mursecope

I can speak to this question in terms of changing careers. I was 38 with an established and successful career, but it wasn't fulfilling. With my wife's support and urging, I decided to pursue a degree/career in nursing (I'm in the U.S.). Fortunately, her career allowed me to leave my job and attend university. I realize you're not in a similar situation, but perhaps you could take a couple of years and prepare yourself financially to go to school full time? I do not regret my decision at all. Nursing is obviously a challenging career, but it is very rewarding if helping people is something you truly want to do. Life's too short to be unhappy. Money is great and it definitely makes many things in life easier, but it also isn't everything. One last bit of advice, perhaps you could take a few classes at a community college? I spent a year taking pre-requisite courses at a community college before attending university full time. It allowed me to see if I had what it took, academically, to assume the rigors of a full academic load nearly 20 years after I graduated with my first degree. Best of luck!

Thank you for taking the time to answer this question! I'm a second-career nursing student with a 20-year journalism career already behind me, so I am not at all shy about asking doctors questions. However, I know it can be hard for the majority of my younger classmates to approach a doctor and ask tough questions.

I agree. As a nursing student, I've been told repeatedly that there's "nursing school" and then there's the "real world." You're right, it is confusing at times as to what is and what is not acceptable. Thanks for weighing in!

This was my thinking as well, but filtered needles are readily available at our facility, so I feel as though it should be standard procedure. Perhaps it if was an emergent procedure, I could see forgoing the filtered needle, but this was not. Thanks for the input!