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I have been a nurse for almost 3 years and have not yet found my niche. I am 44 yrs old and have been an admin assistant for most my life. I've worked in dialysis, home health (visits and shifts) and 3 different LTC's with experience working every shift. I think I am just unhappy with my career. I've dreamt of being a nurse my whole life and now that I'm here, it's not what I thought it would be. I wanted to help people but it's not easy when you're overwhelmed in an LTC. Home health gives me more time to care for someone but I find it boring and I also feel accomplished. I miss working with computers, having report deadlines, feeling like I've made a difference when I'm driving home at night, etc. I would go back to being an admin assistant but I would take a major pay cut at this time and my bills would go unpaid. I don't like nursing anymore so going back to school to be an RN is out of the question. I know it will open more doors but I simply have no desire to continue in the nursing field. Maybe I should have stuck with what I knew and what I was happy with. Has anyone switched careers later in life?

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I just turned 40 been an Lpn almost all of my adult life. I made an error and received discipline on my license. I’m looking to switch careers I’m ruined by it and can not get a job over an accident.

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I'm sorry to hear! I can tell you, it's not easy to switch careers at our age because we are so used to doing a particular job for so long. I've been fired for giving 2mls of insulin that ended up sending my patient to the hospital even though she needed it due to the chart, but they didn't put a discipline on my license. I'm not sure what would give you a discipline. Does it drop off after so long? I know nurses make med errors all the time.

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Totally my fault I signed for 2 breathing treatments I did not give, it was paper system I was not paying attention and just went and signed for everything that said 8pm. It never comes off your license. That happened 11 years ago and I’ve always stayed with the same company in that time. I am now getting laid off and can not find a job.

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That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. We work so hard for our licenses and get easily punished. I can't get used to always having my license being held over my head.

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On 4/30/2019 at 9:27 PM, LPNDebbie said:

I have been a nurse for almost 3 years and have not yet found my niche. I am 44 yrs old and have been an admin assistant for most my life. I've worked in dialysis, home health (visits and shifts) and 3 different LTC's with experience working every shift. I think I am just unhappy with my career. I've dreamt of being a nurse my whole life and now that I'm here, it's not what I thought it would be. I wanted to help people but it's not easy when you're overwhelmed in an LTC. Home health gives me more time to care for someone but I find it boring and I also feel accomplished. I miss working with computers, having report deadlines, feeling like I've made a difference when I'm driving home at night, etc. I would go back to being an admin assistant but I would take a major pay cut at this time and my bills would go unpaid. I don't like nursing anymore so going back to school to be an RN is out of the question. I know it will open more doors but I simply have no desire to continue in the nursing field. Maybe I should have stuck with what I knew and what I was happy with. Has anyone switched careers later in life?

I know the feeling... I got my LPN in '08 when I was 27, but never really found my niche either.... I have realized I'm not a "bedside care" nurse. I got my medical coding certificate in 2016 and am hoping to sit for the CPC-A soon. I am also working on a degree in education. I would like to get a job working from home in medical coding in the near future if possible. I currently substitute teach. I don't think "bedside care" nursing is for everybody... Have you considered getting in to billing, chart review, HEDIS, or clinical documentation type nursing??

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I'm glad I'm not alone. My next step is to try Assisted Living. It can't be as stressful as skilled living. I have not considered what you recommended but I definitely will. I just hate school and I struggle with ADD. I would also love to work from home though so who knows. At this point, I'm desperate for any ideas. Thanks!

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I am an LPN with my CPC. Alot of healthcare insurance companies, will take either or and you can be a clinical nurse, coder, appeals nurse, claims auditor..etc...while working from home..After I passed NCLEX I never went to the floor, I stayed behind the scenes in these roles and will continue to. Great pay and laid back.

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Thanks for the input. I will definitely look ok into that! For now, I have an interview tomorrow at an Assisted Living facility. I am overwhelmed at SNF's and bored working home health. Hoping to meet in the middle!

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AL sounds like a great idea.

What about working as an office manager in a SNF or some type of job at a SNF corporation office or headquarters? Or learning the finance side of SNF.

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On 5/4/2019 at 8:21 PM, meeks said:

Totally my fault I signed for 2 breathing treatments I did not give, it was paper system I was not paying attention and just went and signed for everything that said 8pm. It never comes off your license. That happened 11 years ago and I’ve always stayed with the same company in that time. I am now getting laid off and can not find a job.

Can you please elaborate as to how this minor charting error ended up on your license? Nurse’s make charting errors all the time, generally they are found by chart auditors working for the same company. Nurses are then notified and able to do late charting and correct them. Did your employer or patient call the nursing board? Did your state auditor find your error and report it to your state nursing board? What state are you in?To my knowledge only complaints of a nurse causing harm go onto licenses or perhaps a med error that was brought to the nursing board’s attention. I don’t know where you live but I’ve worked with many lousy nurses that can always find a job even after getting let go all the time for not caring enough to do a good job but I’ve never heard of a simple signature error going onto a license of a prudent nurse. This is truly troubling and scary. I’m really sorry it happened to you and it seems like you should be able to contest this. You caused no harm.

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Hello LPNDebbie, have you considered working in another area of nursing? As a nurse, there are many fields to choose from. You can be a employed in homecare, to being a school nurse and even become a flight nurse! I wish you the best and I hope that you do not give up because many people covet our role.

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