Switching Careers Later in Life

RegularNurse · Mar 7, 2017

Everyone I know who lives in Colorado loves it! I am sure you will have a great experience.

Regarding your goal of becoming a nurse:

- Many schools do not accept transfer credits. This protects their business model, and standardizes the quality of graduates challenging the boards.

- You already have a BFA, which may qualify you for an accelerated BSN program. Unfortunately, you might have to plug some science course holes through a community college. This isn't a big deal.

- You are looking at 15-24 months of school before getting a BSN. Most programs are full-time. This is just a reality of nursing education.

Now I have to ask why do you want to be a nurse?

Staff nursing is a profound departure from finance project management. You will likely have an off hours shift requirement and weekends when you start out. You may take a pay cut. You will clean up body fluids, be exposed to infectious pathogens, and have people scream in your face about things beyond your control. You will also have the opportunity to help people in a desperate time of need. The latter is a great feeling.

At my job I am often asked by students to give advice. My typical advice is to get as much exposure to bedside nursing as you can before you enter the field. Any reason is to be a nurse is fine; whether its stable money, or you want to be a CRNA, NP, or a staff nurse.

However, if you only want to be a nurse because you are moving to a small town, with a hospital in proximity, where there is no film industry then you may be disappointed with the realities of staff nursing. If you want to be an NP, CRNA, or midwife; you will likely have to be a staff nurse for a few years while pursuing the training.

Bottom line, staff nursing is cool and flexible, but make sure you know what you are getting into and not simply picking a convenient career path.

Best of luck and enjoy Colorado!

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 7, 2017

I was a Process Manager in the financial industry before switching to nursing. I was 45 when I graduated from nursing school. It is a *huge* change from being in an office and sitting down for most of the day. Some days, my body feels like it's been beat up. Especially when I have morbidly obese patients and there's no mechanical lift available. You need to really have the desire to be a nurse, even with all the not-so-pleasant aspects of the job. I would highly suggest you shadow a nurse for a few days to see what it's really like. It's not like the movies or television, that's for sure. There are days when you don't get a chance to eat and you're working a 13 hour shift. Sometimes you don't even get a chance to go to the bathroom. When you're a new nurse in a hospital, you will more than likely work night shift until you get enough experience/tenure to move to days. Then you have the added bonus of dealing with fatigue and sleep deprivation. That 3 AM wall can hit you like a ton of bricks when you're getting used to night shifts. If you're married, you won't see much of your spouse on the days you work. You'll also rarely have holidays/weekends off.

I feel lucky that my husband works for a company that operates nearly 24/7, so he was able to schedule his time similar to mine. Now we're both night owls :)

Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful aspects to being a nurse. I truly love my job (ICU). However, I never truly understood how physically demanding and how emotionally exhausting it can be until I started working as an RN. There are days you absolutely love your job and there are days when you want to question why you ever did it. Luckily, the days I love my job outnumber the rough days. I found that I love critical care and that has made a big difference.

If you already have a bachelor's degree, you will more than likely not be able to get federal financial aid, so look in to programs that are affordable with a good reputation in your area. I opted to get my RN at a community college with a stellar reputation, since I could pay the tuition out of my own savings. I finished my BSN using tuition reimbursement from my employer.

Research the area you'll be moving to and find out the hiring climate of the local hospitals, so you have an idea if they hire new grads, require BSN, etc.

I'm personally glad I made the career change, even though I earn a bit less as an RN than I did as a Process Manager. The cost of living where I'm at is a bit less than the big city I used to live in, so that off-sets the change in income.

Good luck to you! It's a tough decision to make.

VA_Aspiring · Mar 8, 2017

Thank you to both of you! I appreciate the honest and straight forward answers. I think shadowing a nurse sounds like a great idea and I'm going to look into it

AceOfHearts<3 · Mar 8, 2017

OP, a lot of people make this mistake but since you are not a nurse yet (which is a protected term) you cannot have it in your username per TOS. If you need help changing your username the moderators can help.

Good luck on your journey! I'm a second career nurse, however I made the change in my late 20's.

Future_GA_nurse, CNA, EMT-B · Mar 8, 2017

I applaud you for your decision. I will be 38 when I start this year (fingers crossed). since you have your BS Degree, see if you can get accepted to an accelerated program. In Georgia, the competition is fierce and I did not get in my first try for an accelerated program. Luckily there are several other schools I can apply to, but may take longer. I've learned that sometimes faster is not always best. Good luck to you, and you are not alone.

VA_Aspiring · Mar 8, 2017

Thanks for the heads up Ace, made the change!

Future, thank you for the advice. I have a few things on my plate now. Look into shadowing a RN, then look into an accelerated program both here in CA or CO if this is really the path I want to take. It's very exciting and scary at the same time.