Going into nursing at 38. Crazy?

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Morning.
I'm seriously considering changing careers. I'm 38 and have 3 kids.
I did a BA in 2004 and since then have worked mostly in TEFL and in schools. (though not a qualified mainstream teacher).
I took time out when I had my kids and had to give up TEFL as I couldn't get around much and there were no opportunities for me in the area.
I started working again after me and H split and have been working as a TA. I earn less now than I did 12 years ago and don't feel there is any pathway for me to move forward.
(I do not want to be a mainstream teacher!).
I feel my BA is totally useless to me now and need something that will guarantee me work after.

I'm looking into funding options at the moment and whether I'll be accepted onto a course.

My family are mostly medics, so I grew up with that around me. My sister has nursed all her working life but has just completed her degree which was made compulsory. I work in SEN so also have some experience of epilepsy, giving meds and feeding etc.

Has anyone taken such a huge step, Is it possible or am I just having a mid life crisis?

Hi, I qualified at 42 and I'm 48 now. When I trained my children were 6 7 and 9. It was very hard but I had good support from my oh. On placement they would normally give you your shifts and expect you to stick to the shifts given. As a student I didn't have to do that many nights but the requirements were x amount within the year to pass the course.
The hardest part was doing 39 hours placement a week with essays on top of that. Expect it to take over your life. You need to be fit and well as so mentally and physically draining but you have life experience on your side so will find it easier that way.
I'm retired now due to ill health but worked on the wards. I would have eventually gone to somewhere like theatres.

No choices in placement and it really helps if you drive. And maths you do need up to a basic level.

Definitely not too old. A friend at Church retrained as a paediatric nurse in her 40s. But I think found it easier as her children were all at secondary school by then so could be left for longer periods of time.

If you have solid support, go for it!

Oh yes I forgot about the driving. Essential.

I trained in cardiff. At the time we did 8 weeks uni, 6 weeks placement. I didn't do many nights to be honest. I did adult branch. In Our first year our first placement was in our chosen area, so I went to an adult medical ward. Then on our second and third placements we were split in two, half the Cohort did two weeks in mental health and two weeks in a school for the child part of the placement, and then two weeks maternity placement . (Basically whatever branch you weren't doing you spent two weeks in to get a taster). So whilst everyone was doing those the others were doing a 6 week community placement. The next two years focused on your chosen branch, so a medical placement, surgical placement etc. The final year I did an ITU placement, another community placement then a 12 week management placement on the ward where I had my first job already lined up. If you want to know any more feel free to message me.

Fwiw, maths isn't my strong point either, (I had to do it a few times to get a c ) but it's not really maths like algebra etc, it's drug calculations which obviously you need 100% achievement.

Thank you for your long reply hippo. Your advice is much appreciated.
I don't have a lot of work experience in the sector but I have worked in nursing homes and currently work in a SEN school where we provide care to students with epilepsy and severe learning needs. This includes administrating and recording meds, monitoring seizures and following treatment plans. We also do gravitytube feeding.
This might not be 'experience' needed though.
I recently took a level 3 NCFE and had to write assignments for this. Again, maybe this is not relevant or enough.

I do drive and have my own car. I'm going to have to seriously consider whether this is possible with the kids.
Tiredmum - I might just message you a bit later, thank you. I studied my first degree there in 2004!

I start an access course next month, aged 37, with a view to starting a nursing degree next year, so I hope you’re not too old!

Regarding shifts during placement, it’s worth noting that the NMC have recently released new standards which will start to come into effect next year. One of the big changes is a shake up of mentoring. As I understand it, the role of mentor is disappearing and instead we will have Practice Supervisors and Practice Assessors. All NMC registered nurses and midwives can be supervisors, as can other HCP’s. We will be expected to learn from/be supervised by many people, rather than one named individual, but will have an assigned Practice Assessor.

The NMC are also raising the cap on the number of allowed hours in simulation from 300 hours at present to up to half of the 2300 hours that must be spent on placement.

Both of those changes theoretically mean placements could end up being more flexible (which, let’s face it, is necessary if they want to attract more student nurses now they’ve scrapped bursaries). Best bet is to speak to the universities you will be applying to directly, ask them when they plan to adopt the new standards and if the way they plan to implement them will allow for more flexibility than offered at present.

Also worth knowing that you don't get typical student holidays when training- it's not much time off at all so you will need childcare for school holidays
I would live to train as a nurse (I'm a community health care assistant) but just can't see a way to make it work with young kids- the long shifts are as off putting to me as the nights - I would end up having to pay a childminder for every day wrap around in case I was given shifts that day and not end up using half of it also you no longer get a bursary so you're going to need to borrow all the money for course fees, living costs etc
It's such a shame there's no part time option

Thank you L, I hope you enjoy your course and get on well. I now think the placements could really be a no for me. Thirty, Have you looked at any options for us? I guess we have similar types of roles (mine in school) but there never seems to be any way of moving up.
For me, the best I can hope for would be tutor but that's a lot of lesson planning for a tiny increase to maybe £9.20 an hour.

I wish I had thought about my options more seriously before I had the kids, although I loved teaching TEFL, it's just not viable now.

I'll try and call my sister later as she has gone through it with 2 of her own kids but she has a partner (also a nurse) so not sure how they worked out the childcare. Plus I'm not sure she'd have had to do the placements if she's been nursing for years beforehand.

Hey. 3rd year Student Midwife here, Bristol as well 😁

I was 34 when I started and will be 38 on qualifying (if I ever get the bloody dissertation finished 🙈) so no, you’re not too old at all. The way I look at it is that I will be working until I’m at least 65, if not longer and I want to be happy in whatever it is I’m doing, so short term pain for long term gain.

As for shift patterns, they are what they are, nights, days, weekends and week days. You do manage though it’s bloody challenging. My childminder dropped me in it a month ago and I have shifts this week that the kids dad is covering by calling in sick 😬 Far from ideal but there’s nothing I can do about it as I don’t have any friends or family who can/will pick up the slack for two 13 hour shifts back to back. Sometimes nights are actually logistically easier with kids, though I can’t write academically when I’m on a run of them, brain dead.

Pm me if you want to know more. I’d say go for it, you only live once so make it a good one

I started my training at 36 and was by no means the oldest on the course. Go for it.

Mummidwife, My sister said nights were easier in some ways too as she could sleep when they were at school. I guess in my case the'd have to sleep at my mums. I don't there are any childminders that do into the night.

Some LPs manage with an au pair who sleeps in and does the school run.

I don't think it's ever too late to train as a nurse. I've known people go into it when they're 50, if it's something you want to do then go for it.

What branch are you looking at going into? Just wondering if you had thought about learning disability nursing at all? Not many know that it even exists but it would fit in well with your experience. I can give you more information about the role if you're interested.

Maths wise I had an exam every year but it was pretty basic maths, no calculators allowed but as long as you can do a bit of multiplication and long division you'll be fine.

I found the majority of my placements to be pretty flexible. Some can be a bit awkward and make out that you'll be expected to do all these shifts when you qualify so should be made to do them now. There's not many of those around luckily. It's also a lot easier to do those shifts when you're being paid for it! People also seem to forget that not everyone goes into ward nursing. I'm in the community which means Monday to Friday, 9-5, much better hours for me.

Unis differ massively with the amount of nights you're expected to do. It can also depend on where you're placements are. I only did a week in the end because I only had 1 placement that was suitable, I know others who had a full 6 week placement of nights, it's luck of the draw sometimes.

I am just about to do my last two shifts as a student nurse, and turned 43 in July, so 38 is definitely not too old!

As I already had a first degree, the course I have done is a pre-registration Masters in Adult Nursing, which involved completing all the required 2300 practice hours in two years (so averaging 40 hour weeks on placement), and a faster start to the academic side (our first assignment, which was expected to be at graduate level, was due in the first term). This has been a stretch, and sometimes I have wished that I had taken the three-year BSc option! However, with a bit of commitment it has been totally do-able (now that the trauma of writing my dissertation has faded a bit!), and in many ways age has been an advantage. Sometimes life experience can really help in reading people and situations, and as much as the younger students wonder how I manage juggling home and study, I wonder how 18-year-olds cope with angry or distressed patients and difficult colleagues.

I was not the oldest student on either the MSc or BSc courses, and have managed to juggle studying and family commitments (I have two DSs aged 8 and 10) with the help of a very supportive husband, whose work was flexible enough to allow him to do childminder drop-offs and pick-ups while I was working long days. I have found that placements are mostly quite open to meeting students' needs with respect to working times (as long as you approach it in the right way) - especially as students with children are now paying for their education as well as childcare costs.

The Trust I have had placements with does long shifts (07:30 until 19:45 or 19:30 until 07:45), but also does early and late shifts during the day, so you would arrive for an 07:30 start and finish mid-afternoon, or start at around 11 and go on until 19:45. Shorter days are obviously a lot easier to manage childcare around, although you would do more of them in a week, which can be tricky if you are working on assignments at the same time. As far as nights go, you will be expected to do at least some, but most nurses are surprised to see students on night shifts so you may not need to do lots - I plan to start out on the ward so figure I might as well get used to it!

Placements may also be in settings other than hospitals, so shift patterns here will be different - I spent six weeks with the District Nurses, doing basically 9 'til 5 on weekdays, although they did also do lates (14:00 until 22:00) and weekends. Other students in my cohort have been placed in sexual health clinics, nursing homes and even a private hospital.

Anyway, if you decide to take the plunge, best of luck - there will certainly be times when you wonder what on earth you have got yourself into, but all you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and in the end you will get there

Yikes, Thank you Penguin and Indi. I'm very torn by your honest responses. I think i need to talk with the admissions team maybe and state my concerns. I wouldn't expect to be treated any differently to students without kids, now would I want to be.

Are there any other areas in healthcare where jobs are in good supply and I could get another student loan where the hours might be more suitable? (I've read I can only get another loan if it's for certain degrees in medicine and the AHP). I guess I could think about mental health nursing, there are clearing spaces for that too. I think that might be even more challenging though?
I'd have loved to have done Speech and Language Therapy but I think you have to have high grades to get into it.

What about occupational therapy , it is a very varied occupation , can work with children and adults , with mental health patients ..all sorts and there are probably more opportunities to get weekday jobs if that's what you're after .

Hi. Yes I thought about OT and also SLT. These may be better options.
Fast forward a week and I've bought 3 GCSEs (English, Maths.Biology) and trying to get access course sorted so I cann apply next year.

Sorry..typing on phone hence mistakes!