I'm brand new to this board and am looking for some advice/encouragement. I am an "old" diploma RN who has been out for 20 years. For a variety of reasons, I find myself turning back to nursing for support of many kinds. Frighteningly enough, I have to retake boards - NCLEX, now - and I'm just beginning to study. Well, I opened the book! I'm wondering if there are any others out there who have been successful - or not! - at this endeavor, or if any of you have thoughts or wisdom about this. My feelings are quite conflicted right now. I took a refresher about 5 years ago which was hospital oriented, but was not successful in obtaining a position. An old, inexperienced grad is more dangerous than a new one! My background those many years ago was ICU/CCU, burns and NICU. I also did agency med/surg for a while. I don't think the hospital is the place for me, but I'm open to suggestions.
Hi kwozb. This is wonderful. I think that you're on the right track with the tools you want to use to update your nursing. A combination of refresher courses, reading nursing journals, books, and study guides and manuals should hopefully help get you back in the mainstream. You may also want to consider getting a good mentor. I'll bet that once you start back into practice you'll find that your gut instincts based on all your years in nursing and dealing with people in general will come in most handy.
As you may be aware, since you've been out of nursing practice, the opportunities for nurses in traditional and particularly nontraditional nursing has exploded. I don't know the websites to refer you to for all the different nursing careers. Maybe other posters can help you with that. Keep us informed about what's going on with your efforts. Best wishes.
Mijourney
1,301 Posts
Hi kwozb. This is wonderful. I think that you're on the right track with the tools you want to use to update your nursing. A combination of refresher courses, reading nursing journals, books, and study guides and manuals should hopefully help get you back in the mainstream. You may also want to consider getting a good mentor. I'll bet that once you start back into practice you'll find that your gut instincts based on all your years in nursing and dealing with people in general will come in most handy.
As you may be aware, since you've been out of nursing practice, the opportunities for nurses in traditional and particularly nontraditional nursing has exploded. I don't know the websites to refer you to for all the different nursing careers. Maybe other posters can help you with that. Keep us informed about what's going on with your efforts. Best wishes.