Starting Nursing at 52 and Nervous

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Hi All! I just graduated in May and turned 52 in July. I've been offered a job on a telemetry floor and am very glad about it. I am also nervous about what to expect...I know the first year can be a devil for any new nurse but I have the added worry that I am an older nurse and just beginning. I'd love to hear advice from any and all but especially nurses who entered the profession at an older age about weathering the first year. I'm in good health but the twelve hour shifts scare me a bit in terms of the physical toll. I'd love to hear advice and any management/coping skills you could share that were helpful to you in being successful. Thanks!

I haven't been on this site for a while and am blown away by all of the positive and encouraging responses. Hearing from all of you has helped me calm down and believe I can handle this. Thank you all so much!

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I just wanted to say congrats on becoming an RN.:nurse: I dont think age matters, you will do great!

This just encourages me that its never too late. kudos to you :yeah:

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Hi Calico5,

Reading your post was almost like reading about my own experience. I am 55 and graduated from school last year. Soon after passing my nclex I got a per diem job (horrible) working for a blood bank. I also, was injured when I was forty and have RA so just like you I am disappointed that I will not be working in clinical at least for one year and am looking at other avenues of nursing I can pursue. I am glad to know that I am not alone. Still a nurse. :)

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Congrats to all the new grads! I am 38 and only 7rs as a LPN Ive been thinking about a RN program. At any age being a new grad is a challenge. As older new grads being seen on the floor its assumed that you are a seasoned nurse and have it all together. Keep it strong I feel with age comes wisdom and you have a sense of the world that the young kids dont have yeah they have advantage of computer knowledge and what not but you cant teach the knowledge of people that comes with age. Bedside manor will take you far and it helps when doing your assessments. Conversation with people is half the battle and if they feel as though they can relate to you on some level they are more often willing to open up more and you will find that treating them medically becomes easier.

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I will be 52 in November and was going to start an LPN course, but then decided if I was changing careers, I may as well do it right and do the RN 2 year course, I have no previous college experience. But I am excited and looking forward to January when I start. Glad to read all the great responses and it makes me feel like i definately made the right choice to do RN. I am hoping to work (I think) in a hospital night shift but who knows what I will end up doing. I took one exam for LPN and passed with 92 and 95% but have to take the TEAS for the other school. Anyway just wanted to thank everyone for their input as it has helped me out greatly. Thanks

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How did the interview go? Let us all know.

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Hello Jock,

The interview sucked! For the second time I have been discriminated on. The first time, the discrimination was about age. How I wouldn't know how to use a computer ( even though I pointed out that I was a college graduate, etc). Also, delved into my family life. This time was worse than the first. This time it started with blatantly sizing up my breast (ugh) then asking me all kinds of personal questions (are you married, do you have children?), lastly saying a racial slur (not about the country my ancestors come from however, a slur like that is beyond words). To make matters worse, I came home to write a thank you letter because I am so desperate (no unemployment and a per diem job which will keep me from working for this whole month-don't know how I will be paying rent). I just felt so disgusted, not only with what had transpired during this interview but, also that I allowed it to happen. I wish I would have had the nerve to just stand up and bid that person farewell but, I did not. Furthermore, writing a thank you letter when what I should have been writing was a letter like I did the first time. I am at my wits end. I am in a crisis. If only I could get a job:crying2::crying2::crying2:

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Hello Jock,

The interview sucked! For the second time I have been discriminated on. The first time, the discrimination was about age. How I wouldn't know how to use a computer ( even though I pointed out that I was a college graduate, etc). Also, delved into my family life. This time was worse than the first. This time it started with blatantly sizing up my breast (ugh) then asking me all kinds of personal questions (are you married, do you have children?), lastly saying a racial slur (not about the country my ancestors come from however, a slur like that is beyond words). To make matters worse, I came home to write a thank you letter because I am so desperate (no unemployment and a per diem job which will keep me from working for this whole month-don't know how I will be paying rent). I just felt so disgusted, not only with what had transpired during this interview but, also that I allowed it to happen. I wish I would have had the nerve to just stand up and bid that person farewell but, I did not. Furthermore, writing a thank you letter when what I should have been writing was a letter like I did the first time. I am at my wits end. I am in a crisis. If only I could get a job:crying2::crying2::crying2:

Oh Anniee, I'm so sorry that went like that! It would probably be horrible working there though! How ignorant these people are! Don't they know it is 2010, not 1952! Good Grief! Keep the faith, please. :nurse:

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Hello Calico5,

Thanks. one feels down for a moment or two but, then you keep on 'cause you know that not everybody out there that is interviewing are jerks. So, thanks again, and I will keep the faith.

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I'm a Respiratory Therapist and started RN school last year. It is scary and exciting all at once. I work with great nurses (RN and LPN) that encourage me and help me. It is nice to see that there are a few of us starting new and have each other to encourage. Good luck to all.:yeah:

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I just can't wait till January so am trying to get all my paperwork together so I can start the LPN course in 10 days, I have been interviewed and everything, just getting HS documents from England is not easy as people here just don't get that you don't get a HS diploma from the UK... just a bunch of passes on O levels and CSE's.. So hope they will accept what is most likely more than a HS degree in the USA. then I will just be an LPN in a year but at least then I can get stuck in and work while i upgrade to RN... the thought of doing a whole year at Keiser of just college classes without any nursing (which would start year 2) is just not turning me on right about now... as you get older you loose patience as time is dragging on and nothing is happening.. so hopefully I will be in the class starting Sept 27th...

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Thanks to everyone.:D

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Good Luck! Wish you the best.:up::yeah::nurse:

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