mkey333

No, you are not too old at all!!!! Go for it!!! Live your dream. Really...I did. At 39 I went back to school and got my BSN and now I am 41 and love the decision I made to follow my dream of being a nurse. As an experience nurse, you will bring life experiences that the patients will appreciate. I see it all the time. Patients will ask me how long I have been a nurse and when I tell them one year, they can't believe it. They say "you are very good" or "you love what you do, don't you?" and say that I truly listen to them and take care of things that other nurses don't. I think I just know how to communicate with them well and keep them up to date on what's going on. The only thing I have noticed, is being a med-surg nurse with 7 patients at a time I am running all the time. So physically it is very demanding. Luckily I have always worked out and exercised in my life so I am able to keep up ok...but I don't think I could do this at this pace forever. Just something to think about. So...get going!! You will love it.

I also have been wondering the same thing. I have two interviews, one with ER and one with ICU this month and I don't know which one to pursue more!!!! I am a med-surg/telemetry/oncology nurse for about 1 year and a new (second career) nurse. Med-surg has been a great experience, I love the team I work with but the patient to nurse ratio is very, very demanding and challenging. On average I have 7 patients a night, and they are very sick, or confused, or in a lot of pain. It's rougher than I thought in regards to getting everything done that the patient needs and then getting everything documented as the hospital wants. The documentation demands grow every month...it's insane! In addition, I am in a MSN program to become a Family Nurse Practitioner in about 2-1/2 years and I wonder what nursing experience would help me the most...ER or ICU??? Any ideas or suggestions from experienced nurses or NPs out there??? I sure could use the insight.