Nursing as a Second Career

Many People are Following Their Original Dreams to Become Nurses

Jul 15, 2008

Choosing nursing as a second career is becoming a popular move. Those who have chosen to do this often say that they always wanted to be a nurse, but life got in the way.

They had to make other choices because of circumstances beyond their control. Now that they have an option to make a change, they have chosen to follow their dreams and become nurses.

With the shortage of nurses growing and an estimated shortage of 1 million nurses by 2020, this trend offers a welcome relief. In many cases, those looking to nursing as a second career already have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field.

In this case, accelerated nursing courses are gaining popularity and will provide a workforce of nurses who come to the field with a variety of previous work experience and a higher level of education.

Accelerated nursing programs are available for those who already have a degree. These are intense. Most are designed to prepare the student to take the NCLEX (nursing boards) at the end of their first year and work as RNs while completing a BSN or MSN program in about 18 to 24 months. A list of schools which offer accredited accelerated nursing programs is available from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

For those who don’t have a degree already, standard nursing programs also welcome students pursuing a second career as a nurse. Usually these students are more serious about committing to and successfully completing a nursing program.

Age is not a limiting factor. Although nursing is one of the most physically and emotionally challenging occupations, age is not always a hindrance. Physical strength, stamina and emotional well being are important factors for all nursing students.

There is a shortage of nurse educators which limits spaces in nursing programs each year. Controlling the dropout rate is a serious challenge and many schools have taken measures to increase the competition for entrance. Additionally, they have closely examined the qualities of those students who have successfully completed their programs. They look for these qualities in potential students and often find more of them in older students.

In the U.S., registered nurses (RNs) hold the current record for the largest health care occupation with more than 2.5 million jobs. This is expected to grow by another 587,000 jobs between 2006 and 2016 according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the present time, 59 percent of American registered nurses work in hospitals. This part of the industry is not expected to grow as fast as other fields of nursing such as home health care, outpatient surgery and care centers and physician’s offices. This is because more patients are being treated in outpatient settings including their own homes and discharged earlier from hospitals.

For many who put their dreams on hold, becoming a nurse as a second career is an option more people are pursuing.

The copyright of the article Nursing as a Second Career in Health Field is owned by Kathy Quan . Permission to republish Nursing as a Second Career in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.