Thinking About Starting Nursing School at age 50

[Candyy]

I am thinking about starting nursing school next August, if I am accepted. I have taken all the prerequisites and would like to make application in March for the class that starts in August. I will be 50 years old when I start. I would like to know if there is anyone with my similar situation. I have a very good paying job with great benefits. I have been with this company for 25 years and I have 6 more years until I can retire. I have been dissatisfied with my job for the last 8 years. I have no promotion opportunity and I feel unfulfilled and would like a job where I can contribute more. I am very scared about pursuing nursing. I do get tired a lot easier these days and I would be scared that nursing would be too much for me down the road. I have thought about other healthcare careers, but nothing really interests me as much as nursing does. Is this crazy of me to think that I would be able to do this. I want so much to have something to look forward to like this.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Go for it!!!!

We need people with life experience, mature, established and with understanding of generational cues.

Yay for you!!!!!!!!

Please do it!

[smileyperson]

So you are 77 years old????

OH SNAP!

[Fiona59]

Well, they did say they had 30 YEARS experience in their profile...

[Junebugfairy]

i worked in an assisted living facility as a cna for a few years back in 2000, and the rn there was 79 years old!!

she was awesome, she had been in nursing for years and years.. she said she loved it so much that she just could not retire, not while her body was still going strong. the residents loved her too.

[ellakate]

Although I have worked steadily as a registered nurse, I don't have retirement, except from previous employers. I am 55 years old and cannot work a full time home health gig. I work PRN and have COBRA coverage. Nursing is a good career, but it sounds like you already have a good career. Wait for retirement. Meanwhile, be a volunteer. You will be treated much better than if you were a nurse.

[catonmylap]

I graduated last winter at age 52 & agree with many of the previous posts. I did shadow & volunteer many hours but I didn't get an accurate picture of the job or maybe I missed it while focusing on what I wanted to see. 20/20 hindsight!

About a semester into it, it dawned on me just how clerical nursing is - I thought I was escaping that to help people instead. Also, I had previously worked in engineering & software. You have a problem, you focus on it - usually in a quiet room, & you solve it. In the healthcare settings, I don't do so well when even the interruptions get interrupted. Some days are pure chaos. I don't think I multi-task as well as I used to.

Nursing school was not difficult, though the pace is unrelenting. You keep pounding more data into your head before you get to put to use what you have already learned. Tests are easy - well, relatively - you just study more. It is more difficult to consolidate new things into long term memory than when you are younger. I hope I can retrieve all those unused bits a year or two when some patient presents with those conditions.

At the time I finished my prereqs & was applying, new grads could get a position at any hospital, any unit, & any shift. That is what the instructor told us. Plus they were getting sign-on bonuses of several thousand. (San Francisco Bay area.)

After 6 months, & many applications later, I finally got a position at SNF, not the OR I dreamed of, or any acute care position that would be or lead to a more interesting position. I am THANKFUL that I have a job but it is not what I went to nursing school for. (You can read very accurate descriptions of skiled nursing elsewhere on allnurses.)

Are you willing/able to relocate to a rural or less desirable area where they may be desperate enough to give new grads a chance? There have been a handful of new grad spots near my but 200 people apply for 1 position. Those are tough odds for anyone, but I think it is unrealistic for the employer to disregard age, consciously or unconsciously.

Last but not least. I don't think it is the physical work that is so tiring but the stress. I was not as tired after working at the hospital (doing residencies both as a student & as an RN) as I am at the SNF. It is the 9 hours of total adrenalin as I try to go as fast as I can, cutting as many corners as I can, to get those meds out, praying that there are no admits or nothing goes wrong, & god forbid, a resident doesn't need to talk to me. Yes, there have been some rewarding times, but they don't make up for my agonizing over not being able to spend more than a few seconds with the people that are dying.

[Moogie]

I think previous posters have given some good advice here. On the one hand, there are the financial and physical constraints of a nursing career. Re: the financial, only you can make that decision. I know people who are so miserable in their work that they cannot see staying in their current positions for six more days, much less hang in there for six more years. I think life is too short to despise what you do.

In terms of needing physical stamina, ITA with the poster who suggested you get a complete physical from your provider. If you are in good health and get the approval of your provider, consider getting in shape if you aren't already. Nursing will tax your muscles and you might be wise to begin a program of strength training and aerobic conditioning to help fight fatigue and increase your strength and stamina.

BTW, very good suggestions about either taking a CNA class or volunteering to give yourself a realistic idea of what nursing entails. You may find your fulfillment without the financial or time commitment of going back to school. Or it may fuel your dream even more.

Now, while you may lack physical stamina, you do, as JoPACRN posted, have the maturity that comes with having a bit more life experience. That can be a great advantage in terms of how you handle stress and relate to your patients.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

[laa-te-dah,lpn]

How do you figure that I am 77 years old?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

How do you figure that I am 77 years old?

Well, you stated that you started school at age 47 in a previous post. Also, your profile states that you have 30 years of experience.

If you became a nurse at age 47 and have 30 years of nursing experience, this would make you out to be about 77 years of age.

[SoundofMusic]

I started nursing at the age of 44. I am probably about 54 in terms of physical age as I was a bit overweight and out of shape, and had gone through some major life stresses at just about the time I was going through school and starting the career.

And it has been hard. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, I am MUCH stronger for it, and grateful for THAT. I'm no wimpy, whiny middle aged woman, by any means. I'm tough, sharp, and vibrant for my age. I feel nursing had had a lot to do with that.

I am now attempting to lose the weight and get in better shape. My family issues have since died down a bit, and things are better. I'm truly glad I stuck with it because now I'm able to afford things I could not before, and it has enhanced my life and the life of my family as well. Mom is happier, intellectually engaged, not as lonely as before -- I feel as if I do something really signficant everyday.

Yes, I see the horror, the blood and other bodily fluids. Yes, I put up w/ nasty co-workers, back stabbing management, condescending docs, etc. But I also find rewards -- patients who light up when you walk in the room, co-workers who tell you they're happy you're working with them on the shift for the day. I have very tough days, that is for sure -- but I also have some really nice days off and time w/ my kid during the week to drive himk to school, be in touch w/ teachers, etc.

I LIKE the life of a nurse. It's nice in a lot of ways. Good pay, time off, etc. But it's really, really hard at times also. You definitely learn a lot about life and people from doing it.

I'm mostly glad I did it for the job security. I'm also afraid of getting sued, getting punched, getting yelled at by a doc, a boss, etc. I dont' know what else to say -- there is good and bad -- and I feel your age is both a plus and a minus. Do it because you want to be a nurse, and don't think so MUCH about your age. It isn't all that important. What's more important is your desire to do the work and appreciate it for what it offers.

I really, really wish I'd worked as a tech or an aide. It woudl have given me some basic nursing experience, and it would have shown me a bit of the real world before I'd gone into it. I HIGHLY recommend this for the experience ite will give you.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Well, you stated that you started school at age 47 in a previous post. Also, your profile states that you have 30 years of experience.

If you became a nurse at age 47 and have 30 years of nursing experience, this would make you out to be about 77 years of age.

Maybe they meant 30 years in health care because that same post that said they started at 47 said they have been a nurse for 2 years??? I have seen many posters add in health care exp not just nursing in their Exp. profile. Only thing I can come up with anyway LOL

[Blakpepa]

I think the fact that you are pursing nursing at this time of your life is great! Alot of people tend to equate all areas of nursing with bedside care which is not the case; there is so much more to it. I would put your previous work experience into your new career and maybe consider an area like nursing administration, school nursing, occupational nursing or public health nurse. You do need some med-surg experience to get more into these specializations, but you may find that that these type of positions are more flexible compared to hospital nursing where you are working 10-12 hour shifts and maybe even floating to different departments.