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.
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
Well, you’re going to be 50 soon… you might as well be 50 doing something you like.
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 :)
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.
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?
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.
Definitely agree with you on the NP mills side of things. I do think PA school has better pre-reqs and training for general medicine. And that someone that does a bachelors straight to PA will be better off than the NP mill side of things. There is still a lot to learn though for those fresh PAs and there are a ton of medical companies that throw you in without really giving you the resources to learn. It is just straight production based, get as many patients through as you can, and many new grads can struggle.
My partner is a PA and was an MA for 8 years prior, so this is where most of my info is coming from.
I also say NP because the job market for PA is a little more limited. Since PAs must practice under an MD, it can limit job searches. And you almost never see jobs that specifically are looking for a PA, it is usually either just NP or NP/PA. You can still try to apply for the NP job but a bit more of a stretch. Some of them are just familiar with NP and will tend just just keep hiring NPs. My partner has been asked in several interviews where the job posting was for NP about what PA school training consisted of, and some of these interviews were at medical centers tied to universities.
Overall though, they both generally have the very similar job opportunities. So OP’s outlook for changing to a better job could happen quicker with the NP route without having to go back and do a bachelor’s and PA school, which would cost both more money and time. Especially with the concern of being an older applicant as well.
Edit: It is also significantly more difficult to get into PA school. At one point there was some statistic that it was harder to get into PA school than Med school. Mostly just based on statistics of applications vs acceptance. Not that the study is more rigorous. Overall because there are many less PA schools. So it would be easier to get into an NP school as well and not risk getting a PA school rejection.
My parter did pretty well in school with BS in biochem and around 3.8 GPA along with all the clinical hours working as an MA. She applied for the first two years out of undergrad while working as an MA and don’t get a single interview. Then just decided to work for a while with the intent to get more experience and references to apply later. Even then, only got one interview and luckily accepted.
Obviously everyone is different, but just some added n=1 info.
NP
No
Random internet people doesnt know this better than you.
