SBAR Report-Nursing as a 2nd career worth it?

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  1. What is your Recommendation?

    • 1
      Forget Nursing-Continue Teaching
    • 1
      Leaving Nursing Program for Now, Work as LPN, Go Back When Kids are Older
    • 1
      Continue with RN Program Now

3 members have participated

I need your help with the Recommendation part!

Situation: I'm not sure if it's worth switching from a very flexible, family friendly job to one that will be exhausting, stress-inducing, and take me away from my family more just to experience more stimulation and have more security. Since starting the program, both myself and 2 of my children have experienced health issues that are ongoing and consuming, and I worry I am missing out on their childhood too much.

I can drop out of the program and work as an LPN for a time and continue the program later-or not at all-while focusing on my children and health now. While I would initially be making less money as a nurse than I do working part-time right now, but eventually, a nursing career would provide more income and better benefits.

Background: I am 38, at the start of the 2nd year of my part-time ADN program, married with 3 children, and a MA in English Education. For the past 13 years, I have been teaching and tutoring at 2 local colleges as a writing professor, and I have been part-time ever since I had children.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to pursue something more interesting (my 1st degree is in biology, and I have always been interested in nursing). My husband is a cancer survivor and has had multiple complications due to his treatments, and I have been very motivated by his nursing care. With his health scares, I have also been concerned about my ability to fully provide for my children as it is very difficult to get a full-time tenure job in humanities. While I have access to health insurance, since I am part-time, it is very expensive, and my retirement is a joke. I have been reliant on my husband for both for years.

Assessment: I am exhausted and stressed all of the time, even after reducing work hours. My husband is exhausted and stressed due to his demanding job and picking up the extra responsibilities of the kids and household while I am busy with school. My Hashmito's and IBS have been acting up and making me feel miserable all of the time, and my IBS is getting increasingly worse as I cannot function without massive amounts of coffee. One of my children has weekly dr. appts for the foreseeable future and needs quite a bit of extra time right now. My youngest is 5 and asks me almost every day if I can stay home with her more, and I'm so tired of missing out on activities and extra time with them.

My priorities have also changed, and I am no longer so career motivated or worried about full-time work aside from the concern about my husband's health. However, I am worried that I will regret dropping out. Please provide Recommendations.

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Your situation is screaming what to do and it's not piling on more for a job you may not be able to perform full time in the positions you can obtain as a new grad and part time positions aren't usually available for a new grad.

You all need to improve health and not worsen it with all of the stress you're under.

Stop running yourself into the ground and either:

1) quit the nursing program, be with your children, live on a shoestring*, continue your limited teaching position and put all of that check away to be there in the tragic event that your husband isn't there to provide or

2) quit your part time job, live on a shoestring* and complete the nursing program all in, not just barely limping through but make the most of it including obtaining some relevant work experience after you've got your symptoms under control and position yourself to be more marketable.

*I don't know if you've already pared down as much as is possible but I think most of us gainfully employed or dual income families have somewhere somehow we can reduce our overhead.

Best to you and your family.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

Are you eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN? If so, do so. Continue with your classes as you hunt for an LPN position. I've heard that a lot of LTC facilities are 12-hour shifts just like hospitals. So working as an LPN would give you three days off, as well as giving you the opportunity to complete your ASN degree online in the comfort of your own living room, logging on and studying when it's convenient for you, instead of sitting in a classroom setting....if your BON recognizes the selected online degree program.

Word of caution: new-grad pay (LPN and RN) is not great (area-specific). But like the infamous "they" say, it's not always what you make, but what you do with it. However, working 3 days full time will provide you with health insurance. Although that may be of some reassurance, the stress from nursing (if accepting the wrong position for the sake of having a job) has been known to wreak havoc on persons with certain stress-induced illnesses such as UC, IBS, emotional disorders, etc.

You have a lot on your plate. Nursing schools and clinicals can be unforgiving as they try to incorporate real-world attendance policies into clinical training. Only you can put your family's needs above school and the demands of working as a nurse. I can assure you that your new healthcare employer will not.

So, to recap, if you are already NCLEX-PN eligible, take that step and then, one day at a time afterwards. Nursing school is not going anywhere. Neither are your personal challenges, until you clear a few things off your plate. As an LPN, you can complete BSN core requirements online as well from a couple of institutions. Helpful to know this since lots of facilities are leaning towards BSN-RNs only. (If you've got to take a step back, you might as well go for the gusto in your casual pursuit);).

Good luck and take care of you and your family first. That peace of mind will ensure success in your pursuit (online or classroom).

FYI:You may want to check out other areas on this forum: LPN Corner, Online Distance Learning, LPN-RN programs, etc., to learn about self-paced, at-home degree opportunities that'll fit around your family's needs.

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Thank you for your reply, Libby. I am worried that I won't be able to handle the physical stressors of the job. If I keep my current job, I can work just while the kids are in school, I teach a lot of online classes, and I rarely have to work nights and no weekends (unless grading which is very flexible). I can also have off holidays and work limited hours in the summer so I can be with them more. As a new nurse, I expect to have to work nights, weekends, and holidays and pay my dues, but I'm now wondering if it's all worth it, at least until the kids are older. I would hate to lose the momentum I have now, and not graduate with the friends I have made, but I don't want to look back on this time and think, "I should have been there more for them". I just need outsiders' perspectives.

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Thanks for your reply, BSNbeDONE. Yes, I am eligible for my NCLEX-PN, and I'm scheduled to take it in a couple of weeks. I was planning on pursing a job, even PRN, this summer; however, with the way I am feeling and my son's situation, I'm not sure I will even be able to do that. As I mentioned in my response to the first person who commented, I am really enjoying the flexibility of my current job and realize as a new nurse, I will be working weekends, nights, holidays, etc.

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I am taking a different route. If you are eligible for graduation in May, do not quit. Take a leave and finish school.

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Hi Ginger's Mom, I will not be done until May 2018, and since it is a part-time program, we go year round.

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Wait until your children are a little older and spend time with them now. This is something I always tell moms with young children who want to start nursing school. Young children don't understand that mom needs to study. They don't understand why mom is suddenly gone all the time.

I started back to school when my son was seven and in second grade. I started doing my prereqs during the hours in which he was in school. I studied after he went to bed. Then I eased him into me getting in the program. He was 8 at the time. As school got harder and longer, he was older. I started my job when he was 10 and it was still hard for him to understand me working and not being there all the time. But at the age of 10, he was better equipped to deal with it.

You need to get your own health in order as well before attempting to be a nurse. It's important because you can't give yourself to others if you are not healthy yourself.

As another poster said, nursing school isn't going anywhere. Your kids however, are growing up quickly. Some people can do it all, I have no shame though in saying I am not one of those people. I also had to get myself healthy first and let me tell you this job is no fun being ill.

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, Burn ICU.

You've gotten some great feedback here. In reading your posts, it feels to me that you already have one foot out the door of nursing school right now. We all have limitations and it is SO good when we can recognize them. In doing that we set ourselves up for success in what we CAN do NOW. Right now you get to be a mom and wife and you have the option of not doing the nursing school thing right now. As others have said -- school is not going anywhere. You sound very happily dedicated to your family. What a great thing! I also appreciate that you are looking down the road and thinking about your work future. But you are wise to recognize that positions for new RNs typically do mean night shift, etc. Depending on what specialty you work in, it can be very physically and emotionally draining. You know all this and that's great. You are wise to count the cost. If you are not well and your family needs more of you, you will never regret giving them more of you at this time. You have skills that you can use to support your family if need be -- though it would require you to teach more and perhaps in different venues than you currently do. You will not regret this time with your kids. You should sit for the PN NCLEX, for sure. You don't have to go to work as an LPN right away -- maybe you just need a break from school and time to get you and your family's health in order. 3-6 months down the road, you might be ready to think about an LPN job -- or maybe not -- and that's OK too.

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Don't become a nurse. You'll regret it. It'll be the biggest mistake in your life. It's not worth it. Don't do it. YOu'll regret becoming a nurse. Trust me. I'd try teaching at a online college. They're always looking for part time online faculty. But don't become a nurse. You'll regret it.

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Don't become a nurse. You'll regret it. It'll be the biggest mistake in your life. It's not worth it. Don't do it. YOu'll regret becoming a nurse. Trust me. I'd try teaching at a online college. They're always looking for part time online faculty. But don't become a nurse. You'll regret it.

PyschicJ,can you expand on your reason(s) for not working as a nurse?

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

you sound like I was. I have a Biology degree, taught school for a while, I had 2 pre-teens. I was in my ADN program. That was 5 years ago!

I think it was totally worth it! I love nursing.

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