RN Refresher: Trying to get back into the field after 5 years

Hello everyone,

I am going to be starting the process soon of trying to get back into the nursing field after 5 years. To make a long story short, I joined the Navy immediately after graduating nursing school, and spent my time as an officer onboard ships rather than being a nurse (this occurred due to complicated manning issues, and at the time I did not care, just wanted to serve knowing I could potentially always fall back on nursing).

Anyway so I what I want to know is how feasible is it to become a nurse after a 5 year hiatus of doing no nursing whatsoever. I passed my NCLEX and have kept my license current in the state of CA. I would 100% need to take a RN refresher course (there is one in my town with about 100 hours of classroom time and about 156 hours of clinical time). Is this enough? How likely is it that I will be able to be hired into a new grad program? What areas of nursing do you recommend me trying to start out in? Let me know what you guys think, thank you!

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

1. That amount of time in your refresher sounds excellent. If you divide it out, it's like a full semester's time of clinical. Make as many contacts during the experience as you can, as you never know when knowing someone can lead to an opportunity.

2. re: new grad programs - probably not, but facilities can bend their rules however they see fit

3. In short, it's usually a good idea to get your feet wet in med-surg; that can be a career in and of itself, or a good springboard to a different specialty. Big question, though, - what are you interested in doing?

4. Have you considered the VA? As a vet, you'll get special hiring preference...

I hear that many get job offers after their clinical hours in their RN Refresher program. Usually in Med-Surg but an excellence way to get back in the door. Good Luck!

You can get hired in the VA NOT being a veteran? I had no idea!