Nursing as a second career

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Nov 29, 2015

While not a second career RN, I work with many nurses who are. Consistently, those coming from the outside are unprepared mentally for the unpredictability of nursing. This unpredictability extends from the work day (jillions of interruptions/ patient condition changes) to the schedule (nights /weekends/ holidays/ different days off every week) to the healthcare environment in general (constantly changing regulations and rules).

PintheD · Nov 30, 2015

I am a second degree/second career nurse. Next year it will be 20 years since I graduated from nursing school, seventeen of which were spent at the bedside. I wish I could get those years back. Nursing crushed me emotionally and has practically destroyed my self esteem. I always worked in very high acuity, challenging environments because I did thrive on the intensity, for a while. Some years ago I had a patient found dead on the floor next to his bed when his alarms registered asystole. I have worked very few shifts since that day as I suffer from PTSD related to that patient's death. Even after all this time I remain emotional, feel responsible and feel as though a part of me has died. All of this never would have happened if I had been, say, working in a department store at the mall.

I have friends that are also second degree/second career nurses and have enjoyed very fulfilling careers. I am not the rule. My intention here is to give you food for thought. The potential for unfortunate consequences for a bedside nurse are very much reality. A day in the life of a nurse can impact that nurses life tremendously and for a very long time.

Good luck to you.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Nov 30, 2015

I'm a second career nurse. I was an elementary school teacher before I became a nurse.

Meanmaryjean wrote: Consistently, those coming from the outside are unprepared mentally for the unpredictability of nursing. This unpredictability extends from the work day..." This was not my experience. I was used to unpredictability, since primary school students are nowhere near predictable and the changes within the work day can be huge. I found the unpredictability of nursing to be less stressful than that of first-through-third grade teaching. Depending on what you did in the legal field, maybe you have experience in turbo-unpredictability.

School was pretty easy for me, although it was tremendously time-consuming. Having a degree under my belt meant I knew I could do the work to graduate. I also didn't have to take all the courses others in my classes had to take, since I had already completed many. I realize others had to put in more time than I did, simply because they had to take more classes.

I also could write papers more easily than those without the writing experience I had from my first degree.

I also felt my instructors respected me. They gave me experiences some others didn't get. I don't know if this was because I was older than most of them or because I had a degree or because I did good work. It was a definite thing.

One challenge was accepting that nursing school tests are different than other tests. Picking the most-correct answer out of several is difficult to master when you're used to another format.

Another challenge was coping with the tremendous emotional and physical pain patients experience. You have to develop a way to handle it or it will burn you deeply...

You can do it if you find ways to cope with the work-load and the emotional stresses.

katieike · Nov 30, 2015

Thank you so much for the informative and helpful feedback. I believe everyone has a different experience when it comes to nursing and I appreciate hearing the negative and the positive.