Went to nursing school at 54. Ask me anything.

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 10:34 pm

I went back to high school to get prerequisites to study practical nursing when I was 53 and started Nursing school at 54. Graduated at 55 and am Now bridging to a Bachelor of science in nursing at 56.

Currently procrastinating from studying pharmacology but at least I finished my dosage math homework 📚 .🤷🏻‍♀️

Not anonymous because if you’ve been around a while you probably know who I am.

Looking forward to your questions!
Chana Miriam S. RPN

amother

Anemone

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 10:48 pm

Are you looking to do floor nursing jobs? Or a desk job?

What inspired you to go back to work at this point?

How many hours do you work? Are you working for the $$ or to keep busy, intellectually stimulated?

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 10:53 pm

amother Anemone wrote:

I originally just wanted to be a diabetic educator but now I see there are many interesting nursing jobs so I’m not sure 100%. Not really interested in hospital work unless it’s post partum. Probably I’ll still do diabetic education but I currently work in a cultural safety job in a long term care. If I could I’d become a nurse practitioner with my own practice but I need to make money once I graduate this program. Right now I work 20 hours a week and go to school full time.

What inspired me to go into nursing was a resolution of a lot of chronic health issues and I thought maybe I’d be a dietitian. My doctor suggested nursing because where I live, the scope of practice between RPN and RN are similar and RPN was faster.

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 10:56 pm

greenteaorange wrote:

What was your career prior ?

I was a Jill of all trades. I have an English degree. Worked in social services, construction, home day care, marketing in an optical store, inbound sales (remote in a call centre), kiruv, and I was a caterer with a seasonal kosher restaurant in Niagara Falls.

amother

Tealblue

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 10:58 pm

Chana Miriam S wrote:

wow! you are super woman!

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:02 pm

amother Tealblue wrote:

wow! you are super woman!

I’m not sure about a superwoman but I have ADHD lol.

Honestly, I wish I’d found nursing thirty years ago. I could have done so many kinds of nursing since then but the truth was I wasn’t ready. I needed to have my miracle happen with my health and then the sequence of events that brought me here. I could not have planned this but apparently hashem did.

The thing is that what you can see from my crazy chain of jobs is the following:

I like learning new things
I’m good at learning new things
I like people and customer service
I have ADHD LOL

Last edited by Chana Miriam S on Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Broom

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:06 pm

Did you have to take a student loan or you got a (almost)free state run program?
I'm wondering how worth it it is to change carreer. I'm almost 50.
Was your schooling faster because of your life experience?

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:07 pm

shirachadasha wrote:

What's it like to be supervised by someone young enough to be your child?

I don’t have an issue with it. I’ve had clinical instructors and preceptors who are my age and younger. One thing I really believe is that experienced nurses can learn from students and vice versa. If you have more experience I can learn from. You but you can also learn from me, especially because I have so much life experience.

I’ve been supervised in other jobs by people younger than me before, and they were extremely capable , so I have no prejudice.

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:14 pm

amother Broom wrote:

I’m Canadian and I took out student loans for practical nursing but they are considerably less than in the USA. My practical nursing was about $10 k.

My current tuition is being paid by a government program where I get free tuition if I work in the geographical area of my school for a period after graduation. It only has to be part time and it’s not uncommutable for me so it’s a good deal. One year and it’s released.

My PN program was the same as two academic years with no summer vacation but not because of life experience, it’s just the program.

The program I’m in now is 19 months. I went directly into year 3/4 because I have prior university experience and the PN diploma. Also no summer vacation so it’s 19 months but not because of my age. If anything I found out you actually can’t get any credit for life experience when you go into nursing in Ontario. You need to have competitive grades and prerequisites.

I also found out that maturity and motivation are profoundly useful.

Frumomsi

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:20 pm

How do you compare your ability to learn now to your previous experience in university? Was studying hard? I’m always wondering if I would go back to school once my kids are older and this is something I think about.

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 20 2024, 11:26 pm

Frumomsi wrote:

When I was in university the first time, I had undiagnosed ADHD and no coping skills. I had been a terrible high school student and don’t even know how I got in to university. Then. I was a mediocre student .

Now, I have diagnosed ADHD which I am not medicated for but do have a lifetime of coping skills developed. I’ve been adulting for a long time and it shows.

I found my initial nursing school experience very difficult but I developed a groove ( with help of one of my kids who did a very difficult double degree) and now, I feel like I’m finding it almost too easy ( except pharmacology.)

My husband is very self sufficient and my kids are adults so I have very little in the way of home obligations at this point. Husband is very happy I’m working after me not working for about 18 months😀

Chana Miriam S

Thu, Mar 21 2024, 12:34 am

amother Broom wrote:

Do you think it's possible for a mother of a large family to do this kind of degree while working (at least part time)?

I think nursing school is a LOT, having a large family is aLOT and working part time is a lot given the rest of it. I’m not sure when you could study or attend classes or clinicals. You could work towards prerequisites until your family is in a place to get going fully. I’d encourage you to find out what you need and then work towards it!

I had to go back to high school to get in. Take your time. Get excellent grades! When you’re ready, you’ll be ready. I believe prerequisites in some cases can time out so understand what your requirements are before you start. That said, education is never wasted.

amother

Daylily

Thu, Mar 21 2024, 1:03 am

Butting in because I'm also a nurse:

I think you mentioned before that you're in Canada. I'm in Israel so things may be different. I just want to give a warning to those considering a career in nursing:

I became a nurse because I certain nursing specialties interested me: midwifery, NICU, pediatrics, a few more. I would have never became nurse if I knew it would have to be Geriatrics. Guess which specialty is the most sought after in Israeli nursing? Midwifery. You have to know how to play your cards right to get a chance at this. If you are very good "politically" you might get into this position after 4 years, otherwise you need to work somewhere else for 10 - 15 years before rhey will let you be a midwife. Guess which department is most in need of nurses and will try to strongarm nurses into this department even when the nurses don't want it and aren't physically equipped? Geriatrics. Just something to keep in mind.

amother

Daylily

Thu, Mar 21 2024, 1:09 am

Geriatrics, Pnimit, etc, are very difficult physically, require heavy lifting, so you'd think that if your a nurse and you've had back surgery and still don't have the best back, that they wouldn't try to force you into these departments, right? Wrong. They are so desperate for nurses to work these departments that they will try to get anyone in there, no matter what physical shape you are in, then once you're there it's your problem.

Sadly, there is no shortage of new nurse graduates, so they'd rather but a bad-fit burse in Geriatrics, get 9 months of work out of her, have her burn out and quit, then get a new ill equiped nurse in there, than make an effort to place a nurse in a department where she is likely to want to stay for 5+ years.

amother

Daylily

Thu, Mar 21 2024, 1:12 am

My advice to brand new nurses is DON'T take a position that you know from clinicals that you don't like, just to get experience. Your instructors will always say "Everyone should start out in Pnimit or Chirugia for a few years to become good nurses, THEN you can transfer to the department you want" (sometimes they also give Yeladim as an option). I only agree if you like Pnimit or Chirugia anyway. If you really didn't like them, you will burn out before you get your few years in and a chance to transfer, and you'll be part of the very large statistic of people with nursing degrees who don't work in nursing anymore.