Thinking About Nursing as Second Career

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Hello,

I am thinking about nursing as a second (actually third) career. I am 47 and have my bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Over my life I have gone back to school several times and worked as an orthotist in a hospital setting (pediatric and adult) and then as a massage therapist specializing in work with women and pregnancy for the last 11 years while raising my 3 kids (youngest now in high school). I am thinking about returning to school for nursing and have been doing lots of research online. I would like to shadow some nurses to make sure nursing is the right choice but due to privacy/liability issue that does not seem to be a possibility so far. I am pondering volunteering at a hospital, attending a one year LPN program (and then possibly a bridge to BSN), attending a 2 year RN program or just going all out and getting a second bachelor's in nursing. I think I would prefer working in a hospital and know that probably requires an RN or likely even a BSN degree. I would appreciate any advice on nursing as a career in general and the best way to go about deciding if nursing is right and how best to obtain the most useful education. Thank you!!!

Thank you for your input, RNCM123. I hope things improve for you.

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Since absn is not feasible, I think adn is the next best bet. You can do an online bridge to bsn when you need it. Many nurses in my hospital are working with the adn and doing the online bridge right now.

Thank you, I will look into that further!

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I was 33 when i started in an ADN program. I'll be honest, there are days where I am miserable when I first started out. but I stuck with it, and yes there are still days where it's frustrating, but do I regret it? No. I make more money now than I've ever done in my life. I am happy with my career choice. it is an evolving industry, though. who knows what the future brings, but for now, it's nowhere near as bad as some of these "I hate nursing, I quit" threads you see here. I think a lot of it is down to personality. you'll meet a range of personality in this field, too.

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I was 33 when i started in an ADN program. I'll be honest, there are days where I am miserable when I first started out. but I stuck with it, and yes there are still days where it's frustrating, but do I regret it? No. I make more money now than I've ever done in my life. I am happy with my career choice. it is an evolving industry, though. who knows what the future brings, but for now, it's nowhere near as bad as some of these "I hate nursing, I quit" threads you see here. I think a lot of it is down to personality. you'll meet a range of personality in this field, too.

Thank you very much NuGuy. I appreciate your advice!

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