Quitting 74K RN job for a 30K vet tech job? Advice please!

Nurses Career Support

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i am a 26 year old single rn and make 74k gross pay a year. i have been having major anxiety lately for the last few months and have been thinking of quitting my job and going back to school. my dream has always been to work with animals and be a veterinary technician. i like nursing...but don't love it. it's hard leaving a job that pays so well though! i am super anxious before work all the time and feel sick to my stomach at work. all i do before an upcoming shift is stress out over it and then i can't sleep half the night because i am worried about it. then i am tired at work. i have had times where my pulse will actually go up to like 120 bpm from being stressed out. i work in adult psychiatry. i realize my job isn't physically hard but mentally it can be. i think i would be more stressed out working in an acute care setting like er or some super fast paced unit

i think i would be way happier being a vet tech but am worried that i'll go for this and be in the poor house. from doing a bit of online research i have realized that i would probably only start at around 15$ an hour which is approx 30k a year. i moved half way across the country for my current rn job after i graduated. there is no way i could afford to live in my current high cost of living area on a vet tech salary. plus, i'd have to move back home and live with my family again because i would be ineligible for student loans based on my current income and wouldn't be able to go to school and afford to rent an apartment on my own. it's a 2 year program and i would need to be accepted still.

i've tried talking to my friends about it (who are all nurses too!) and they have said well "its 100 times more stressful working on a floor having demanding med/surg patients so your lucky...don't quit your psych job its not as bad as "regular" nursing". i haven't really pursued changing specialities because of this. i am also stuck between a rock and a hard place because a) i actually started out in psych right after graduating 4 years ago b) we barely use any hands on medical skills so i'd feel so lost even with orientation on another unit...where id be lucky to get what like a couple of weeks max? i seriously feel like a new grad still in terms of medical skills/confidence in my nursing judgment...and i've been an rn for like 4 years. i sort of regret hands on skills wise taking this psych job over a job offer i had after graduation in med/surg

any advice?

Specializes in (Nursing Support) Psych and rehab.

I Didn't have a chance to read through all posts because I'm about to go to class, but my opinion is that you need to take care of yourself first. Anxiety can become debilitating as I have seen in the psych hospital I work at. It would but be a good thing for you to take some time off. Since you have worked there for many years now, why don't you take some time out, seek professional help AND go somewhere to relax, search out other opportunities, etc. When you get back to work, you will be much more ready to make a clear minded decision. If you still feel the same way, why not try part time first? That way you will still have a decent income and your benefits, and more time to relax, still seek out other opportunities and continue with your professional help. If all else fails, per diem might be the way to go to supplement the drastic wage reduction that would occur if you do decide to take a vet tech job. I say all this, but the most important thing is to seek professional help for your anxiety. There are different situations that may trigger it, but anxiety from high stress can come from any job especially since you plan to work and attend school and you're wondering if you would have to move back in with your parents. That sounds like a heap of triggers to me. Hope it all works out for you. Good luck!

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

Do what makes you happy.

Nursing is not for everyone.

Now with that said, as others have mentioned, & yourself how unbelievably broke/ financially constrained u will be... Is this the right option?

Nursing & any job for that matter is stressful... It sucks but it happens. Maybe you can vol. or work PT in a vets office so u can explore that facet of interest but not give up something that pays the bills and puts food in ur belly.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Go to your doctor and discuss the issue and alternatives

Relocate to a less expensive cost of living area and set yourself up a budget that has you working part-time ish

Try a different practice setting

Volunteer at a vet office

Then, after doing all those things see how you feel.

Right now you just want escape, and that is fully available to you, but do it in a calm and careful way.

Specializes in CCU.

Well this thread attracted me because I also considered becoming a vet tech because I am so disappointed with nursing thus far, and I prefer animals to humans. Not to mention I have deep anxiety issues too. At times I still consider it but I don't think I can rationalize making that pay after going back to school for 2 yrs . I'm at a crossroads too so I really don't have more to add since there has already been some great advice given. Maybe there is another way to work or volunteer with animals that wouldn't involved going back for 2 yrs, at least that is what I am considering in the future.

did you think of changing specialities? floors? doing home nursing visits? even a school rn would have less stress..... any advice?

Specializes in L&D, OB/GYN, Peds, Home Health.

Try getting some help with your anxiety and see if it is really work that is getting you stressed out or something else. Talking things over with a therapist can help shed light on underlying causes. Don't quit your job just yet....

i am probably in the minority but i don't feel it is my responsibility to support my kids for every hair brained scheme they can think of.

you're definitely not. either of my parents would have tossed a bucket of ice water in my face if i'd gone to them and said i want to give up the successful, lucrative career i worked hard and spent a lot of money in school for in favor of moving in with either of them and working for little more than minimum wage. they simply would have said "no, you're not doing that" and they would have been right, having my best interest at heart.

Specializes in LTAC, ICU, ER, Informatics.

I'm the last person to criticize taking a pay cut to change to a career you love. I'm leaving computer programming in a lucrative niche and will be taking a pay cut of about 40% to be an RN.

However. I have a career plan that involves advanced practice so it's definitely upwardly mobile. And while I'm used to making a lot more, I have looked very carefully at my budget and once I pay off my credit cards doing this job, I'll be able to live comfortably on an RN salary.

You're talking about a pay cut of almost 60%, into a career without a lot of options either laterally or vertically.

I'm with the majority here. One of the great things about nursing is that there are a LOT of different kinds of nursing. Look into some other options, maybe even consult a career counselor to help you suss out something you will enjoy and already have the skillsets for. And get help with the anxiety, pronto.

Good luck!

"I always think about going the vet tech route, but, yes, the salary is deplorable. Especially for the two-year, and usually very expensive degree/certification route. Honestly, I grew up around a lot of vets and they personally think that going to a two year vet program is just plain dumb - they wonder why anyone would go into debt to end up making $12-15/hour. While I am sure that you can learn a lot of valuable and necessary information in such a program, A LOT lot of vets will hire and train "the right candidate" without such a certification. For example, I would say about 1/4 of my nursing school class once worked as vet techs, and none of them went to a fancy program - their vets just liked them, hired them, and trained them. One such classmates even worked at a world-class veternary surgical center (she's now an OR nurse)."

Fancy, that's funny. And I don't think $15,000 for a two year degree is so very expensive, I made double that my first year out of school.

And, yes, many vets will hire vet assistants off of the streets with just a high school diploma and you will be able to perform many of the vet tech duties, but you will never be allowed to use the vet tech title, you will always be unsafe as you will only know how you were told to do something, not why it is done and the many things that can go wrong and the many ways to fix them. No more than a CNA can expect to safely perform an RN's job. They may be able to "mimic" the job performance, but that's it. You will never be payed a vet tech's salary, ask them and they will laugh in your face. Also, a vet clinic is required by law to have atleast on vet tech on staff, most cannot afford more than that, and when the state comes to inspect, they will say it is the vet tech that performs all of the skills. Technically this is a law, but it is very rarely regulated, which is one of the reasons I got out of the field. It is so unsafe and the vets do it because they are cheap. Why hire someone who is educated and skilled, and carries the pricetag of such, when you can take some chump off the street, pay them minimum wage and have them do all the work, and the chump takes the crappy wage and all the work because they think it makes them special.

I never met a vet who thought my degree was worthless, as vet techs are an integral part of the team. And the salary you list is for first year new grads working in very small vet clinics, certainly not the end all for vet tech salaries.

And I seriously doubt that 1/4 of your class are vet techs...they may have worked in a vet clinic, but that doesn't make them vet techs by a long shot. The reason I can take a guess at this is because vet techs are very rare...as a matter of fact, it was rare for me to have a peer to work with me in the vet field (but definately did happen) and I have never run into one outside of work in over ten years....we are a rare breed.

There is a four year degree, but I have never met anyone with it, don't expect a vet to pay you more for having it as they can barely afford 2yr degree techs, and if you did get one, it would probably be for a university or research position, but there are other degree's and certificates you can use for those fields that would be more specific to what you will be doing.

"If you are in a large city with teaching hospitals and research facilities, the upward mobility as a VT that another poster spoke of MAY exist for you (although we never had first assists in OR, it was just those of us who knew what we were doing in there)."

It is not a specialized training or certificate such as with first assist in human nursing, it is someone who is a vet tech that is good at what they do and is well trusted by the veterinarian. I thought it would be easier to understand if I used the first assist title, versus saying the one who gets to scrub in and put their hands in the guts. I was often the "first assist", because I new exactly what my vet was doing and new what he/she would need and would have it done or the instrument in their hand before they could open their mouths to ask for it...this made things run very smoothly, which vets appreciate.

"There are many wonderful things about being a vet tech. I quit after more than a decade due to burn out, and there is a great deal of burnout in the field. Great people to work with, heartwarming stories as well as sad. That said, unless you work in a very sheltered environment, you'll see things that will keep you up at night."

This sounds no different than human nursing, except once you hit burnout, you try to convince yourself that you have to stay in the field for the money, or because you have run up too many bills trying to live the high life, or are too in debt from student loans.

"Petstopeople made a statement that "When you leave nursing your license does not just disappear" This is true, BUT with a caveat. Once you stop having any kind of recent experience, you become about as hire-able as a new Graduate Nurse, possibly less hire-able."

She could always work PRN to keep up her skills and make a little extra money.

Specializes in Trauma.
"Petstopeople made a statement that "When you leave nursing your license does not just disappear" This is true, BUT with a caveat. Once you stop having any kind of recent experience, you become about as hire-able as a new Graduate Nurse, possibly less hire-able."

She could always work PRN to keep up her skills and make a little extra money.

Work PRN as an RN for extra money? How about work as an RN and work part-time at a vet's office for extra money?

I know of few people that can realistically live off of $15 an hr. Working in a vet's office probably won't offer insurance and since she is now 26 she will not be able to go back on her parents insurance. They most likely will not offer any type of retirement program. Try paying living expense, a car payment, and have "entertainment" money while making $15 an hour.

In my area a vet tech starts at $10 an hour and will make about $12 after a two years. Most of the techs at my vets office are school age girls or older women that are married, a secondary income.

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