cross-posted from: https://linux.community/post/4789208
I always enjoyed explaining to patients what we do, why, what they should do for aftercare and what happens afterwards. What I don’t like is the grind that’s nursing and how immature, lazy and uneducated, proud antivaxers, many nurses I work with are.
The subjects don’t seem that difficult, it would be simply studying more comprehensibly anatomy, biology, chemistry, medicines, OR, legal…
I find it realistic to pass this bachelor but I’m on the older side already. My fears are:
a reduced job pool: everyone needs nurses, but the need for PAs is not as big. I’d have less choice.
age discrimination: true that most of us will have to work till 70 or 72 but I’m still afraid of being rejected for being old.
OTOH: better work life balance and clearly more money in a field that’s not completely unknown to me and I don’t hate.
Not stupid at all!
Though I’ve heard that the path to being an NP is faster from RN than switching to PA. Might be worth looking at.
Worst case scenario, you end up having to job jump between PA and nursing until you find a job that lets you settle into a specific practice/position. Which is harder in middle age, but isn’t prohibitive imo.
From the patient side of things, an NP or PA with practical experience as a nurse is like gold. An MD might have more education and a broader knowledge base because of that; but nobody can match the hands on, dedicated skills of someone that’s done what you’re proposing. The best providers I have ever had in twenty years plus of disability have been the ones like that. You’ve not only been there and done that, you could teach all of it purely from experience.
So stupid? Hell no! The only stupid part is that the industry is so fucked that an experienced nurse wants to stop doing that job. What you’ll bring to the table is going to help people. That’s never stupid. It will be a harder road for you in some ways (though not as physically brutal as nursing for damn sure), but at least it will be different.
If you decide to go that route, good on you :)
Well, you’re going to be 50 soon… you might as well be 50 doing something you like.
No
NP and PA are both reasonable options. NP is probably faster, but both can end up at about the same place.
Wouldn’t it be easier to go from RN to ARNP than starting over to train as a PA?
Random internet people doesnt know this better than you.
Short answer: no.
Long answer: what 's the worst that could happen? Best case scenario is that you achieve what you set out to achieve. Worst case scenario is that it doesn’t work out and have to go back to nursing - albeit with new knowledge. So even in that situation, you could leverage your knowledge to improve your position.
I know someone who worked in law and switched to the transportation sector (started studying again) at just above 30. Not 46, but not fresh out of high school, either. I met someone yesterday who used to be a restaurant boss and reschooled to be become a train attendant. You would be far from the only person doing something like that - and even if you were - as I said, what’s the worst that could happen? Go for it.
Would recommend the NP route, especially starting as an RN.
And assuming OP has worked in their target specialty for 10+ years not the worst idea. The problem with current NP schools is that they’re banking on the person coming in with more experience than your average PA candidate, so the didactics are less rigorous.
The problem is that they don’t actually require that experience for enrollment or even to award the degree. So you have straight through ADN-to-NP degree mills that can get a newly graduated RN to prescribing medications in like three years of writing essays about philosophy while working 48 hours a week (now with CHATGPT!) which is just unbelievably dangerous.
NP
Sounds like a chance to become happier. That’s a good idea. 46 isn’t old, and definitely not “too old” to make a change
