Jordee

I took a 3 month Nurse Refresher with clinical course at 60. I was so worried I would not get a job because of my age. Upon completion at 61, I got a job on a medical tele floor, despite not having worked as a nurse for 13 years. I tried applying on line with no bites. Then I went to a job fair that very few showed up to. I respectfully asked the Director to give me a chance. I got hired after a 4 hour shadow on the unit, the very next day. Starting pay was very reasonable and since then I've received good increases. If you are looking for floor nursing, it is very demanding and even more difficult than in years past. Pt acuity is much higher. I learned Cerner system at first and now I have learned Epic. It was not that difficult. I am 64 now and had no trouble, having used a computer at home and at other non nursing jobs. I get treated same as everyone else--like a MAID. Bedside Nurses don't get the respect they deserve. Some patients tell me they are glad to get an older experienced nurse. Focus on open houses and make your case in person

You need an account to see the NYT article. Can someone summarize what it said?

I tried being retired for 3 years after a non-nursing career and was bored. I don't have to work anymore. A few years ago, I took a nursing refresher and got a bedside nursing job at 61. Learned new skills too. Good Health Insurance coverage. I'm now in my 3rd year of working. I hate the way nurses are treated. I work PT on a really hard acute floor and I feel sorry for the nurses who have to work FT. Its so stressful and discouraging. We are treated like morons by the hospital, and like maids by the patients and visitors. I refuse to work more than 2 days a week, despite nice hourly pickup bonuses--its too much. I am grateful for the experience to work again. I am planning my exit strategy. My SS retirement age (FRA) occurs in early 2025. I'll quit in 2023 without taking SS.

It doesn't matter to me if you are doing it for the money or for altruistic reasons. Just do your work and be alert. Who am I to judge? I am doing it for the healthcare insurance and work part time. I do the best job I can. I have lots of coworkers from African countries and the Phillipines who will tell you straight up its for the money and overtime, and some need to send money overseas. Fine. Just don't be on your phone all night or sleeping and don't expect me to answer your bed, tele, and pump alarms if that is the case. I'll help anybody who is awake and doing their work.

There are lots of entry level clinical trials work through pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organizations. I had several years of clinical research experience and have traveled to UK/Ireland on business and know this is true. You have a clinical background which is very useful. These are corporate Monday to Friday jobs with no patient care. Look for Data Management, drug safety, and clinical research assistant/associate positions. Pays way more than Nursing.

Call your employee compliance line ASAP and report the bullying. Tell them you were frightened and instructed to leave by the perpetrator.

Look for a corporate Monday to Friday Job. Occupational Health, School, and Pharmaceutical Clinical Research come to mind. I had 29 years of Monday to Friday corporate; and could work PRN as a nurse via agency because I kept up my license requirements for my state.

I'm 63 on a busy med/surg tele floor. One of 4 "older" nurses. My floor is crazy busy, I keep up. It's the younger nurses that are leaving because of pay inequity with the travel nurses and ongoing stress--ageism is the least of nursing's problems. Lack of nursing leadership is the problem, we need leaders who can improve working conditions and pay for nurses.

Pt families have "fired" the nurse, and where I work they will get you to switch patients with another nurse to appease the family. Get used to this. Nurses are not treated like professionals by all families and/or management. More like a maid at their beck and call. You are not allowed to mention you are busy with other patients. You will be on the defensive. If you should change jobs, do not take one with "primary nursing", its impossible to do your job adequately alone---with the workloads they expect you to manage.

Yes I agree. A lot of nursing research is pie in the sky stuff. They dream up all these topics and the results are rarely implemented. I doubt if the research is read outside of the nursing profession. Doctors don't seem to reference it regarding patient care. I worked in pharmaceutical clinical research where patient centered research protocols were prepared. Nursing research was never referenced as far as standard of patient care. I also think the Leadership MSN is a waste of time. You can see there is no real local or national leadership in Nursing or we would not be in this sad predicament. Leaders are in the pocket of Administration if they want to keep their job. An AD nurse is just as well trained as a BSN nurse. The BSN in particular has been degraded to a "Get your BSN" in 1 year!" Why the downgrade in required credits? Why is it so expensive? Nurses required to get BSNs are an easy source of revenue for online universities. How come I am not qualified to get a job in ICU/ER but I can be floated there? Answer: A nurse is a nurse, a warm body, and she will do as administration says or else get fired without reference! Finally, those nurses who are martyrs talking about "a calling" and "we work short, you don't care about the patients if you don't do it , you signed up for this"-- these are the ones hospitals depend on to take advantage of with short staffing and low pay! I feel sorry for the new grads who are horrified when reality sets in. They see what they can look forward to if they continue in Med/Surg. I've seen 3 leave this year.

I'd like to know which religions will provide an exemption for the Covid Vaccination. Are exemptions also granted for all other vaccinations (like childhood required ones) or it is just for Covid? Can you get an exemption for the Flu shot too? I am just curious and trying to understand which religions take a stand on this. I am Covid vaccinated. My employer has given all employees, not just nurses, until end of Sept to get fully vaccinated. The flu shot is also required.

I advise going to the face to face open house, where you will get to state your case directly to hiring managers. That's what I did in 2019 after taking a refresher course. I had not worked since 2006. I got hired. An LTC nurse who I sat next to in the waiting area got hired too. Sometimes a lot of people don't show up to these open houses so you have a better chance.

If you are leaving because you don't want be vaccinated, where will you find another job? Do at home jobs pay as much as hospitals? Do you think you will be able to find an employer who will not require a vaccination? Just curious as to what your thinking is about finding another job. Just heard the Delta airline will charge unvaxxed employees a $200 month healthcare surcharge. I know there is a nursing shortage but this seems like it will be a tough job search.

You have made some concerning points relevant to your experience in nursing as a PCT. However, it is unwise to generalize. Nurses also attend school and work. Not all nurses refuse to help their Tech. Nurses do respect their PCTs. You appear to be saying : Nurses it serves you right. That is mean spirited. As another poster said, you have a chip on your shoulder. Your concerns are not the point of this thread, the topic is "why are nurses fleeing the hospital"; not "Nurses look down on the PCTs and treat them like crap". Start another thread for that subject and you will get more pointed feedback.

I work on a super busy heavy unit. The turnover is such that 1/2 the floor nurses are now new grads from the last 1 1/2 years that I've been at my job. Experienced nurses are realizing they are grossly underpaid. They are joining agencies and travel nursing and/or trying to go part time and get a second agency job. Experienced nurses are also sick of precepting agency nurses who get paid way more. One Agency shift is the equivalent of 3 times or more what a staff nurse makes in 3 shifts. Staff nurses are also not always offered a bonus for picking up a shift. $25 hour bonus on top of an average $36 hourly rate and the hospital balk at that. Another reason is that its a numbers game. If you start with 5 pts, and discharge 2--you will get two admissions and possibly a 3rd if they say nurses will go up to 6 patients that shift. That's 8 patients! Acuity does not matter anymore. Nurses are simply exhausted after 12 hours.

I have taken 3 refresher courses over the years, because I worked in the Pharmaceutical industry and needed a refresher to be considered for agency PRN or hospital work. The first was in 2002 and it was a traditional community college course where you attended a few evenings and clinical skills were done in the lab. At the end of it we took a proctored simulated NCLEX exam test. I think it was the Mosby Adaptive. This was enough to get back to agency and PT hospital work. The second time in 2012 was the University of Delaware's online course. It is quite popular. You need an inactive license in your state to do clinicals. It was very thorough and concluded with having to go to their Newark, DE campus to take a comprehensive test based on the content of the course. It stopped after 75 questions. Then the clinical experience was gained by going to a hospital in your state and shadowing a nurse for several 12 hour shifts. The university has a list of hospitals if the course is acceptable in your state where they have made arrangements. I did not apply for a hospital job after this refresher because I decided to keep my job and pay off my mortgage before going FT into nursing again. I did this and early retired in 2016. The third time was in 2019 where I took a hybrid online and in house Community College course.. You need an inactive license to do clinicals. The final test was online consisting of course content. Clinicals consisted of six 12 hour Saturday sessions at a local hospital with a clinical instructor where we were given a nurse preceptor for the day. After receiving an active license, I got a hospital job within a few months despite being an advanced age (61). When you do go job hunting after the Resfresher, be sure to attend open houses. Hospitals get many online applications and if they can see who they are hiring it is an advantage. Good Luck!

Thank you TAKOO01. There's not a lot of information from Refresher nurses out there, and I wanted to give a closure to my story. Its difficult to find Refresher courses as well. Again, I highly recommend going the open house route and speaking with hiring managers so they can see you face to face. The day after the open house, I was invited to come to the unit and shadow a nurse for 4 hours. I made sure to convince the preceptor how motivated and happy I was to get back to the floor. The hiring process went quickly after that. They gave me a decent offer. I have never been late for work or called out.

Update: I got a FT job on a busy hospital Med/Surg Tele Floor a few months after posting my original message in July 2019. I went on Nights after my 5 week orientation was over. I am now starting IVs and doing everything I used to do and more. So now I have a solid 1 year plus of recent experience. I got the job by going to an open house at the hospital. I had applied on line with no results, so definitely this approach made the difference. I am going down to part-time this month (24 hours per week) because I don't need full time work. I started at $41 an hour and was given credit for 10 years of experience. Now I make $45 base with differentials it is $52.50 an hour on weekends. Yes Nursing has changed. I feel sorry for new grads; many of whom are overwhelmed with the acuity and fast turnover on the unit. Lots of nurses won't help you when you are busy. This is something I try to do for others. I'll go in a room and reset an IV pump beeping when I know others wouldn't do that for me. But I did it! I am handling it!

Luchador: Pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organizations (CROs) hire RNs all the time for clinical positions in areas such as Drug Safety, Data Management, and Clinical Reasearch Associate. In fat, many of these positions are held by people without at healthcare degree such as a biology degree. I would encourage you to apply, after you get 1 years experience. They like to hire nurses because they understand medical terminiology and the procedures that research subject would have to undergo. Contrary to wat you hear, they don't require nurses to have any special certification. Switch? ? Well I stopped working 3 years ago. Keep in mind I had to work my way up to make that kind of salary. You would make more than the 55K in an entry level position but unlike nursing your salary will increase much faster.

Note to self: The feedback is do not expect gratitude from patients. Point taken. But if I do, I will smile. I worked in Behavioral Health and you run into all sorts of people in the big city. I do remember that family, visitors, and patients appreciate when you take the time to listen to their concerns and provide information.

Thats a bit harsh. I left fulltime Nursing because I was young and ambitious and wanted to try something new. In 10 years, I had been a floor surgical nurse, had been promoted to Head Nurse; then Hospital Nursing Supervisor, and I worked agency jobs of all sorts in a big city. I paid my Nursing dues. I had just earned my BSN in 1989, after returning to college; and I wanted new opportunities. In 1990, Clinical Research was a new frontier for nurses. You might have run into one that was a Study Coordinator at a hospital; but few that worked within the Pharmaceutical world. I am proud of my career. I also moonlighted from 1990 to 2006 as an RN. Whats wrong with wanting social interaction? Nothing. Please don't tell me what I want when I have stated what I want to do. Yes I can go back. I know it will be hard. And I am already volunteering-- I teach immigrants English and conduct English testing. Peace brother!

Workitinurfava: I left because of yet another change in management. I had 5 managers in 10 years! The last one systematically fired all management in my group and I left before she could do it to me. I have been "retired" for 3 years and took that opportunity to travel the world and take courses. As I stated, I am not interested in that work anymore; I started out as a nurse and I want to finish as a nurse. The corporate world was good to me and allowed me to retire without SS or pension. This choice based on my need to do something meaningful and I need the social interaction of work.

2Ask, thanks for your comments. Most job applications I have encountered in the past have asked for the salary history. That is why I disclosed it because I knew it might be a problem for me. Its a shame that even if you sick you are expected to come to work; even with today' focus on Infection Control. I agree with you, when I worked it was the same thing. Don't dare call out on the weekend or holiday. I could have pursued work in my past profession in Clinical Research. I have thought long and hard about this. I don't want to do research anymore and I am tired of it. I've had 3 years to think about it. I won't get the respect that I am used to, but I will get the gratitude from patients who will validate for me that I am where I am supposed to be. Nursing is what I want to do at this stage in my life. I had hoped by taking a Refresher it would show that I was committed to a new career (even though my state requires it). I'm not sure how I could keep my past a secret. If interviewed, I would try not to say anything about it except the skills that were applicable to the position I was applying for. I was hoping for a position in behavioral health; or something like a doctors office clinic nurse, or an education nurse at a insurance company. I can see I will have a lot of explaining to do, if I do luck up and get an interview. I had hoped that employers would realize that if you apply for a job that appears to be way below what you did previously, that the applicant knows what they are applying for and the implications of working in a new role. Luckily I don't have to work. If I fail to get a job, at least I will have tried my best. Isn't that what everyone says--Don't give up on your dreams no matter what your background--go for it? Or is that advice only for the young?

Nurse Beth: Thank you for your realistic assessment of my situation. I know you have to disclose past salary and that might be intimidating. I am fully prepared to start out at a new Grad salary if need be. I'm OK with my past nursing experience considered cancelled. I know that my experience is still relevant because in my last refresher I caught on very quick and showed my preceptor a thing or two! Just want to get my foot in the door. I will cast a wide net as you advise but I am trying to avoid nursing homes because of my age--the thought of being in one terrifies me. I will be open to any shift and schedule as well. I will make inquiries at my school as well. Thanks!

I'm 60 (don't look it) and will be taking a Nurse Refresher Course beginning next month.. Last time I worked as a nurse was in Mental Health in 2006. I had a very lucrative career in Clinical Research from 1990 to 2016; and left at Director level. My School only requires people my age to pay fees and not the tuition; so it will cost me only $500 to take the Refresher. I'll take the gamble. I'm bored and want to go back to work in Mental Health. I also successfully passed a Refresher with Clinical in 2012, so I know I can do it. The Program Director told me I was NOT to old; and I should be able to find a job when I finish. I don't have to work, so no pressure, but I have to try.