Read my story and tell me if I should become an NP.

Nursing Students NP Students

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I'll try to be brief, and I will probably fail in your opinion, but know that this is brief for me!

38 years old, male, married, with one almost 8 month old son. May have more kids in the future - could happen at any time. Wife turns 34 next month. I have a BS in applied physics / minor in mathematics. 34 credits after that, in education, psychology, English, and biology. GPA was 3.36 at graduation, it's been 4.0 for the last 34 credits, cumulative is therefore about 3.5. Graduated December 2001, worked lowly jobs for a while, got a spot working as a maintenance guy at a nursing home / assisted living facility in late 2002. Stayed there five months. Started teaching private music lessons after that, and that was my primary source of income for 10 years. Switched to being a full-time musical performer (while still teaching lessons occasionally) in 2013 and have been doing so since. We perform mostly at elder care facilities of all kinds, and we've done upward of 3,000 shows.

Performing has been fun but there have always been some negative aspects to it. We've felt the winds of change blowing for a while but the speed has intensified recently. Therefore I've investigated nursing, medicine, and counseling psychology.

I know that whatever I do, I must know that I am improving the human condition. I don't actually need to change careers or even work that much. We have enough money now to buy a piece of land that's big enough for self-sufficiency, build a small dwelling on that land, and live simply for the rest of our lives while working less than full time at simple jobs that don't pay much and don't have much responsibility. Yet, I feel that were I to go that route, I would be "burying myself", essentially neutralizing all of the benefits I could provide to humanity and the planet in general.

So why those three career possibilities? Starting with counseling (or psychology), I've been an armchair counselor for 21 years, first realizing I must have a knack for it when, at age 17, high school peers I'd never met started coming to me to get advice on their personal problems because word got around that I was good at giving advice and helping people get through their personal problems. I've been doing that ever since, on and off. We're all good at some things, and I'm good at figuring out the root causes of people's problems and then helping them solve the problems.

I consider myself uncommonly empathetic and it's probably because I am a high-functioning autistic. (Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2012.) Though Asperger's was always characterized by lack of apparent emotional response, it's been demonstrated recently (in rigorous, peer-reviewed studies) that we actually have more internal emotional response than non-autistic ("neurotypical") people, on average.

The biggest problems I have with counseling and psychology are: 1) low pay for the amount of education required, 2) inability to do what I feel ought to be done if that isn't something for which insurance will pay. Counselors and psychologists have told me that insurance regulations tie their hands regularly, to the point where they know what treatment a person needs but they have to give other treatments because those other treatments are the only things insurance will pay for. I believe I'd be frustrated by this.

Where nursing or medicine are concerned, I have considered the following. (Feel free to correct me if any of these preconceived notions are wrong.)

1) You're healing the sick, which always helps. Any of those people might help change the world, and they have to be alive and relatively healthy to do so.

2) You are needed, if for no other reason than because of the shortage of nurses and doctors that people seem to talk about a lot. (You'd never be without a job prospect, at least if you're willing to move, if your current situation became intolerable.)

3) You make enough money such that the minor annoyances inherent in any working conditions are likely to be far less bothersome than they'd be if you "weren't making enough to take this kind of abuse".

4) It provides you with the opportunity to travel, if that's your thing (and it is ours). Travel nursing, locum tenens work, etc.

And then there is one more thing that is likely unique to me: When I say I want to improve the human condition, I mean that I have written a 250-page book on a totally new system for humankind, that is more human, more supportive of the human spirit, and just better overall. Interestingly enough, some people who stand in stark opposition to what I wrote have debated me on it and they have all admitted that the new system I proposed is better than the one we have now. Their main problem has been that they think it's infeasible. Well, if it's better, logically it is feasible... so to give it a try, what must happen is that a bunch of people who want to change the system get together and establish, in essence, a "commune" (though it's more appropriately called an "intentional community") where they live by the new system and demonstrate to the outside world how much better it is. That is a necessary first step.

I have spoken with many people who either lived in intentional communities or would otherwise want to live in intentional communities (either for their own sake or because they believe they'd be helping to change the world), and their one biggest issue has been the lack of access to medical care ("medical care costs money, ya know").

So, as a medical care provider, I could knock down the one largest hurdle to the establishment of a movement to change the system, and provide free or low-cost care to the people trying to change the system. It would be financed, as it were, by my practice outside of this setting. (Sadly, we all have to make money these days.) I could also access other populations that aren't adequately served by medical practitioners, and frankly that's where I'd probably enjoy the work the most. I don't want to work in some crowded urban or suburban area. I read about opportunities to serve Alaskan bush villages earlier today and my first thought was, "COOL!!". (Of course, my second thought was "wait, it's really cold up there in the winter, and they probably need medical care from October through April as well".)

I don't need the money, but I do like the idea of making a lot of money, so that I can finance my philanthropic desires and the empowerment of others to change the system and improve humanity. In the past, I've had times where my income far exceeded my expenses, and though I had the ability to buy lots of luxuries (and lived in an area where LOTS of people did exactly that), I never did. Rather, I gave my money to people who needed it more, whenever I encountered such people. That's just the way I am.

And it's one of those things where, to quote the old cliche, if I aim for the moon and miss, at least I'm among the stars. I doubt that any comprehensive system change is going to happen in my lifetime, and it's far from certain that a nascent movement to change the system is going to get that far off the ground before I die. So, at least if I would therefore be forced to play nicely with the system, it would seem that I could still improve the human condition, we could still travel, and the income would provide for comfort and stability insofar as I would ever need it.

At this point it becomes: nursing or medicine?

Though my online investigations aren't necessarily representative of the reality, I have gotten a "feeling" about both professions and my feelings about the "medical doctor" side of things are largely negative. I've met, and been involved with, some good doctors in my time... but that doesn't mean that things aren't different now. Many of them were born in foreign countries and studied medicine there, then became certified in the US by completing a residency here, so who knows if their medical school experiences were different. (They probably were, if for no other reason than cultural differences.)

It seems that the doctors who have given me advice, by and large, don't want to give me the type of advice I seek. Some are downright mean. The feeling I've gotten about doctors, again taken as the average of my experiences and not intended to encompass each and every doctor, is that they feel like they are better than most other people, and they aren't capable of acting like real human beings around their patients. That last one may just be because they're overworked and can't spend much time with each patient, but really, sometimes "intuition" is quite valuable, and I just get a bad feeling about the "medical doctor" side of things. They talk about "pimping" in med school, and they defend this practice. To me it smells like hazing into a fraternity or something. Bad feeling.

By contrast, when I look up nursing and being a nurse practitioner, it seems a more heartening experience. I learned recently that NPs have full practice autonomy in 20-some states, and the trend is moving toward increasing that number. A recent post I read on this forum said that medical doctors are more geared toward medicating people's ailments out of existence (to paraphrase), while nurses take a more holistic approach. From what I've read of the difference between the nursing model of patient care and the medical model, I'm definitely more of a "nursing model" guy. I mean, if someone presented to me with breathing problems, my first inclination would be to ask about a history of breathing problems, and determine if there are any environmental factors that contribute to them. Do you smoke? Have you had your house checked for black mold? Do you work in an environment that produces airborne toxins? Any history of allergies or asthma? Are you stressed out in your everyday life? Things like that. I would always prefer to develop a solution that does not require medicine if at all possible.

Further, the people on this forum have always been respectful when I've talked with them, and they seem largely so when talking with other people also.

I know that nursing is a female-dominated profession, and that doesn't bother me because I have always gotten along better with females than males. I hear, though, that they are clamoring for more men in nursing. I have two cousins who are nurses (one male, one female), and both told me that.

Where the education is concerned, it seems that med school is all or nothing. Once you get in, the mountain of student loan debt grows rapidly. If at any point in med school you "flame out" and decide it isn't for you, you have all of the (non-dischargeable) debt and nothing to show for it. If you complete med school and don't "match" into a residency, same. If you are working in residency and you "flame out", same. Yet, in nursing school there appear to be "checkpoints" along the way. If you decide to aim for a DNP, as far as I can tell, along the way you will take the NCLEX and get your RN license. Then if you keep going, you eventually satisfy the requirements for a BSN, then an MSN, and then your DNP. If you "flame out" at any point along the way, you get to keep your progress up to any of those checkpoints. If you've satisfied the requirements for the BSN and then you decide to quit the program, hey, you have your BSN, you passed the NCLEX, you can work as a nurse. And, the student loan debt load is nowhere near as mountainous. For one more thing, they say that nursing school gives you a much better "work-life balance" than medical school. Doctors have said "make sure your wife is okay with being a 'single parent' for 7-8 years, and that you're okay with missing out on a lot of your son growing up for that same time". I don't want to miss out on that stuff. Besides, I could get an MSN (with NP licensure) in two years or so and a DNP in 4-5, I imagine. It'd take me those 7-8 years to become a practicing doctor, by which time I'd be in my late 40s. I'm a pretty young 38 and there's no known risk of early mortality on either side of my family, but we all get old and die eventually, so I don't know how much good practice time I'd have if I couldn't get started until age 47 or so.

And, of course, working in nursing homes for as long as I have, I've gotten a decent feel for what nurses do, how they interact with each other, and what the lifestyle is like. I'm sure there are always office politics and instances where nurses get overworked, but I cannot recall one time when a nurse complained about being overworked. (When I did maintenance, I knew that some of them worked the occasional double or triple, but that was of their own choice.)

I'm a nice person but I don't put up with things that aren't the way they should be. Treat me well and you'll love me. Treat me poorly and I'm not going to deal with it - I will do whatever I can to get that behavior stopped. We're all humans and unnecessary nastiness must never be tolerated. (It seems antithetical to these professions anyway. Nurses and doctors are supposed to take care of people, not beat them down.)

If I did become an NP, I would probably aim for a dual focus in family medicine and psychiatry. Family medicine would be the best focus for my ultimate goals, as far as I can tell right now, but psychiatry would fit my personal passions best, I believe, so it'd be cool to be able to do both.

Perhaps I'll leave it at this right now. Any insight y'all have would be quite helpful.

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Too many points or questions to realistically answer. So I will keep this simple. Find something in life that you can live happily and comfortably with. Set up a plan of attack. Then do it. With your background, you could probably qualify for a de np program. You could also just get a nursing degree and you'll still be meeting your altruistic goals. But bear in mind, your concerns of insurance being the gatekeeper of treatment and access isn't limited to psych. All aspects of healthcare are mitigated by these issues. If you can live comfortable and not completely chase a new career at 38, I would do that in a heartbeat. Because going the np road or any other level similarly is a 4 year minimum commitment including or followed by whatever following training you may need. And it would suck to go that road only to find all the things you're trying to avoid are part and parcel you the business.

It may be the cynic in me, but I think you have a fairly inflated opinion of these careers and how they impact others. There are a few we touch and change, but far more who will continue their lives as they see fit no matter how much we try to improve their situation. You would probably impact just as many feeding the poor or creating temporary shelter for the homeless on that land you could just buy as you would embarking on a path toward working in healthcare.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to student NP forum

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

You sound like a very good person that means to do well for others in whatever you do. Despite the thorough explanation of your situation, I cannot presume to know you well enough to help determine the path you should follow for your future career. Could you find a successful fulling career as a NP? Most likely, yes. But could you find a similarly fulfilling career in a multitude of other career niches, with some requiring far less schooling and training? Most likely, yes. I wish you all the best in finding your best path, and if you choose NP, (or whatever else you ultimately choose) I wish you all the best in your endeavors.

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Too many points or questions to realistically answer. So I will keep this simple. Find something in life that you can live happily and comfortably with. Set up a plan of attack. Then do it. With your background, you could probably qualify for a de np program. You could also just get a nursing degree and you'll still be meeting your altruistic goals. But bear in mind, your concerns of insurance being the gatekeeper of treatment and access isn't limited to psych. All aspects of healthcare are mitigated by these issues. If you can live comfortable and not completely chase a new career at 38, I would do that in a heartbeat. Because going the np road or any other level similarly is a 4 year minimum commitment including or followed by whatever following training you may need. And it would suck to go that road only to find all the things you're trying to avoid are part and parcel you the business.

I don't really mind that you can't answer each point. I was looking mostly for overall opinions, and they can be general as yours was. Anyway, when I said that we could live on what we have now, I didn't say it would be all that comfortable... it would be simple... maybe comfortable... but the big sticking point for me would be feeling like I'd be burying myself and all of the good I could do for humanity. I can't afford to finance that, with the money we make now or the money we could make if we lived simply. There's a lot I want to do, that I can't afford to do, and very little of it has to do with me personally beyond it being an outreach of my personal beliefs. I don't aspire to drive a brand new Mercedes or live in a mansion. But I do aspire to have people say, after I die, that the world was a better place because I lived and affected it.

It may be the cynic in me, but I think you have a fairly inflated opinion of these careers and how they impact others. There are a few we touch and change, but far more who will continue their lives as they see fit no matter how much we try to improve their situation. You would probably impact just as many feeding the poor or creating temporary shelter for the homeless on that land you could just buy as you would embarking on a path toward working in healthcare.

I think I'm aware of this, but naturally someone who's been in the field for a while would be aware of just how acute the problem is. As an armchair counselor, I know that I've helped some, and most have just ignored what I have said. Yet, I feel that it's sufficient that I helped those I helped. Who knows how many seeds I planted in those who didn't immediately respond. Plus, even if, as an NP, I couldn't help all of my patients... I look at it as a "long game" scenario. I'll be making good money anyway even if a bunch of my patients ignore my medical advice. As much of that money as possible will be going toward my philanthropic endeavors outside of my "job". Right now, I can't afford to feed the poor all that much. I'd like to do that more than I have, but that requires more money than I've had. And we can't afford to buy enough land to be able to put up temporary shelters for the homeless, or afford to pay for materials and labor to construct the shelters. (And we don't have enough time to construct many shelters ourselves so as to save on labor costs.) I'd love to do this. Can't afford it.

That's one of the big catalysts for the career change. We want to be able to afford to help others in ways in which we have determined we never will if we continue on our current track. We have, by all observable metrics, gone as far as we're going to go as musical performers. We've exceeded the expectations people gave us in the beginning, maxed out our performance schedule, done it all really. A 38-year-old autistic guy and his 34-year-old wife, both of whom are far from Hollywood's physical appearance standards, are not going to become rock stars, not that we'd really want that lifestyle anyway. (My only uses for being a famous musician would be so that people would listen to me when I talked, like they seem to do with all celebrities, and so that I could fund my desired philanthropic endeavors. The lifestyle itself would clash with my personality.) We reached the top of the game we played only to find that that achievement didn't generate the kind of respect we figured it would, so now it's time to find a new game that will yield better results. I haven't taken this thought process lightly. Truth be told, I first felt that we'd have to do something different with our lives in 2013, and that's when I took the GRE. I started taking classes in early 2017. I've examined a lot of pathways before asking others for their opinions.

And I do appreciate y'all's opinions. If you have never examined the difference between how people on this forum respond to such queries, compared to how people on the "doctor" forums respond to identical queries, it's like night and day. I much prefer the style of the people here.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

You keep mentioning money in your posts. This is not a career to embark upon if you're going into it for the money. You can have all the "armchair" experience you want, but it doesn't translate into actual experience. It sounds like couseling would be more up your alley. While the idea of being a Psych NP might seem appealing due to the salary difference, you are still lacking that RN backgroud in treating psych patients (e.g. familiarity with meds, how different conditions present, etc, interacting with pts, etc.). Yes, there are direct-entry psych NP programs, but there would be a steep learning curve to go with that. I admire your altruistic goals, but you really need to want to go into this ready to step into the provider role, not just because the salary is so appealing.

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I'm going to just make a general comment.

You should choose a job based on whether you think you would get enough satisfaction to sustain you from JUST DOING THE JOB ITSELF WELL EVERY DAY. (I'm assuming you would have competency in the job.) If you go into any job thinking you are going to feel that you've saved the world, or even saved it a little bit, at the end of every working day, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Nurses and other healthcare workers certainly do make a positive difference in their patients' lives, but it's probably not going to be obvious most of the time.

I am sincerely concerned that you don't have a realistic expectation of how any job is going to make you "feel" at the end of the day, or week, or year.

You sound like a very caring and loving person, and the world needs more of those. But try to choose a career that you will (largely--every job is a "job" and has its set of frustrations) enjoy for its own sake. What things will you be happy "doing" all day, as opposed to counting on getting a certain feeling from having done them?

I wish you well in whatever you choose.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Your best option would probably be a direct entry MSN RN to NP program. You may have to relocate unless you can find an online option and that may entail finding your own clinicals which could be difficult due to the healthcare consolidation and competition from other college students. The other option accellerated BSN and than apply for a NP would take longer. An FNP would give you the most flexibility for jobs and you could complete a psych NP certificate after you get your NP. You probably don't need a DNP.

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You sound very, very idealistic, which is good and bad. There is a lot to consider.

If you are looking for respect, you will definitely find it as an NP, and much less so as an RN. NP salaries vary widely, read these boards, many people do not earn significantly more as an NP, when the cost and time involved for the education is factored in.

I have been a Psych NP for 15 years. I am now very satisfied with my career, however I lucked into a very well paying position. Getting there was a bumpy road. I now have great autonomy and I am free to make my own schedule. As long as I do the minimum, I can do more and earn more. Needless to say, this is not a mental health clinic and it requires a ton of experience.

As a psych NP, are you going to be happy making 100k and seeing 3 and 4 patients an hour? That's what most of the jobs are.

Wait till you see the kind of taxes you'll pay on 100k.

My other thought is that you seem to have a very romanticized viewpoint of the health care professions. We do make a difference, but if you followed me around for a day or a week, it wouldn't be all that obvious.

Here's an analogy. When a movie is made, hundreds of hours of rehearsal and filming are involved. Most of what gets filmed are outtakes, bloopers and alternate versions. For a variety of reasons, films are rarely done in chronological order.

After all that, the filmmaker then puts the best takes together, fitting it all into a coherent sequence. The end result, hopefully, is a beautiful or interesting 2 hour movie. It looks easy and glamorous. But hundreds of hours of film were needed to get there.

The point I am trying to make is that careers are a little like the movies. For every moment of beauty and drama, there were hours and hours of grunt work.

Most of my nursing career has been outtakes. The times were I have significantly and single handedly impacted someone's life have been very few and very far between. There have been some bloopers, too, and not all funny.

Food for thought.

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I'm going to just make a general comment.

You should choose a job based on whether you think you would get enough satisfaction to sustain you from JUST DOING THE JOB ITSELF WELL EVERY DAY. (I'm assuming you would have competency in the job.) If you go into any job thinking you are going to feel that you've saved the world, or even saved it a little bit, at the end of every working day, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Nurses and other healthcare workers certainly do make a positive difference in their patients' lives, but it's probably not going to be obvious most of the time.

I am sincerely concerned that you don't have a realistic expectation of how any job is going to make you "feel" at the end of the day, or week, or year.

You sound like a very caring and loving person, and the world needs more of those. But try to choose a career that you will (largely--every job is a "job" and has its set of frustrations) enjoy for its own sake. What things will you be happy "doing" all day, as opposed to counting on getting a certain feeling from having done them?

I wish you well in whatever you choose.

Lots of good information and comments so far, and if I have to respond generally to one, I'm picking this one (though I will respond to some of what others said as well).

Honestly, I don't know if it is possible for me to find a job or business or career or whatever that I would enjoy every day just for its own sake. It doesn't seem my lot to find that. To wit: I've had many jobs, and I've always been the type to "rise to the top". The challenge of doing so is always fun, and I like knowing that I'm doing well. I'm a high achiever, and generally well-liked, in all of my academic and professional endeavors. But if that level of achievement doesn't translate into better compensation, more respect, a better work environment, etc., I'm going to become disenchanted with the job rather quickly... or at least I have in past jobs.

Right now I have a "job" where I enjoy doing it for its own sake... about 25% of the time. I'm a musical performer and I love doing the shows. It's a lot of fun. What ISN'T fun is:

-Driving 50K-60K miles a year, sometimes in treacherous winter weather conditions, to get to the shows (even more of a concern now that we have an infant son)

-Booking shows (dealing with activities directors who refuse to return contact attempts)

-Being treated with no respect by too many of the "decision makers", regardless of what our audience members want

-Chasing down our pay for certain shows when the facilities make us wait too long for it

-Constantly having to call to confirm shows because the activities directors don't always put us on their calendars when they book shows with us

I did a study on our "work time" not long ago and determined that we were spending about 75% of the time doing things we disliked, just to get the 25% where we were actually playing music. While that wouldn't be such a terrible balance - some people get 0% enjoyment from what they do, and I've been in jobs like that - the pay is stinko. We get the maximum that every facility is willing to pay, we play ~500-600 shows a year, and even still, we're so poor that we qualify for Medicaid. Why spend 3/4 of our work time doing things we dislike, just to be poor?

One respondent said that I'm too focused on money. Well, I hate being focused on money... I think that money and the economic system based thereupon are crimes against true human nature... but if I'm going to change that, unfortunately I have to "play nicely" with the money system for now. Money may stink, but having no money stinks much more.

In essence, if I'm fairly convinced that I am never going to be able to find a career where I love the work itself (read: something I'd do even if I won the lottery and never had to work another day in my life if I didn't want to), then at least it seems logical that I should get into something that is as tolerable or enjoyable as any job could ever be for me, and compensates me well for the time it takes out of my life that I will never be able to get back. Put simply, if I can work in a "meh" job for $10 an hour, or another "meh" job for $60 an hour, the logical choice is the one that pays $60 an hour.

I see advanced practice nursing as having the following advantages which seem likely to mitigate the negativity I'm sure I would find in this profession as well as every other profession out there. (Note that the advantages pertain specifically to me, but may pertain to other people similarly.)

-Flexibility to pursue an extensive variety of work situations (anything you can do as an RN/BSN, care facility administration, director of nursing, anything you can do as an NP, teaching at nursing schools, etc)

-Ability to travel and find work pretty much wherever you go (whether through a relocation or through travel nursing)

-High demand for your services, which empowers you to walk away from a bad work situation with the thought of "I'll always be able to get a job; I don't have to tolerate the BS I catch here" (I've read many stories of nurses who have done exactly that, and nurses I know have told me more than once that "we need more men in nursing!")

-Ability to have a direct positive effect on people simply due to the nature of your work (even if, as suggested, your direct effect on most of your patients is not obvious)

-High salary that would enable me to fund my desired philanthropic endeavors outside of work, even if I couldn't change the world directly through my work (yes, I know how much you pay in tax on $100K+, but that can be mitigated when you donate money to tax-exempt charities. I'm working on setting up one of those right now, for the aforementioned philanthropic endeavors. And when it comes to taxes, surely you've heard of the "self-employment tax". Talk about a financial disaster. You have to pay that no matter how little money you make; there are no deductions that can reduce it to zero if your income is below a certain level like there are with the regular income tax.)

-Likelihood of having, as co-workers and teammates, people with whom I could get along relatively well

I'm not the kind of person to go into anything with rose-colored glasses on. My days of doing that are long past. The career in which I was most successful had to have been teaching music lessons, but even that had a lot of negative aspects. Toward the end of the time I spent teaching music lessons full time, in less than one year, my student base plummeted from 81 down to 30. I only got a "reason for quitting" from one family, and it was because they were moving. Other music teachers said the same thing was happening to them - huge reduction in student base. I can't abide a business that can ebb and flow like that - how could I ever plan for the future? This is one of the main reasons why I left that business. Besides, music teaching is a dying art. Live music in general is a dying art, and for the same reasons. (Don't believe me? Look up news articles on how Guitar Center is barreling toward bankruptcy, and why.) Why pay a music teacher when you can look things up on YouTube? (When I started teaching, there was no YouTube.) So much music is electronic now; why learn an instrument? It's much less likely now than it ever was before that you will make much money as a musician; why bother learning? (The bass player in my first band, who'd be the first to tell you he was only "okay" as a musician, said that in the 1960s his "gig money" was enough for him to afford a brand new Chevy Impala SS comfortably. Nowadays, when my wife and I are the band, such that we don't have to split the take with anyone, people say that we're in the top few percent of what musicians make, and we're still so poor as to qualify for Medicaid. Things have changed dramatically. Nursing facilities are starting to give residents iPods with their favorite music, rather than hiring "human jukeboxes" like my wife and myself. I've felt the winds of change a-blowin' for quite a while now.)

Plus, teaching music lessons brought more than its fair share of annoyance and unnecessary irritation. It's been five years since I stopped teaching full-time (I have two students whom I teach over Skype) and I don't miss full-time teaching.

The "job" (as opposed to "private business") in which I did best was when I was interning at a telecom company in the late 1990s. I did get paid, I was a teenager, I worked with computers. The people on the team, all of whom were older, more experienced, and more educated, still respected me for what I could do and never got snippy with me when I evinced knowing less than they did. The hours were flexible - they wanted me there for eight hours a day but couldn't care less if I came in at 6 AM, 10:30 AM, or anytime. The job was somewhat boring; I sat in front of computer screens all day. (Imagine putting a rock musician in front of a screen all day.) But I still didn't dread going. What really stunk about that job was that in that industry, you could be canned just because business was bad. I got my job there during the dot-com boom. When it went bust, 11 of the 13 people on my team were fired as the company "downsized" dramatically. So, even there, it doesn't matter how smart you are, how good you are, etc... some of the people "laid off" had brilliant minds. "Business is bad" was all they said.

Well, people will always need health care. "Healer" is one of the world's oldest occupations. Even if the health care industry ebbs and flows, even if society itself collapses, there will always be a need for those who can heal, cure, and treat.

I've spent the last 15 years being in a position where I am the most expendable service provider on the list. (As soon as the family's finances go south, what's the first expense to be cut? Music lessons. As soon as the family becomes busy, what is the first activity to be cut? Music lessons. Perish the thought that it would be some sport, even though music lasts a lifetime and sports, for most people, last until age 22 at most. As soon as the facility's budget gets cut, what's the first department to suffer? Activities. And when the activities budget gets cut, what's the first thing to go? Entertainment.) I think it's high time that I got myself into a position where I was one of the least expendable people, rather than one of the most expendable people. My life goals, and my family, seem to depend upon this now more than they have in the past.

And really - even if y'all are right about saying that I need to get into a job that I enjoy for its own sake, wouldn't it be more of an incentive to do well in a job or profession if the person thought that he was doing it for some "higher calling" reason, rather than his own in-the-moment enjoyment?

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

I don't know whether you should become an NP. That's your decision.

At the end of the day, if you are intellectually capable and competent, have a strong interest in medical/nursing science and the science of mental health, and you have a healthy-level of empathy and enjoyment from working with people with mental health disorders, then go for it. That's all you really need. The other reasons (pay, flexibility, security, and respect) are all your own and they are nobody's business.

Working in a healthcare setting can help you decide whether you like to work with sick people and give you some valuable experience, and I would recommend doing that. Meanwhile, just start taking pre-reqs and go from there.

On the other hand, you can talk about all the dreams you have to improve human conditions, but unless you have already achieved something like that (even on a small scale) it really doesn't carry much weight. There *are* people who fund raised, financed, and started non-profits without putting in his/her own money, or worked within these organizations, to improve lives. I would focus on concrete things you have achieved and how you can transfer those experiences into your future practice.

Good luck!

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I became a nurse as a second career almost 30 years ago. I didn't expect to like it, but I hoped to eventually be able to get into a position I could tolerate. That led eventually to an NP.

At your age, not that old at all, it would make more sense to get the RN, and work for a bit. Take classes part-time, and figure out the next step based on your experiences. Some RN's discover they are content to pick up a bit of overtime, and don't need to pursue more education.

Just for kicks, as a psychiatric LTC consultant in places where paid musicians perform on a regular basis, I think the musicians bring far more life satisfaction than I ever could. And I know they are greatly underpaid.

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