Nursing then NP or CRNA as a second Job.

PVCCHoo · Jun 12, 2019

All this information is readily available on the web, but I’ll chime in on the absolute fastest way to do it.

Well since you are almost 30 and in the tech field, we will assume you hold a bachelor’s in something and any classes you may have taken that would have been prerequisites for nursing school are too old for schools to give you credit (5 years is the number you see the most).

At the bare minimum, you would need a couple semesters of community college just to apply to an accelerated BSN and those are usually 12-18 months and can be pricey.

So let’s say you do that and have your BSN two years from now. Then you work in ICU for at least a year and then get in to a school that starts shortly after you are accepted - realistically at least another 2 years. Then 3 years of a DNP program because by the time you apply there will certainly be no more masters programs. So maybe you could do it in about 7 years - if everything fell together perfectly and you cast a very wide net when choosing programs.

I doubt you could work a full time job during an ABSN but who knows?

I start CRNA school in two months and I am currently 6 and a half years in from taking my first prerequisite at community college. I am doing a two year masters and it will take me just under 9 years. I could have maybe achieved that in 7 by applying to my ADN program a year earlier and getting less ICU time (I did 3 years).

Good luck. If you really want to be an MD, and are very motivated you could do it in just a little more time.

jamiejammer, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2019

Well first off I would like to state the obvious elephant I the room here. You are in the tech industry and are desiring to switch to the medical field. You feel medical school will take too long and are desiring a large paycheck.

1. First you will need to be accepted into some nursing program luckily or hopefully you already have a bachelors in some field and can do an accelerated program. If not if you are desiring to do some post graduate degrees you will need to have that bachelors in NURSING.

2. I would like to add in all these fields you need experience. For ICU which you will need in tempered to even be considered into a CRnA or ACNP you will have to have at a minimum 1 year on your own. I say this as many places have their new grads go through a residency program which can be 6 mos or longer.

3. Now you have 1 year experience you are now in a pool with thousands of other seeking graduate education. You will be competing with others who have 5, 10, 15 years or more of nursing under their belt on top of connection and recommendations from their peers certified in their fields. Don’t be shocked if things don’t happen on an immediate timeline for you.

4. I hope you are not simply wanting to switch careers as you think it will be a good paycheck. First off depending on your location NPs and CRNAs aren’t pulling the salary you are envisioning in your mind. Nursing especially when you are gaining experience you will be in a bedside nursing setting. You will be cleaning human feces most likely liquid. I don’t know if you have ever smelled c diff or a gi bleed but you will learn, festering wounds, sputum, emesis, etc on top of doing intensive monitoring of your patients. When you are working in a Icu you don’t have nursing assistants on the floor. It’s total care.

Definitely not trying to deter you but you are in for a long haul and hopefully it’s not for a paycheck.

5. No you aren’t going to be working a 8-5 job and going to school. Clinicals are generally 7a-3or 7p depending on the course and m-f on university schedule.

jamiejammer, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2019

I would also like to add one more. You also might not even possess the necessary qualities that an Icu nurse has and may not end up working in that area. I have seen plenty of new grads and experienced nurses alike not able to make it through their Icu orientation as some people never progress.

jamiejammer, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2019

4 hours ago, jamiejammer said:
Well first off I would like to state the obvious elephant I the room here. You are in the tech industry and are desiring to switch to the medical field. You feel medical school will take too long and are desiring a large paycheck.
1. First you will need to be accepted into some nursing program luckily or hopefully you already have a bachelors in some field and can do an accelerated program. If not if you are desiring to do some post graduate degrees you will need to have that bachelors in NURSING.
2. I would like to add in all these fields you need experience. For ICU which you will need in tempered to even be considered into a CRnA or ACNP you will have to have at a minimum 1 year on your own. I say this as many places have their new grads go through a residency program which can be 6 mos or longer.
3. Now you have 1 year experience you are now in a pool with thousands of other seeking graduate education. You will be competing with others who have 5, 10, 15 years or more of nursing under their belt on top of connection and recommendations from their peers certified in their fields. Don’t be shocked if things don’t happen on an immediate timeline for you.
4. I hope you are not simply wanting to switch careers as you think it will be a good paycheck. First off depending on your location NPs and CRNAs aren’t pulling the salary you are envisioning in your mind. Nursing especially when you are gaining experience you will be in a bedside nursing setting. You will be cleaning human feces most likely liquid. I don’t know if you have ever smelled c diff or a gi bleed but you will learn, festering wounds, sputum, emesis, etc on top of doing intensive monitoring of your patients. When you are working in a Icu you don’t have nursing assistants on the floor. It’s total care.
Definitely not trying to deter you but you are in for a long haul and hopefully it’s not for a paycheck.
5. No you aren’t going to be working a 8-5 job and going to school. Clinicals are generally 7a-3or 7p depending on the course and m-f on university schedule.

I’m order not tempered my bad.

jobjohnson · Jun 12, 2019

18 hours ago, PVCCHoo said:
All this information is readily available on the web, but I’ll chime in on the absolute fastest way to do it.
Well since you are almost 30 and in the tech field, we will assume you hold a bachelor’s in something and any classes you may have taken that would have been prerequisites for nursing school are too old for schools to give you credit (5 years is the number you see the most).
At the bare minimum, you would need a couple semesters of community college just to apply to an accelerated BSN and those are usually 12-18 months and can be pricey.
So let’s say you do that and have your BSN two years from now. Then you work in ICU for at least a year and then get in to a school that starts shortly after you are accepted - realistically at least another 2 years. Then 3 years of a DNP program because by the time you apply there will certainly be no more masters programs. So maybe you could do it in about 7 years - if everything fell together perfectly and you cast a very wide net when choosing programs.
I doubt you could work a full time job during an ABSN but who knows?
I start CRNA school in two months and I am currently 6 and a half years in from taking my first prerequisite at community college. I am doing a two year masters and it will take me just under 9 years. I could have maybe achieved that in 7 by applying to my ADN program a year earlier and getting less ICU time (I did 3 years).
Good luck. If you really want to be an MD, and are very motivated you could do it in just a little more time.

I was looking for information on the web for some time now but i was getting different information and was getting me confused.

Thank you very much for that simple explanation. No wi know what to research for.

jobjohnson · Jun 12, 2019

18 hours ago, jamiejammer said:
Well first off I would like to state the obvious elephant I the room here. You are in the tech industry and are desiring to switch to the medical field. You feel medical school will take too long and are desiring a large paycheck.
1. First you will need to be accepted into some nursing program luckily or hopefully you already have a bachelors in some field and can do an accelerated program. If not if you are desiring to do some post graduate degrees you will need to have that bachelors in NURSING.
2. I would like to add in all these fields you need experience. For ICU which you will need in tempered to even be considered into a CRnA or ACNP you will have to have at a minimum 1 year on your own. I say this as many places have their new grads go through a residency program which can be 6 mos or longer.
3. Now you have 1 year experience you are now in a pool with thousands of other seeking graduate education. You will be competing with others who have 5, 10, 15 years or more of nursing under their belt on top of connection and recommendations from their peers certified in their fields. Don’t be shocked if things don’t happen on an immediate timeline for you.
4. I hope you are not simply wanting to switch careers as you think it will be a good paycheck. First off depending on your location NPs and CRNAs aren’t pulling the salary you are envisioning in your mind. Nursing especially when you are gaining experience you will be in a bedside nursing setting. You will be cleaning human feces most likely liquid. I don’t know if you have ever smelled c diff or a gi bleed but you will learn, festering wounds, sputum, emesis, etc on top of doing intensive monitoring of your patients. When you are working in a Icu you don’t have nursing assistants on the floor. It’s total care.
Definitely not trying to deter you but you are in for a long haul and hopefully it’s not for a paycheck.
5. No you aren’t going to be working a 8-5 job and going to school. Clinicals are generally 7a-3or 7p depending on the course and m-f on university schedule.

Thank you very much for that insight. I think maybe that cleared a lot of my confusion regarding if i should be even considering a career change.

My intention was also to make sure, that i will have time, energy and most importantly do i want to do another 3-4 years of school since i maxed out on education in my field right now and also i did not want to commit a lot of my years right now for that purpose. I will need to do more research befor ei make a jump.

Thanks.

umbdude, MSN, APRN · Jun 13, 2019

21 hours ago, jobjohnson said:
The motive is, i like medical field and also i am looking for areas that pay high ( > 150k ).

29 is not too old to go for an MD or DO. If your career requirement includes >150k pay, your options within nursing is very limited because majority of NPs do not make near that and the NP job markets are already and projected to be very saturated.

There are some major differences between "medical" and nursing. Be sure to research the two and the pros and cons. Try getting some hands-on health care experience before plunging in- even a CNA or EMT course can be eye-opening. If you have the grades, discipline, and means, at 29, medical school (or DO) is the way to go; and same if you don't want to work as a RN.

21 hours ago, jobjohnson said:
I also wanted to know, in . a perfect world if i wanted to become a CRNA what would be path that i need to take.

You must get your BSN first and work at least 1-2 years in ICU (most have more than that) before applying to a CRNA program.

21 hours ago, jobjohnson said:
Would i be able to work an 8-5 job while pursuing an accelerated RN/BSN course (which ever is better) ?

No, it's not possible.

21 hours ago, jobjohnson said:
What would be the estimated number of years according to you, if i was willing to sacrifice time to study to be a NP or CRNA?

NP: After you finish your nursing pre-reqs, the fastest route to NP will take a minimum of 3 years full time not including the time it takes to apply. Some programs and specialties require RN experience, so that would add to the number of years.

CRNA: After finishing pre-reqs, it will likely take *minimum* of ~4-5 years (1.25 to 1.5 years for accelerated BSN, work at least 1 to 2 years in ICU, then minimum of 2-3 years full time CRNA).

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Jun 13, 2019

I switched careers from high tech to nursing. You will make more money in high tech, plain and simple. I was happy to take a pay cut because I am much happier as an NP.

In high tech, if you are good at your job and have a few years of experience, you should be making $150K+. You also have a lot more flexibility to work at home sometimes, etc.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 14, 2019

I was in the tech field (process improvement manager) before I pursued a career in nursing.

I would NOT recommend changing fields unless you are very passionate about working at the bedside. I mean, you're gonna clean up poop, GI bleeds, nasty wounds, suction phlegm out of trachs, clean up vomit, etc. It's not for everyone. I went from a 9-5 desk job to working 12 to 14 hour shifts on my feet with no breaks and rarely a chance to even use the bathroom.

I was 42 when I started my pre-reqs, 45 when I graduated with my ADN and got my first nursing job (at way less pay than what I was making in the tech field). I was 46 when I finished my BSN and started working in the ICU. I am now completing a dual ACNP/FNP nurse practitioner program. I'll be 51 when I finish, 9 years from when I started. I could have gone to med school in terms of the number of years. However, being a nurse allowed me to work while earning my BSN & completing my NP program. I would not have been able to work and do med school at the same time. Nor would I have been able to afford to re-pay my student loans for med school before retirement. At my age, I'd never recoup that investment. So, the NP route was the way to go. I considered PA school, which would have been 2 years faster, but I like the autonomy NPs have in certain states and my goal is to travel as a locum tenens, so NP was a good fit.

From what I gather reading your initial post, it seems you're hoping to continue working your current tech job while doing a nursing degree. There is simply no way you can do a nursing program to earn your RN and do a 9-5 job. It's impossible. The on-campus requirements and clinical hours simply won't allow for that. We used to have a part-time ADN program and the school dropped it because you could only realistically work about 28 hours per week in the evenings.

If you're thinking of NP as a high paying job, I'd drop that line of thinking quickly. You'll make more money staying in the tech field and not having the debt of nursing/NP school to pay off later. Plus, nursing is a job that physically beats up your body. As someone who worked at a desk for 17 years, it was quite a shock to switch to the physical demands of the job. I've never had back issues in my life until I became a nurse. There are times when you have a 350+ pound patient and only 2 of you to heft them back up in the bed (and the mechanical lift is broken). You do what you've gotta do to take care of your patients, but it can and does take a toll on your body.

I'm older than you, so 29 seems so young to me. If you really want to work in the medical field, I say go for MD. My cousin went to medical school at the age of 32 and he's already got his student loans paid off and a thriving specialty practice. But really, only go into the field if you're passionate about caring for patients. If you're in it for the paycheck, you'll end up resenting the work and it will show in your bedside demeanor with your patients, no matter what field you go in.

Good luck with your decision ?

Rookie12 · Jun 15, 2019

Look into PA school. Would probably be the quickest route to a decent paycheck in the medical field for your situation

Oldmahubbard · Jun 15, 2019

12 hours ago, Rookie12 said:
Look into PA school. Would probably be the quickest route to a decent paycheck in the medical field for your situation

But probably not the income level