Question re: nursing as a second career - what to do in the meantime?

twokidsmom,rn · Oct 10, 2009

I decided to become a nurse at age of 40. I have two school aged kids and I did not have any medical exp. Worked for a vet for over 10 yrs and before that worked in an office. When I decided to become a nurse I got a job as a CNA in a local Long Term Care facility. I worked part time as I went thru all my pre-reqs and also worked for the vet too. Then when I started nursing school I quit the vet (was hard for me) and worked as a CNA on the weekends, they helped me pay for school and all were very supportive. I did work for them for alittle after I graduated but found out that I did not want to stay in LTC. I currently work on a med surg floor 3 nites a week and recently started a part time job in home health. I truly think working as a CNA did help me. It helped me get use to working with patients/residents. It was very hard to balance work/school home and HOMEWORK I had no weekends off but I made it thru. I always suggest working in the medical field while in school. Good Luck

WDW4ever · Oct 11, 2009

twokidsmom, RN, thank you so much for your response :)

It is very inspiring to hear from someone with a family and different career who successfully changed to nursing! Congratulations on your achievements! I know this will not be easy, but I can't wait to get started on becoming an RN

diane227, LPN, RN · Oct 15, 2009

I would suggest that you try to get your license or certification as a CNA so you can working in a hospital while you are in school. Low pay but good experience for nursing school. It will REALLY help you. I worked as a CNA during my senior year of nursing school and it was the best thing that I ever did. I hit the floor running after graduation.

Ladybug15 · Oct 17, 2009

I am also planning on changing careers. I am 27 and have worked in leverage finance on Wallstreet for the past 6 years. It is a very demanding job but the pay is amazing. I have never really been interested in finance, not even when i was in school. It was just sort of something that I fell into since I knew that it would allow me to earn a great salary and i didn't have the motivation at that time to commit myself to following through with pre-med. Given that the financial industry is completely changing and I now find myself recently unemployed again due to a merger (been through 3 in the past 6 years!), I find that now is the perfect time to challenge myself and make the commitment to becoming a nurse.

You are not alone when it comes to contemplating a severe career change! I am sure you are probably in the same boat as me, knowing that nursing will bring in a much lower income. Most would question why I would want to put myself through another year of school just to have to take out more financial loans and in the end earn less than I ever would if I stayed in finance. Seems like a poor financial decision. What I have to say to those people is that money isn't everything! For someone that is very unhappy in their work life, earning a fatter paycheck doesn't make the days any more meaningful. It is hard to gain satisfaction when you know that all the hard work you do just goes to pad the wallets of upper management and the shareholders. Being a nurse on the other hand is a very noble career. You make a difference in people's lives every day. Sure, some people just go into nursing for the decent paycheck but those are usually the nurses you hear about that are blatantly disgruntled. If you have a real passion for getting into healthcare because you want to make a difference in you're patients lives, then I say don't listen to what anyone else has to say…just go for it and don't think twice about it! It is never too late to make the switch to what should be a very rewarding career! You will also have many options! You can always decide to go back to school to become a CRNA down the road, like I hope to do. This will give you a lot of autonomy, a great deal of responsibility and challenge and will also provide you with a good paycheck.

Fortunately for you, you have a choice on whether or not to work while going to school. I would recommend continuing to work while you tackle your pre-reqs. You can take online courses, which will be a convenient option for you if you continue to work. Not all nursing schools will accept online science courses so you should inquire beforehand from the school if they will accept the credit for the specific class you plan to take. I am currently taking AP1 and chem, both with labs, online! I was given the green flag from the school I plan on attending prior to registering for them. I will also be taking my remaining pre-reqs, Micro and AP2, online in the spring semester. When you start the nursing program, however, it may be in your best interest to forgo work. If you decide to go into an accelerated nursing program designed for second degree seeking students, where you complete your nursing degree within 12 to 15 months depending on the school, they tell you that you shouldn't work at all. From what I understand, the accelerated programs are very demanding. They will require going to classes and studying all 7 days of the week! You will find it very difficult to maintain even a part time job at that point so if you wish to get some experience in the healthcare field, I would suggest maybe interning in a hospital for even one day out of the week while you are working on your pre-reqs. That is what I am currently looking into doing since I am not currently employed and I am planning on beginning the nursing program full time next summer. For you it may be more difficult since you also have a full time job. You could always help out in a hospital for a few hours on the weekend though! It would show that you are motivated and also give you an idea if this is the right career choice for you. I don't believe that any direct patient care experience is actually necessary though to get into nursing school, unlike if you were trying to get into a physician assistant program.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do! Only you can decide if it is right for you! It is possible to make the switch if you commit yourself to the change!

WDW4ever · Oct 18, 2009

Ladybug 15, thank you very much for your response too!! I really appreciate all the insight :) It is nice to hear from career changers and get more validation for what I am trying to do.

krimicrat · Oct 18, 2009

I too am making a career change, am a lawyer, and have three kids I am finishing my pre-req's this semester, and start nursing school Spring '10. I personally view this as adding to my current experience, so that I can continue advocating for those who do not have a voice or who are not able to help themselves. Yes, how I help people will be changing! But my motivation comes from the same place.

I plan on keeping my license to practice law, and will do contract work as it arises. After I finish my first semester of NS (our BSN program has 5 semsesters, you start the 2nd semester of your sophomore year), I plan to apply for some externships to get some experience. I have no experience in the health care field, so I would like to have some before I graduate. If I am not able to get an externship, I will seek other, part-time employment in the health care field - whatever it takes. I do not intend to work more than one or two days a week - because I want school to be my primary focus, I have three children, a husband (hmmm, does this qualify as a 4th child? j/k), house, etc....

So, that's the plan. I hope it works. I am old enough (34) to realize that flexibility and the ability to change your goals is important to success, so if this part-time working thing doesn't work out, I will have to find another way to get experience.

Good luck to you!

Jules A, MSN · Oct 18, 2009

Imo for those of us that are older the money is a huge consideration. I wasn't prepared to take the cut in pay that working as a CNA would have entailed nor was I interested in doing that type of work so I continued on with my former career during school. I was hired for my first nursing postion at the facility where I did one of my clinicals. They didn't say anything about me not having health care experience. Nor did my second part-time job that I added 9 months after starting the first one. Good luck.

WDW4ever · Oct 18, 2009

Thanks for the additional responses - it is so helpful to hear about the approach of other career changers, and their sucesses! :)

Ladybug15 · Feb 21, 2010

Just thought I'd provide an update. I just got accepted into nursing school! I am actually going into a diploma program through a hospital since it is significantly less expensive than the accelerated programs. I'm really excited about it and think it will be a great change for me!

Are you still planning on making the change?? Have you heard back from the program you applied to? Just curious what you decided on. Hope everything works out for you! :)

WDW4ever · Feb 21, 2010

Hi Ladybug!

Congratulations on your acceptance into the diploma program! :yeah:

I have started at the community college / hospital program I had mentioned in my OP. They took 18 of my college credits, and I took child psych over the winter session, so I only have my lab sciences to do. I am taking A & P I this semester and A & P II over the summer. In fall I will take chem. Debating whether or not to take the first nursing course, which is a theory course, along with chem or just wait for the spring to start the nursing courses.

In January, I got laid off from my part-time atty job (not unexpected). I considered that a sign that I might as well get on my way with this journey!

BTW, for financial reasons I decided on the ASn / RN also instead of going for the accelerated BSN. My plan is to work as an RN first, get experience, and hopefully an employer will pay for some of my further nursing education.

What are your work plans when you start school? Will you be doing contract work as an atty? I have found A & P I to be almost a full time job, especially with my 3 kids! :eek: I am not working right now, but eventually will have to get a part-time job of some sort. But I really want that to be in the health field, not law.

Best of luck to you! Please keep in touch.

Ladybug15 · Feb 21, 2010

Thanks!!! I'm so excited and relieved that I can finally start to plan out the rest of my year.

Sounds like you are on your way! I'm taking AP2 now and I find it a little more challenging since there are some complicated physiological processes to learn, plus everything seems so important now that we are going through the body systems. I must say, endocrinology is the absolute worst!

Sounds like you went through the same thing as me. I took a package at my company in September but I had been interested in switching to nursing since earlier last year. Just so happened the layoff gave me the motivation to finally pursue a nursing career. I definitely think it was a sign because I probably wouldn't have been able to force myself to leave such a great paying job so easily. It's funny how things seem to fall into place just at the right time.

I'm not an attorney, I was in corporate finance providing debt funding for leveraged buyouts. Exciting…not! I swore when I left my job that I would never look at another set of financial statements ever again. I am definitely not the type of person who likes to be glued to their desk in an office all day long. The only good aspect was the traveling, but that didn't happen nearly as often as I would have liked. I still think our contract attorneys had the absolute worst job though!

I think I may just look for a flexible part-time job once I move back to CT, possibly bartending. I really don't want to work more than 8 to 10 hours a week once I begin the program. I just need something to help pay for gas, parking, and insurance each month. I hope to be able to take out some loans for the rest.

Best of luck to you with your AP courses. I have Micro to tackle over the summer, which I'm kind of dreading. I've heard that it can be harder than AP.