Quickbeam

I left a profession that limited my geographic mobility (tight residency restrictions) to retool as a nurse. It was a huge eye opener to go from respect, dignity and an office to being dumped on, ridiculed, hazed and generally abused. After a few hospital years I sought out niche roles like community health and case management. That’s been better....but still not the professional respect I received in my former profession 35 years ago. I’ll retire in 2021. I will not be working as or volunteering as a nurse in retirement. Done.

You aren’t wrong. I am a career change RN, from a professional Criminal Justice career. Nothing prepared me for the really blue collar, clock punching, massive forced OT and floating exhaustion. I loved patient care but missed any shred of professional respect. The benefits as an RN were so much worse than my prior career, I could not believe it. I found a couple niche roles that allowed me to get a pension and a career using my nursing education. I was lucky to be able to combine nursing with my prior degree. Floor nursing chews you up and spits you out.

One thing to consider is an accelerated BSN program. I had a prior degree and went back to school for nursing. I did my pre-reason at night school and then went to an accelerated program for my BSN. If opportunity costs are an issue, it's a great strategy. I am now an RN for 30 years and continue to feel I had a superb nursing education.

As a rehab nurse who got floated to unfamiliar units all the time in my clinical career, I can say this thinking accounts for a lot of my horrible experiences.

I went to an accelerated nursing program and got my BSN in one (very hard) year. I was a career changer with a BS in another field and could not afford to be out of work for more than 1 year. This was 30 years ago....there are tons of accelerated programs out there now. If you already have a degree, consider this.

I am a nurse case manager. My suggestion would be to mix in some field tasks with the telephonic case management. My company went in that direction and the mix really keeps you in touch with patients.

I was also a career change RN; I left a career with a tight residency requirement that was going to make marriage very difficult. I dreamed of portability and a licensed skill set. I had no idea I was walking into a time clock punching blue collar world of forced double shifts, mandatory staff meetings at 1400 (when working 23-0700), unpaid early/late/work through lunch time. Don't get me started on floating to areas I had no experience or skills in. Or the phone ringing all day, every day on my day off. 30 years into nursing I found they I needed to look for jobs that met my needs for control of my time. I've done ok but those early years were treacherous.

In my state there are no easy correctional nursing jobs. I was a PM nurse at a medium-max correctional facility. I was one RN for 700 inmates. I had to dispense from the pharmacy, do all the intakes, see to any emergency, do phlebotomy, exams and take off all the days orders. I also had to triage on site complaints from segregation to the units over a 200 acre campus on foot. As soon as the day shift left the imaginary crises poured in. Hardest I ever worked. Running the pharmacy was a fascinating experience, I learned a lot. However overall the gig was a daily stress volcano.

I'm a Boomer. In my mothers time, she literally was not told she had cancer by agreement between the MD and my father. Having seen that first hand, there was no way I was going to allow a paternal approach to my care. We as a generation rose up and took control of health information, especially for women. So sure we're bossy and independent. Better than the alternative.

I was a straight 8 hour full time night nurse for most of my career. I guess my experience varied from others who posted as we always had a bare minimum of staffing. Either as a floor or charge nurse I has zero tolerance for sleeping. It meant someone else had to answer calls, check alarms, do the work. In my opinion you need to come to work rested and ready. Most of my career was also without a lunch break per agreement between nursing and mgt. I woke people (often asleep in a patient bed!) and explained the work was too much for the existing staff. I also reported repeaters in writing. I never worked anywhere that sleeping was acceptable. The only example I can think of was relating to catastrophic weather conditions where people who had worked doubles were put up in a dorm. The sleeping thing really bothers me because because it casts a bad eye on night shift workers and gives the impression that's all we do. When I worked pediatrics we got more admits on nights that the other 2 shifts combined.

I'd say take the job if offered. You need to look out after you. My first job out of school was on a pediatrics floor starting January 1. We ended up having to move to another state December of that year for my husband's job. My last day was 12/20. I literally had people telling me "I owed them Christmas"; I was also told this would so harm my career no one would hire me. I had 5 job offers my first week. No one ever cared that I worked 11 months and 3 weeks at my first job. 30 years later, it's just a laugh to me.

I'm a 30 year RN and I do case management. I'd love to work part time (I'm 62) and from home. However the job that I have is rigid on those points. They want 5 days a week in the office at specific times. I make great money and have world class benefits. I tried to push these points and got to the "we love you but if you are not happy here...." discussion. So I'm staying. You need to weigh out what the job does for you and how inconvenient the parts are that you don't like. Employers all have deal breakers and they vary job to job. I've never had a job that was 100% perfect. You need to assess what you can live with and what you need from a job. Best wishes!

I am a salaried RN case manager and I make 100K a year. However I have 30 years of experience. I live in the Midwest in a modest cost region.

Who paid for all this care? Just curious, not snark.

I have another one. "No vacation approved from 11/15 to 1/15 every year". I was unable to go home for Christmas even one year during my 20 hospital years. Mandated floating and double shifts. No other profession would put up with this. These are also also the reason I transitioned to case management. I make more money, have professional respect and take a Christmas vacation every year. I loved patient care but got really tired of being treated like a serf.

I trained a lot of this age new nurses. I found them to be willing to work hard but most had never had any kind of job before so boundaries of work were new to them. Mostly, I had to tell them they could not text all night or walk into patient rooms with their phone in their hand. I don't know why this wasn't covered in school but maybe their professors were my age and it never occurred to them this needed to be said.

My accelerated BSN program was 25% people who wanted to be surgical/OR nurses. They all felt that the curriculum was 80% not relevant to their career goals. It's too bad there is not a more specialized way of getting credentials for that rather than so much training that isn't relevant.

I've been an RN for 30 years and was an NA for 10 before that, working my way through my first degree working in nursing homes. What I hear now from nursing students and young nurses is: "get a year of experience and then get your MSN, become an APNP". The ironic thing is that so many other of my peers who paid so much money for expensive MSNs ended up back at the bedside when the promised flood of job opportunities did not materialize. I have been well well served by my BSN and had no interest in graduate school. Many APNPs are getting pushed out of the market here by PAs. I loved my bedside years and could not have moved on to case management without that experience. I always credit my nursing assistant experience for my successful nursing career. That's where I learned the heart of nursing.

Just wanted to add that it is so much easier to transition to nursing as a second career now. In 1986 there were 5 accelerated BSN programs in the country! The educational process still probably seems rigid from the outside but it is so much better now.

This is an excellent reply. I am in catastrophic case management and have been for almost 20 years. Most of the people I hire have very pragmatic reasons for wanting away from bedside care. As long as they can learn the case mgt skills and do a good job I don't care that they hated bedside care. Myself, I worked night shift for almost decade in hospital work; I liked the patient care but hated punching a time clock and getting mandated to float and do doubles. Now I am salaried and love my job. My BSN was a ticket to job opportunity. I gave up a prior career to pursue it. There are so many options out there if you dig. That goes double if you are willing to relocate.

THC is usually the most problematic issue since it lingers. Any prescription drugs can be reviewed by the MRO.

I worked as the only RN at a state home for people with profound developmental and intellectual impairments. Everyone else in my building was an LPN. They all were long time employees and loved their jobs. There were lots of med passes but no other responsibilities. They had great pensions, benefits and knew the job cold. Nursing provides for me and I am pleased with the career choice. I leave it at work. All work is an equation. I wonder if the OP can learn to leave it at work.

Your experience is much like mine. I had a career before nursing with a 4 year degree. Due to marriage and portability I went back to school and got my BSN at 30. I am now over 60. My biggest memory was the shock going from a career where I got professional respect to one where I was seen as a cog. Time clocks, mandatory overtime, 16 hour shifts, expected to work sick, expected to be available 24/7....I had not ever expected that. And I loved shift work and patient care. I just had no idea how little regard I would receive as an RN. I am finishing out my working years in case management where at least my colleagues respect my opinion. It isn't perfect but I no longer have to go to work expecting to be there for 16 hours.

Just FYI, if you are going the graduate degree route, get someone else to pay for it. MSNs are long and very expensive. My circle of nurse friends is littered with those who thought a MSN was the answer to their prayers only to find few jobs and low pay at the other end. Most ended up back in floor nursing which they could have done without a MSN. Just don't get oversold on graduate school unless you want to teach.

I wanted to add that the high pressure push for 12 hour shifts has made the decision of my peers to retire early a no brainer. Even in my 50s I had 8 hours in me, no problem. Employer after employer converted to 12s. It was a huge factor in my clinical exit to case management.