Very special case, Nursing as a second job, doable?

[NYC_NJ_RN]

Hi everybody,

I'm so happy to find such a wonderful place as allnurses. I have a question regarding to my career plan.

I'm a nursing student, finished 1st year in a 2-year RN program, will graduate next summer.

Nursing is also my second career, my first career is Finance. I'm working full-time as a senior accountant/ accounting department manager right now. I go to school after work.

I live right next to New York City. The only reason I'm staying at my current job is because it gives me flexibility to leave earlier to school. After graduating next year, I plan to find a finance/Hedge fund job on wall street. Working in a big-named investment bank, dressing in a nice suit, meeting different professional people, traveling to different parts of the world, all these have a special appeal to me.

As you all can see, I'm the type of person who like challenging and trying different things. I'm excited about the prospect of starting a career on wall street. However, I do not want to let my hard-earned RN license sit in the drawer, plus, I like helping patients with the skills I've learned at school.

So is it a possible way to work part-time in nursing just to make sure my hands do not get cold while working full-time on a stressful hedge fund job on wall street? Say, a RN job with 20 hours per month, or, work two days a month on nursing. Will this keep my nursing license active?

I have strong interests in both careers. Obviously it is almost impossible to find a part-time hedge job on wall street, so I choose nursing job to be part-time.

Sometimes I have doubt on whether I can find such nursing job. I do not have any previous health care experience. Will any employer willing to train and hire a part-time new nurse like me?

I know the wall street job can be extremely stressful. However, I believe I can handle both. I work full-time during the nursing school and have been doing well both on work and school. Just got my CPA license last month, also passed first year of nursing classes with a 3.4 GPA.

Any ideas or suggestions? Really appreciated.

[Dixielee, BSN, RN]

Nursing school does not really do much to teach you how to be a nurse. It does give you the opportunity to learn to be a nurse. Nursing, especially for someone like yourself with no healthcare background can be quite stressful with a steep learning curve. "Training" a new nurse is labor intensive and expensive for the hospital, and you may find it difficult to convince an employer to invest in you if you only plan to give back a few hours per month.

Also, you will need to learn to be a nurse. Graduating with a degree and passing the NCLEX is only the very beginning of the experience. If you are able to step away from your Wall Street job for a year and devote the time it will take to learn a new career, then you may do well. There are countless possibilities in nursing once you get you confidence and some experience under your belt. Many nurses are working part time or PRN to make extra money or keep their license current, but you have to put in some time to get to that point if you ever really want to feel good about yourself and the job you are doing.

You may very well find exactly your niche, but I would expect that you might have to do a little searching to find what you want. Nursing is not something you can pick up and continue on a "casual" basis without a little blood, sweat and tears. Good luck, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.

[Batman24]

After you are trained chances are you could do 20 hours a month but when you are hired you will need to be trained and that will require more than 5 hours a week or 2 days a month. You might be able to arrange to do it nights or on weekends but my guess is they would want 20 hours a week.

It sounds like you have a vg job at a good company with a nice salary so I can understand why you want to keep that as your primary job.

[bill4745, RN]

Most hospitals that I have worked in will only place new grads in full-time positions for their first year. This is to give them time to use what they learned in school. For 20 hours a month, most will only hire nurses with 2-3 years of experience. If you find one willing to put you immediate lyly in a 20 hour a month position right out of school, be careful - they must be desperate, and there is a good reason why they are desperate.

[newleaf2012]

you can always try a temp agency or home health care

[RNperdiem, RN]

If you have a per diem job, you will have complete flexibility of schedule. You will earn more money per hour, and your full time finance job can provide health insurance, retirement and other benefits.

To make this work, you will need to have a year of full time experience to go per diem. Exactly how to make this work is something to figure out.

It would help to have a strong work ethic to handle 2 jobs as well. Nursing school stress is different from nursing work stress. Have a plan to maintain a support system and life outside of working.

[happybunny1970]

So is it a possible way to work part-time in nursing just to make sure my hands do not get cold while working full-time on a stressful hedge fund job on wall street? Say, a RN job with 20 hours per month, or, work two days a month on nursing. Will this keep my nursing license active?

Once you earn your license, the only thing you have to do to keep it active is renew on time and complete the required CEUs -- it has nothing to do with actually working as a nurse.

HOWEVER, I don't see any reputable company hiring a new grad for only one shift per week or less... There is WAY more to being a nurse than the overview you get in school, and the only way to acquire those skills is to do the procedures over and over again on a daily basis until you really know them. Working the type of schedule you describe will keep you in the new-nurse mentality and ability level for years, maybe decades. I'm sorry, but I don't want someone at that skill level taking care of me or my family.

It sounds like you'd be taking a pay cut to leave finance and enter nursing, and if money is an issue -- or even the different mental stimulation or the dress code -- then it sounds like nursing is not going to be for you. It's just not the sort of thing you can do as a hobby -- these are patients' lives you're responsible for.

Now, were the situation REVERSED, and say you'd already been a nurse for several years and then switched over to finance... then yeah, it would be reasonable to keep nursing as a part-time job.

I wouldn't say you've wasted your time or money -- education is never a waste -- but this doesn't sound like a workable situation.

One thing about nursing is that there are SO MANY opportunities out there for us... if we get burned out in one field, we can change direction and find something that builds on our present knowledge and gives us more. Not everyone works at the bedside in scrubs... There are Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Educators, Pharmaceutical Reps, Legal Consultants, Insurance Representatives, Case Managers... the list is practically endless.

Good luck with your decision... search deep and discover the field that most appeals to you, whatever that may be.

[futurecnm]

I'm just curious, why did you go to RN school since it sounds like your primary job will always be finance?? If you make decent money and like your job it seems that nursing school was a huge sacrifice. I admire anyone who can get through RN school, so I'm not putting you down at all. You must be really motivated!!! I agree that it would be difficult to find an employer to train you to work that little. Plus, the training period is almost always nearly full time. IF they invest in you, they will want you to put time in also. Once you have a year in, possibly. Maybe you will find someone that will do it though, good luck.