizure]

Can a 58 year old succeed in nursing school? Yes.

But knowing what I know after doing it myself, would I do it at age 58? No freaking way.

[13grad71]

Age does not matter in nursing school. But when you are ready to work, you will have a stiff hill to climb. Employers won't see much return on investment for an older employee candidate, unfortunately in this climate. But most importantly, floor nursing is a physically and mentally demanding job. You will be on your feet for 12 hours constantly juggling priorities. Just way too hard on the body. It will wear you out or burn you out in a couple of years.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

If you're younger than dead and you want to do it and are willing to deal with the hardships associated with finding your first nursing job at that age, then you're not too old.

If you truly believe that you're too old, then you are.

Is it tough to get your first job? Yes. Is working on your feet for 12 hours every day tough? Yes. You have to decide if it's worth it to you to pursue nursing and work through all those hardships and the ageism that does happen. Unfortunately ageism is something that is present in every field when dealing with people new to the field. When I hit about 60, I'll have about 20 years in nursing. At least I'll have some experience by then. I also hope that I'm still able to do bedside nursing by then!

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

What are your goals? Do you want to provide bedside care? Home health? You might make an awesome case manager, or a school nurse, or a health educator. It all depends upon your background, skills, and interests. Are you bilingual? Can you write procedures? Monitor compliance? Supervise at an adult daycare? I know a nurse who supervises research studies and another who teaches nurses how to use infomatics. Neither was interested in bedside care. There are RN jobs that no one has even heard of yet that are away from the bedside.

Are you a solid and reliable worker now?

I encourage you to assess your strengths and weaknesses and take a pragmatic look at your career goals. If you are interested in bedside care, where I live, you could probably find a job in a SNF or subacute. Acute care might be out of your reach.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Nurse Beth is right. I feel your pain. I went back to school LPN to RN in the early 2000's in my early 40's. That was hard enough for me. If I had to think about going to school now, while it would be fun....the stress would get to me right hand in hand with the toll on my body. As it is, working fulltime at this age (with a couple heath concerns) is a real challenge, IMO.

[delawaremalenurse]

You're never too old...you'll be 59 soon no matter what you do... :)

However, I would give serious consideration to the toll that the stress will take on you physically and I would give serious consideration to whether or not you would see a return on your investment.

[emmy27]

Honestly, nursing school is incredibly stressful and draining, and being a new grad even more so- assuming you could find a new grad program willing to hire someone in their sixties, which is, unfortunately, by no means guaranteed. Faced with a new grad who has less than a decade before retirement and one who has forty years, many hiring managers will hire the younger worker. This may not be fair, but it is true. I do know some working bedside nurses in their sixties, but they are all experienced, and again if we are being honest here, most of them struggle a great deal with the demands of the job (as, frankly, do most people these days- the workload is ever-increasing) and talk about their enthusiasm for their imminent retirement. Most of the nurses I know in their sixties work in management/case management and other non-direct-patient-care positions, but those are only available after years of bedside care that may not ever be offered to you starting at this point.

It's not to say that it's impossible, but if the stress of an exam has already destroyed your sleep and weakened your immune system, the years of school and work to come will likely be even worse. Bedside nursing is also very physically demanding work, and 14 hour days and starting on night shift are typical expectations of new grads.

If money is an issue, I think this is a risky investment for you- you'll be spending a lot of money upfront on a job that you may not even be able to get, and may struggle to perform for any length of time. Calculate the amount you'll spend on schooling (don't forget to include the lost wages from whatever work you do currently that you won't make while in school) and then figure out how many years you'd have to work at your area's starting nursing salary to recoup your investment to see if financially, this is a viable plan.

If money is no object, I think there are much lower-stress ways you could help people, including volunteer work or other training programs in the helping professions that don't entail so much sleep deprivation and manual labor.

Personally, nursing school and being a new grad broke me down physically as a healthy twenty-something, and now in my thirties I'm exploring options to get away from the bedside, despite my love for actual nursing. I've noticed a strong pattern between bad periods at work (low staffing, high census and acuity, pressure to work overtime) and difficulty sleeping/developing sickness. I can't imagine doing this for the rest of my thirties, let alone my sixties.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm 34 years old with a little less than 10 years of nursing experience. I'm already laying the groundwork to make a permanent exit from bedside nursing because I simply do not want to do it in upper middle age. I already struggle to work three 12-hour shifts in a row due to a health issue.

Bedside nursing is brutal to the body, mind and spirit. A person can only take so much, regardless of their youth or advancing age.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

First of all, what doctor has a problem with women over the age of 26 getting pregnant? I have never heard of that. Over 36, when someone is considered advanced maternal age, yes I could see that. But not 26. I really think the only reason some of them may have an issue after 35 is because the incidents of birth defects and chromosomal abnormalities go up and the parents aren't ready for that most of the time. Also, the risk of hypertension and gestational diabetes goes up after 35. I think if you look at two women, one is say 23 and pregnant with no support system at all, and a woman who is 30 and the dad wants to be in the picture, the mom is ready and wanting the baby, the child of the 30 year old mom is going to do much better in life because the support system is there. But if you take that same 23 year old woman who has the support needed in place and now you throw a 39 year old woman in there, the chances of having a healthier baby and having a good start in life go to the 23 year old. That is just a generality though, and as we all know every, single situation is unique in this world, so nobody can make a general statement and think it's going to be true for everybody.

To the OP, I don't think 58 is too old to start school. My cousin's other grandma just graduated at the age of 81 last year with her associate's degree. She was the oldest graduate ever from this campus. It's a large Big Ten school, but she went to one of the satellite campuses. It was very exciting to watch that happen for her. She had dropped out of high school at 15 and got married, raised her kids, enjoyed the retirement years with her husband. Then he died and she felt it was time to do something for her. I think it keeps her going mentally.

That being said, this is not about you just going and getting a degree. This is nursing and you will eventually want a job out of this. I don't think we can call this ageism either. Ageism is when you have two nurses with the same degrees and same experience. One is 55, and the other is 30. The hospital hires the nurse who is thirty because they assume the 55 year old can't handle it anymore or they don't want someone who is going to just retire in a few years. That is ageism, discriminating against someone solely because of their age. You would be a brand new grad at 60, I'm guessing. Your health has already declined due to the stress in school. How will it be on the job? Plus, I think a PP said it costs around $100k to train a new grad. I thought it was less than that around $37k, but even if you were able to work until 70, I don't think the hospital is going to get that money back out of you. That would make it a bad investment on their part. I think that with age comes wisdom and maturity. I will be 40 in about 4 months. I know that if someone hires me, they would be much better off than hiring the new grad that is say 22 or 23 just because I feel anyway I've got a little more stability in my life and can handle stressful situations better. But I also look at that energy some of them have, and I know that is not comparable to me. It sucks getting older, doesn't it?

I think there are lots of great things you can do. I don't know if bedside nursing is one of them. I have days for myself that I question it. I also think of my mom who is 61 and just retired and there is no way she could do it. If I were you, I would look into fields where you can still help people, but it isn't maybe as physically and mentally stressful as bedside nursing. You are still just 58, you don't need to be put out to pasture quite yet!!!!!

One of the things I learned years ago is to take care of myself first. You can't take or help other people if you aren't healthy yourself. That is extremely important. I had several health scares a few years ago myself and it took me a little while to get myself healthy and fit and able to get up everyday and feel great. But now that I am there, it's the best feeling in the world. I know at 39 I am so much healthier and feel better than I did even at 30. I see different posts from people that there are nurses working bedside into their 70s and even a few in their 80s, I would like to be one of the exceptions to the rule someday and still be helping out then. Hopefully not full time or because I need money, but just to be helping people. But that depends on me and how well I continue to take care of myself.

Good Luck OP!! I hope you can find what you are looking for and will make you happy in life. We all deserve to fulfill our dreams in one way or another.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Just to add some time elements for the OP, on the average 12 hr (or even 8 hr) hospital job....I have had several different hospital jobs at several different hospitals...and at all, through many years, I never got to sit more than 1-2 hrs total (cumulative) to chart (on average) during any shift. The rest of the time is spent on your feet, standing, running, walking, pushing, and pulling or some combo of those.