I am here looking for opinions and guidance from those in the field. I will be entering a nursing program in Spring and am having second thoughts. I am an older student (late 40s) and put my desire of entering the nursing field on hold for many years. During the early stages of the pandemic, I felt a call to fulfill this more than any other time in my life. Subsequently, I turned my Covid layoff into an opportunity, went back to school, completed all pre-reqs and was accepted. However, I did not anticipate the amount of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers and the fact that I live in a state with no vaccine requirements for schools and healthcare workers as well as a leading transmission rate of the Delta variant. ( I am fully vaccinated). This is coupled with fluctuating opinions of many nurses I know personally advising that the industry has changed and they have been treated as expendable and to run hard and fast to something else in the medical field. This has me doubting my decision and questioning if I am unnecessarily putting my family at risk in pursuit of something that, according to others, may not be what I had built it up to be. (I should mention I am being offered a place in a Microbiology bachelor's program so I do have options but it is a long, competitive road to a master's and I need to provide for my family now.) If you had to do it all over again, would you become a nurse? Would you go into another field? Do you think an older individual would have a rougher time at present? I get that this may sound whiney but I have met some tired, angry nurses lately who are ready to chuck it all if they have not done so already. Thanks all.
I love medicine. I love science. I love problem solving and research. I love taking care of people, even when they don't want me to. ? I thought, despite the stress and the difficulties, this would answer those desires and get me working.
Medicine is not nursing - very different disciplines. Have you thought about PA school? Likely a better return on investment in a shorter period of time. I know, you said no long, drawn out pathways, but I think it might be worth a look?
I love being a nurse, it's been an amazing career. I now work from home which is even more amazing, though I do miss the ER and trauma.
smelly wounds, leakage from every body orifice, lack of equipment, lack of time, lack of air conditioning and did I mention it’s hot in here? Mask is stuck to face, sweat is stinging eyes, heart is pounding, should I increase the Lasix to decrease the swelling or will I hasten things along and nuke the kidneys? Do I need to bother the doctor for this? Will he answer me or send me something snarky. Need a hand, don’t have an extra set of hands, would love to give this med and hey it’s not here, they must need a refill. Dog is growling at me, patient is cursing, I have 7 more patients to see today, and the facility check in processes are slow as molasses.
then she smiles at me, holds my hand and tells me she loves me, she hasn’t been verbal in quite some time. The dementia makes word salad and curse words come alive. She holds my hand, asks me not to go. Her family has tears in their eyes, they haven’t seen mom in over a year. They are thankful, they know she is in good hands. I go home, I cry over the ones I lost today or this week. I remember each one of them. Take shoes off outside, take shower, make dinner, go to bed. Do it all again the next day.
I love what I do. And I know why I do it. If I can be a blessing to one person then it was worth it. All the pain, all the hard work, it means something.
This thread is ever so though gutsy and thought provoking. Personally, I'dlike to see a whole new room for those hopeful applicants who seek unvarnished discussion in a centralized source. I mean after all, we have rooms for military staff and males in nsg. There's space for disabled, recovering nurses, and all kinds of levels of educ paths for nurses. And all kinds of clinical specialties, too. WHY NOT one for later-in-life applicants or second career applicants??????? What do you all think??? Are the mods reading too?
I see all kinds of diff trends here. Respondents who say 'go for it', tend to NOT be the Crusty Old Cobs. We COBS are usually the long-timers, close to retirement (or have just done so). We all have 'been there, done that' already and we tend to be more discouraging/negative of newbies entering NS, esp the older and/or second career.
We entered nsg as young'uns and put in our time when nsg was well respected, paid well, could be considered a lifelong career with upward mobility and increasing opp'ties, and was deemed professional (I never punched a time clock until the 1980s. And that was about the same time that nurses stopped wearing whites and their caps, but that's a whole different theory I have!)
So we've weathered a lot - seen it all as in BTDT. The good, bad and ugly. We have no rosy glasses on. I don't believe that we regret being nurses when we started. But so many of us have experienced the current dominating downward trend being motivated by corporate financial gain. Many of us stayed on, but now, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Age, health & retirement catches up to us all.
Like PP vintagegal, I had my share of the positive times. Just satisfaction that at the end of my shift, all my pts were accounted for, they were all alive (OK, OK! ), nobody fell or any major injuries, pain was controlled, everybody peed & pooped who needed to, all the IVs and feedings were on time and tubes/lines were patent, the bldg was safe & secure, my staff did their jobs, etc. That made for a good shift!. Nobody had to tell me that. I could go home and know that my pts really did benefit from my care. For that, NO REGRETS - NONE! 'But the times, they were a' changin'.'
I've ranted on enough for this entry for now. I see other trends and wonder am I alone, or will you others agree. Will return.
I am a new grad (not a crusty old cob ?) and I have to say I am in agreement with the comments advising the OP against nursing. Nursing is my third career, and I entered an ABSN after earning a previous B.S. degree. I'm suddenly 60k in debt and facing the ugly realities of this career, wishing I had done some more thorough research about how to make my previous B.S. work for me. I know that as a new grad, I haven't earned the right to be this negative, but I observe the mental and physical toll on my colleagues and I'm terrified that is my future. I believe them when they say nursing has changed. I have no frame of reference for how nursing "used to be", but I can see that bedside nurses are burning out for good reason.
Since I'm already in this thing, I need to make it work. I have decided to steer clear of med/surg and pursue non-hospital jobs to manage my mental health. This restricts my options significantly, but so be it. I am very very lucky to have a husband who is an established nurse, which gives me some flexibility to take a bit lower-paying position with a more manageable workflow/stress level.
I am 34, with some life experiences and degrees under my belt that I could have put to better use if I had been a bit more creative. I can only imagine the same is true for you. All I am saying is to thoroughly research your options before committing to nursing school. I think the fact you are having doubts right before starting school is a big sign, and a blessing - you could go another direction before sinking any more time and money into this endeavor. I was 100% dead set on nursing school and NO ONE could have talked me out of it, yet here I am only 1.5 years later, wishing I had gotten the kind of advice being shared on this thread. I wish you the best and I know you will make the right decision for you and your family.
For the love of God, don't make this decision based on opinions from this forum. This place is 98% people who hate their job and want to tell everyone else about how much they hate it.
I did nursing school in my late forties and took the NCLEX at the height of the pandemic last year. Finding a job was not an issue at all. I did a year part time as a Nurse Tech during school and it made my transition to becoming an RN much easier though that was very hard on my body. Becoming an RN late in life is different because you're not jaded by the profession yet and can recognize a lot of the pitfalls of the profession early using life experience. It's easier to control emotions, listen, navigate toxicity quickly while staying focused on learning the job. My first job was on a cardiac PCU, its an intense learning curve under short staffed conditions during a pandemic, but I set the goal for 1 year of RN residency while finishing my BSN. I'm past my 1 year now and re-evaluated. I always wanted to do ED nursing from the beginning and was hired into the ED at almost 52 years old. It's a level 2 and the busiest in the area, but it is a very rough learning curve, especially now as staffing is at crisis levels with Covid part 2 ramping up. Honestly, any more than 2 shifts in a row and I'm dead. However, again...I have a personal goal to try to get a year of high level experience before re-evaluating again. I'm not sure I'll make it, but I do realize I'm starting all over again and it will feel hard in the ED.
My point is...you won't have trouble finding work, keep in mind the hospital is not the only place to start and consider what YOU want out of your license. For me...I do consider how hard the hospital demands are on my body right now, so I do invest in quality shoes, try to space out days of work and don't get sucked into the negative drama.
Nursing doesn't have to be "a dream" or "calling"....it's OK to view it as a job that offers a living wage, job security, flexibility and versatility. The horizon for people later in life is the reality of workplace security and retirement building. I'd rather be a nurse in my 50s, than be in another profession and face possible unemployment competing for jobs with people in their 30s, whom are cheaper to hire. As someone else said on this thread...clock out and go home, only 3 days a week of it. It's doable, but NEVER do 3 in a row, it hurts.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I would recommend to those who have realistic expectations. That health care, especially acute care, is 24/7/365 and will require working hours other than day shift Monday through Friday. That patients and visitors are human beings with all of their flaws and issues- amplified by being in a stressed state. That not every will get better, and death will have to be dealt with.
For me, I have had the hiccups throughout my 16+ years. But that's outweighed by the good there is: I love my current role (most days... but every job has bad days), my manager is reasonable and supportive, and with my seniority, I do now hold one of the "unicorn" dayshift only Monday through Friday positions.
Nursing has made it possible for me to own my own house by myself. My employer paid for 50% of my MSN. They still pay for all of my certification costs. I earn more PTO than I can use (not for lack of wanting to but because without overtime, my boss gives me a full day off without using vacation time when I do one of our very rare 2 hour weekend intensive education sessions). But I understand that most of that came with my experience, not as a shiny new grad. For those who don't understand, I would never recommend nursing.
I’m an LPN for 14 years now, graduated nursing school at 30, and I am seriously considering getting out NOW. I wish I had gone on to get my RN so I had some non-bedside options but everything requires an RN degree. If you do choose to get your RN, get your year bedside experience then look for non-bedside options. COVID doesn’t bother me, but patients and doctors and people in general are just so UGH. I was 30 when I graduated nursing school but was one of the youngest in my class, so several people DO go into nursing as a second career.
I can't even recommend it for most young people-I dissuaded both of my daughters in law, and one is now an OT, the other a welder, both make delicious money, working great hours. When the young techs at work ask about nursing, I recommend PT/ST/OT. Unfortunately, in your 40s, that's not really a viable option as Masters and Doctorate are required as entry level. I'd recommend COTA or other therapy assistant. There are many other satisfying jobs out there that don't require losing your body or soul. If I were 20 again, I totally would go another direction, but I'm closing in on retirement. Like others have stated, nursing has changed so much in the last 10-15 years, and definitely not for the better. Good luck with your decision
For the love of God, don't make this decision based on opinions from this forum. This place is 98% people who hate their job and want to tell everyone else about how much they hate it.
Very curious, how did you calculate this statistic?
Very curious, how did you calculate this statistic?
I thought the very same thing Wuzzie. Not to say that there aren't disgruntled, jaded nurses who frequent AN, but this website seems to represent a somewhat heterogenous, cross section of the profession; young, old, novice, content, dissatisfied, experienced, and many nursing specialty areas. If I had to guess, I would bet that response was made by a newish nurse still in the honeymoon phase.
Lunah, MSN, RN
14 Articles; 13,773 Posts
Medicine is not nursing - very different disciplines. Have you thought about PA school? Likely a better return on investment in a shorter period of time. I know, you said no long, drawn out pathways, but I think it might be worth a look?
I love being a nurse, it's been an amazing career. I now work from home which is even more amazing, though I do miss the ER and trauma.