I have posted my situation before, so I am sorry if any of this is redundant. I am trying to get back into nursing, and I have continued to be confused. Any advice would be VERY much appreciated please.
I graduated from school with a BSN 35 years ago. I am 58 years old, but I look and feel very young. I worked as a school nurse teacher for two years when I first graduated. I then went into teaching and taught elementary school for 30 years. I did extremely well, and I have an MA and many post graduate credits in education. Four years ago, due to being cheated on and abandoned by my husband of 32 years, I had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. During that time, I watched what the psych. nurses did and became obsessed with the idea of returning to nursing. (I retired from teaching right after the nervous breakdown.) Throughout my whole ordeal with major depression, going back to nursing was the only thing that made me feel better. I took a refresher course in nursing. I loved it and did quite well considering my lack of experience and how long ago I graduated from nursing school. Although I was very interested in psych, I also enjoyed taking care of all different types of clients. I needed that refresher course to continue for a lot longer than 6 weeks. As soon as i was just beginning to get the hang of it, it was over. I was offered a job( nights-ortho), but I did not feel confident enough in my ability to take it. Since then, I have been through two surgeries for a prolapsed retun and then adhesions, and I am getting remarried next month. I am physically and mentally better, and I STILL want to return to nursing. I am currently registered in the state of NY.
I believe that I need more education before getting a job. i have looked into everything i can think of, and I just keep getting more and more confused. I have looked into MS programs in everything from psych to management. I know-how can I manage something i have no experience with? I have looked into online programs in particular, because I will be living in Fla. and NY within a year. I have looked into the Kaplan case management course, but I don't think anyone would hire me without floor experience. I have thought of taking another refresher course. I have thought I would like so many different specialties-psych., rehabilitation, long term care, pediatric psych., diabetus educator, case management, informatics etc.
The bottom line is that I am 58 years old, have experience with children, am an excellent teacher(was teacher of the year in 1996)am very organized and detail oriented, love paper work, love the computer, love to work hard, am very compassionate and loving and love to help people.. The only areas that I would find too stressful would be the ED, oncology and hospice care.
The advice I need is:
1. What kind of education would be good for me? How can I update myself? Would a nursing master's be ridiculous with no clinical experience? Would another refresher course help even though it would just be 6 weeks again? Are there any online courses that you think would benefit me?
2. What type of nursing do you think would be best for someone in my position and at my age?
3. Do you think I am TOO OLD and should give up my dream that I never fullfilled. Don't get me wrong-I loved my teaching career-I have just had enough and want to go back to nursing.
Any advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. If you think I am TOO OLD, please tell me. I need to know and make realistic decisions.
I actually was the case manager for anywhere from 12 (unusual) to about 21 (unusual). Normal load was 14-17. BUT you can only be at one place at a time. Of course, there were times the pager and cell phone were going off; however, it was the least physically demanding of my jobs. It did seem to attract some nurses that were definately over the 50-60 year mark. I would suggest a larger hospice that has a full-time on-call staff that would allow you to simply see pts Mon-Fri from 0800-1700. I'm sorry about your son. Perhaps your sorrow and loss could somehow be a benefit to others. If I can answer any other questions please let me know.
You are NEVER too old! Hey, I just turned 54 yesterday, and will be starting a new job next week with a case management company after working 4-1/2 years for a HMO. Prior to that, I worked for 18 years in Home Health and in acute care before that. As an experienced educator, you have a LOT to offer especially in disease and case management, for more and more companies are looking for ways to cut their health care costs. Check out this website. It will tell you everything you need to know about case management. Good luck! :)
Cse Mgr1 and Military Spouse- I am considering case management. I have been thinking of taking the Kaplan Course. What do you think? Do you think I should take a current refresher course first?
Moving Along- I am interested in psych too, but they all want previous med surg experience. Since you have that, I am surprised you can't get a psych job. I am considering taking an online refresher course given by the university of Delaware-www.udel.edu/dsp/rnrefresher/
mattsmom81 and mstigerlily and mjlrn97- I am really good at teaching, but how can I teach nursing when I have been away from it for so long and never even worked in a hospital? I was thinking maybe along the lines of a patient educator wheras i could learn about one specific disease like Diabetus and become an educator maybe even childhood diabetus educator since my experience is with children. Have any idea where I could learn to be something like a diabetic educator?
I think the best thing I can say to you right now is ...
You don't get anywhere until you make a decision.
You seem to be paralyzed in trying to make a decision because you are looking for the "best choice" right now. There might not be a "best choice" right now. There may be only choices -- not of which is perfect. You may have to simply pick one, give it try, and then alter your path based on how it goes, understanding that the first choice you make might not work out as well as you hope.
You need to pick a specialty for yourself and then talk to the people who do hiring for that type of job. See if they will hire you (probably as a beginner-level nurse) as you are now. If not, ask them what you would have to do to get hired. You may have to take a job that is not your first choice at first and/or work a schedule that is not your first choice, but you need to start putting one foot in front of the other and simply get a job that will get you started. After 6 months to a year, you will have the experience you need to move on to whatever better suits your fancy.
If you will be moving within a year, it is probably best to focus on getting a job in your new locale. Use the time in your old home to perhaps take another refresher course ... or take a single relevant class as a special student at a local college (sometimes possible) ... or do some relevant volunteer work. But you could be talking with people in your new locale now and learning from them what they would like you to in order for them to hire you.
With your background in education ... have you thought about non-RN jobs in a children's hospital? We have school teachers who work with the kids in the hospital rather than in the school environment. We also have a Child Life department that provides invaluable service to children helping them cope with their illnesses and hospitalization. You may need only a class or two to get the qualifications you would need to qualify for those jobs -- maybe none at all. Talk to the local children's hospital and listen to what they have to say.
But most of all ... just make a decision and give it a try. Then, based on your experience with that first decision, keep moving forward.
Good luck,
llg
Ilg-you have been VERY helpful. I am definitely considering all of your great ideas. I would probably love working in a children's hospital being a nurse educator like a diabetic educator for kids. I think I would be great at that. Where can you get education to be something like that? I can't take a job in my current area, as I will be moving to Fla. In the meantime, I wanted to take some online education to prepare myself. I was thinking of taking a current refresher course online at the University of Delaware and then a specialty online program like for instance being a pediatric nurse educator. I am not sure where to get that kind of an education. I think the pediatric nurse practitioner program is for nurses with a lot of peds experience. Correct?
I will definitely call the closest children's hospital I can find in Fla.., but meanwhile I wanted to take some online course work. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Come to think of it, there is a big children's hospital on Long Island where i live now. I think I will contact them and see if they give any courses or have any suggestions. I will actually be living on LI for 6 months and in Fla. for 6 months. So I could see what the children's hospital here on LI offers. If it ends up that I can't get back into nursing, teaching in a children's hospital may be a good idea. Anyway, thanks for throwing out so many options for me.
Cse Mgr1 and Military Spouse- I am considering case management. I have been thinking of taking the Kaplan Course. What do you think? Do you think I should take a current refresher course first?
Moving Along- I am interested in psych too, but they all want previous med surg experience. Since you have that, I am surprised you can't get a psych job. I am considering taking an online refresher course given by the university of Delaware-www.udel.edu/dsp/rnrefresher/
mattsmom81 and mstigerlily and mjlrn97- I am really good at teaching, but how can I teach nursing when I have been away from it for so long and never even worked in a hospital? I was thinking maybe along the lines of a patient educator wheras i could learn about one specific disease like Diabetus and become an educator maybe even childhood diabetus educator since my experience is with children. Have any idea where I could learn to be something like a diabetic educator?
I did have an interview Thursday with a free standing hospital. I suppose wanting only a pm per diem job limits my opportunities. It wasn't a hard "behavioral" interview. I pretty much knew my stuff. But you know what. I just don't know if I really want to work psych. I think after awhile I just might get tired of all the "unruliness" and it seems to me that it really doesn't interest me that much. Maybe because of a dysfunctional family that I grew up in. I am thinking that this just might get old to me. I also feel that urge to use some of my med/surg skills. But I don't want to go back to a big time city hospital. Right now I am applying at skilled nursing facilities. I was called by one nurse recruiter from a big hospital, not knowing that I had not gone through a refresher course yet, and suggested I start with the skilled nursing, not just the custodial nursing homes. So I might just do that for a start. I'm also thinking of corrections, but I just don't want a fulltime job. Corrections can be a lot easier than big hospitals for the most part. Right now I am just weary of getting together all these resumes, trying to say the right things. To me that's the biggest part of the work. Maybe you can talk to different nurse recruiters and get some ideas. The one that I talked to was a big help. I didn't know about how much hands-on experience you can get with skilled bed patients. It is a big job for us with this searching. But anyway, good luck and keep us posted.
Ilg-you have been VERY helpful. I am definitely considering all of your great ideas. I would probably love working in a children's hospital being a nurse educator like a diabetic educator for kids. I think I would be great at that. Where can you get education to be something like that? I can't take a job in my current area, as I will be moving to Fla. In the meantime, I wanted to take some online education to prepare myself. I was thinking of taking a current refresher course online at the University of Delaware and then a specialty online program like for instance being a pediatric nurse educator. I am not sure where to get that kind of an education. I think the pediatric nurse practitioner program is for nurses with a lot of peds experience. Correct?
I will definitely call the closest children's hospital I can find in Fla.., but meanwhile I wanted to take some online course work. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Come to think of it, there is a big children's hospital on Long Island where i live now. I think I will contact them and see if they give any courses or have any suggestions. I will actually be living on LI for 6 months and in Fla. for 6 months. So I could see what the children's hospital here on LI offers. If it ends up that I can't get back into nursing, teaching in a children's hospital may be a good idea. Anyway, thanks for throwing out so many options for me.
I think that is your best start is the refresher course and see what you can line up while you are doing it. But be sure it is approved by your BON. You certainly have the credentials, but I think both of us are going to have most of our work cut out for us searching.
I am in San Diego, I work at Scripps La Jolla. I am a new grad so I don't know much about the re-entry programs but I had a returning RN in my new grad class (we had 10 weeks of classes once a week) and she was at every single one and went to the cardiac floor. They seemed very supportive of returning RNs.
Melissa
Don't remember if I replied to that or not. That is encouraging. The refresher I am taking is given by Grossmont Occupations Health in Santee and approved by the BON. I think it might have some affiliation with Sharp Grossmost. I think that is where they take their clinicals. Anyway, thanks so much for the encouragement.
Ilg-you have been VERY helpful. I am definitely considering all of your great ideas. I would probably love working in a children's hospital being a nurse educator like a diabetic educator for kids. I think I would be great at that. Where can you get education to be something like that? I can't take a job in my current area, as I will be moving to Fla. In the meantime, I wanted to take some online education to prepare myself. I was thinking of taking a current refresher course online at the University of Delaware and then a specialty online program like for instance being a pediatric nurse educator. I am not sure where to get that kind of an education. I think the pediatric nurse practitioner program is for nurses with a lot of peds experience. Correct?
I will definitely call the closest children's hospital I can find in Fla.., but meanwhile I wanted to take some online course work. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Come to think of it, there is a big children's hospital on Long Island where i live now. I think I will contact them and see if they give any courses or have any suggestions. I will actually be living on LI for 6 months and in Fla. for 6 months. So I could see what the children's hospital here on LI offers. If it ends up that I can't get back into nursing, teaching in a children's hospital may be a good idea. Anyway, thanks for throwing out so many options for me.
Another option is to attend graduate school and entering a family (or pediatric) nurse practitioner program. In that program, you will have a clinical residency along with other students coming from other career fields (many of the NP students have former degrees/careers in areas other than nursing).
Any feedback on my suggestion would be appreciated.
Another option is to attend graduate school and entering a family (or pediatric) nurse practitioner program. In that program, you will have a clinical residency along with other students coming from other career fields (many of the NP students have former degrees/careers in areas other than nursing).
Any feedback on my suggestion would be appreciated.
Hi,
Thank you for your suggestion. I have been holding back on applying to a pediatric nurse practitioner's program, because I thought one needed to have pediatric floor experience. I wasn't aware that students coming from other career fields take this program. This makes me a lot more optimistic. When I was in nursing school, my goal was to be a pediatric nurse. It was my favorite clinical. I took a job as a school nurse teacher, as I was getting married and thought the hours would be better. That is how I somehow became a classroom teacher. After thinking of a thousand options, I am getting to the point of thinking that being a pediatric nurse educator would be best suited for my experience. I am a great teacher and great with kids. That really is what I do best. Could you or anyone else on this thread suggest any schools with online programs that are known to accept people with undergraduate experiences other than nursing? This way the nursing education in peds would have to be from the beginning, which is what I need after all this time. Thank you so much. You have really enlightened me! krisssy
We are never too old, I was away from nursing for 20 years. Took a RN refresher in Fl. in that time period but the time was not right for me to return to hospital nursing. I did do home care for a year after being away from med/surg 10 years and that didn't feel that good either. I took another RN refresher class in Washington State which was 6 months and that was much better. At this time I had been away from nursing for 20 years. I started to work in the hospital and it wasn't going well. I found out I had ADHD and had to leave that job. Got another job in a clinic and have been here 2 years. However I'd much rather work in the hospital but am scared to go back because they didn't have IV pumps when I worked in the hospital and the short time I worked on the floor, my preceptor did not have patience with me because I didn't learn their computer charting in one week and she resented being a preceptor to an older slower nurse. I think its all in the preceptors we get. Hope that helps. You might be able to work in a nursing home and get some experience. Keep in touch.
I think the best thing I can say to you right now is ...
You don't get anywhere until you make a decision.
You seem to be paralyzed in trying to make a decision because you are looking for the "best choice" right now. There might not be a "best choice" right now. There may be only choices -- not of which is perfect. You may have to simply pick one, give it try, and then alter your path based on how it goes, understanding that the first choice you make might not work out as well as you hope.
Hay old RN, you have 9 years on me, and I dont consider myself old. I waout of the profession for past 16 years, I was running the family business, and when the business sold I went back into nursing, mainly because it is the only other thing I can do that pays a descent salary. If you are looking for a challenging career one where you have the opportunity to genuinely care for a person, I would suggest my current career path. I am MDS/Care Plan Coordinator in LTC, and I absolutely love it, I have daily contact with the residents, my assessment skills are honed daily. There is not much physical work involved, occasionally I have to work the floor, and I never mind passing out meal trays or assisting to toilet someone. Don't get me wrong if you are looking for big $$$$$$ LTC is not the answer.
I have posted my situation before, so I am sorry if any of this is redundant. I am trying to get back into nursing, and I have continued to be confused. Any advice would be VERY much appreciated please.
I graduated from school with a BSN 35 years ago. I am 58 years old, but I look and feel very young. I worked as a school nurse teacher for two years when I first graduated. I then went into teaching and taught elementary school for 30 years. I did extremely well, and I have an MA and many post graduate credits in education. Four years ago, due to being cheated on and abandoned by my husband of 32 years, I had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. During that time, I watched what the psych. nurses did and became obsessed with the idea of returning to nursing. (I retired from teaching right after the nervous breakdown.) Throughout my whole ordeal with major depression, going back to nursing was the only thing that made me feel better. I took a refresher course in nursing. I loved it and did quite well considering my lack of experience and how long ago I graduated from nursing school. Although I was very interested in psych, I also enjoyed taking care of all different types of clients. I needed that refresher course to continue for a lot longer than 6 weeks. As soon as i was just beginning to get the hang of it, it was over. I was offered a job( nights-ortho), but I did not feel confident enough in my ability to take it. Since then, I have been through two surgeries for a prolapsed retun and then adhesions, and I am getting remarried next month. I am physically and mentally better, and I STILL want to return to nursing. I am currently registered in the state of NY.
I believe that I need more education before getting a job. i have looked into everything i can think of, and I just keep getting more and more confused. I have looked into MS programs in everything from psych to management. I know-how can I manage something i have no experience with? I have looked into online programs in particular, because I will be living in Fla. and NY within a year. I have looked into the Kaplan case management course, but I don't think anyone would hire me without floor experience. I have thought of taking another refresher course. I have thought I would like so many different specialties-psych., rehabilitation, long term care, pediatric psych., diabetus educator, case management, informatics etc.
The bottom line is that I am 58 years old, have experience with children, am an excellent teacher(was teacher of the year in 1996)am very organized and detail oriented, love paper work, love the computer, love to work hard, am very compassionate and loving and love to help people.. The only areas that I would find too stressful would be the ED, oncology and hospice care.
The advice I need is:
1. What kind of education would be good for me? How can I update myself? Would a nursing master's be ridiculous with no clinical experience? Would another refresher course help even though it would just be 6 weeks again? Are there any online courses that you think would benefit me?
2. What type of nursing do you think would be best for someone in my position and at my age?
3. Do you think I am TOO OLD and should give up my dream that I never fullfilled. Don't get me wrong-I loved my teaching career-I have just had enough and want to go back to nursing.
Any advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. If you think I am TOO OLD, please tell me. I need to know and make realistic decisions.
We are never too old, I was away from nursing for 20 years. Took a RN refresher in Fl. in that time period but the time was not right for me to return to hospital nursing. I did do home care for a year after being away from med/surg 10 years and that didn't feel that good either. I took another RN refresher class in Washington State which was 6 months and that was much better. At this time I had been away from nursing for 20 years. I started to work in the hospital and it wasn't going well. I found out I had ADHD and had to leave that job. Got another job in a clinic and have been here 2 years. However I'd much rather work in the hospital but am scared to go back because they didn't have IV pumps when I worked in the hospital and the short time I worked on the floor, my preceptor did not have patience with me because I didn't learn their computer charting in one week and she resented being a preceptor to an older slower nurse. I think its all in the preceptors we get. Hope that helps. You might be able to work in a nursing home and get some experience. Keep in touch.
I had the same experience with a preceptor. I took one refresher course, but because of two surgeries, time passed, and I didn't get a job. So I signed up for a refresher course that was hospital based. The first one was college based. Anyway, in the first refresher course, the instructor stayed with us and mentored all 8 of us. It was great. In the second refresher, the instructors dropped us all off on different floors, and they assigned us a preceptor. So I thought that was a great idea, because it would be just as if I had a new job, and I could see what it was like. The preceptor was just awful. She completely ignored me as if I wasn't there. She spent the first 45 minutes on the telephone with her boyfriend. Then she was all backed up, and she was a nervous wreck. She couldn't get a pre op IV in, and she didn't ask for help. She left a patient's pills on his nightstand, as he was in the bathroom. She went into a patient's room without isolation precautions, and the DON came in and asked to speak to her about it privately. The patient was clearly on precautions. Then another patient was not on isolation, and she put on isolation clothes, because she said he was "dirty" from being in a coma. She did not teach me how to do anything. The only thing she said to me was, "Go introduce yourself to my patients." They all had questions that I had to go find her to ask her. She gave me no directions and didn't ask me to do one thing. So I walked into a patient's room, and the patient was telling me about her situation. I was listening. The preceptor comes in and says to me, "Are you just chatting?" I complained to my instructor, she told the preceptor, and things just got worse. So I quit. I wasn't going to pay a couple of thousand dollars to be precepted like that. Nurses that don't really want to teach should not be preceptors. It isn't fair to the new nurse or to the hospital. Also, she told me that the DON wanted her fired, because she doesn't do what they tell her to do. Well, that was obvious! Why would they give me a preceptor that didn't do a good job as a nurse herself? Well that is my reentry nurse preceptor story! Krisssy
If you are looking for a challenging career one where you have the opportunity to genuinely care for a person, I would suggest my current career path. I am MDS/Care Plan Coordinator in LTC, and I absolutely love it, I have daily contact with the residents, my assessment skills are honed daily. There is not much physical work involved, occasionally I have to work the floor, and I never mind passing out meal trays or assisting to toilet someone. Don't get me wrong if you are looking for big $$$$$$ LTC is not the answer.
military spouse
577 Posts
I actually was the case manager for anywhere from 12 (unusual) to about 21 (unusual). Normal load was 14-17. BUT you can only be at one place at a time. Of course, there were times the pager and cell phone were going off; however, it was the least physically demanding of my jobs. It did seem to attract some nurses that were definately over the 50-60 year mark. I would suggest a larger hospice that has a full-time on-call staff that would allow you to simply see pts Mon-Fri from 0800-1700. I'm sorry about your son. Perhaps your sorrow and loss could somehow be a benefit to others. If I can answer any other questions please let me know.