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I was greeted this morning by a "Happy Birthday" card from allnurses.com, which was a nice gesture. At the bottom of the card was an ad to support Hillary Clinton. Seriously? Very poor taste, allnurses. No matter what my political position is, placing an ad to support a specific candidate on a birthday card is very poor taste. And on that note, allnurses.com should not take political positions at all by posting ads for one candidate or another. Nurses across America are on both sides of the politicial spectrum, so you are bound to offend about half of all nurses with these ads. I will end this with a big shout-out to all nurses out there, who are some of the bravest, hardest-working, fun & funny, wonderful people in the world. You have made me be a better nurse by modeling excellent skills, work ethic, and devotion to our profession.

It's all about attitude. I had always wanted to be an RN since working as a tech in an ER during my college years, but then along came marriage and children and I really wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom. So after 20 years of that (which I loved), I brushed the dust off that back-burner dream and started nursing pre-req's at 48 in spite of all my fears. Yes, it was the hardest thing I've ever done, yes, my brain was rusty, yes, I was the 2nd oldest one in my class, BUT....I WANTED TO BE A NURSE! I graduated in March 2007 with my RN, and now, 2 years later, I'm loving it! Every time I sign my name with RN after it, I smile. Working with patients is what I love, and being around a mostly younger work force keeps me feeling younger! I feel stronger because I work hard every day, and I'm so thankful that I chose to JUST DO IT instead of sitting around wondering if I should or could. You won't regret it. And the plus is that you'll find that your many life experiences and accumulation (hopefully) of common sense, wisdom, compassion, and patience will serve you well as a new "old" nurse! God bless you in your endeavours!

THANK YOU and HUGE HUGS to all of you caring nurses who responded to my post. I have soaked in every word and have been really touched by your encouragement. I feel like I just had a therapy session and came away with helpful advice I can use This site is awesome....it's the only place I can go where I feel totally understood and can relate to my fellow nurses! God bless you all for taking the time to write! Nancy

Hi fellow nurses! I hope all you seasoned nurses can offer some advice. All my life I've wanted to be a nurse, so when the "empty nest" arrived, I went back to school and got my RN at age 50 I've been working at a highly acclaimed hospital on a med/surg floor for 3 months now, and I'm so disenchanted, disappointed, and disheartened. I dread going to work! I thought I would love nursing but I don't. I'm shocked and overwhelmed with the amount of charting, the stress level, and the little amount of time I have to feel like I'm connecting with my patients. I feel like school barely prepared me for nursing, and most of the shift I feel like I'm behind. Sometimes I have to stay 1-2 hours overtime to finish charting. I work nights (which is wreaking havoc with my body & mind) because day shift is intolerable (the insane pace and stress). All the nurses who've been there over a year say it was the same exact way for them. Oh great. I didn't want to work in med/surg but all my teachers and almost every nurse I talked to said to get one year there first. Everyone says the first year as a new nurse is extremely hard and stressful. I just don't know if I can handle 9 more months of feeling like a zombie, dreading going to work, and generally being so sad that I'm not enjoying my job. I'm a hard worker, very self-motivated, and wanting to pour myself into nursing. I do not enjoy the type of nursing I'm doing, but I do like getting to know my patients and I love doing procedures, like starting IV's, stuff like that. I think I want to try NICU, but how will I know if I will like it? I'm certain that I haven't found my "niche", but I'm not sure how to find it! Is this how all nursing is? Did I go into this with the wrong expectations? Should I not have gotten a job in med/surg? For those nurses out there who LOVE their jobs, how did you find the type of nursing that you love? Are all day shifts insane? Should I try to find something else now, or put in my one year of med/surg? Please help! Thank you!