Considering a career change...

Hi everyone,

I have been contemplating a career change lately and have been interested in Nursing/Midwifery/Life Sciences/BioMedicine. My current career has me working in IT as a software analyst. Whilst I like my job and the people (most of them ;) ) that I work with, I just feel like something is missing. I feel like I want to do something that is more worthwhile to me and will give me a feeling of satisfaction and where I can really see results and the effects from my work.

So my mind keeps coming back to the nursing and health sciences areas. I have been reading uni and related websites like mad and my interest is getting stronger and stronger. I’m very analytical and I love to know how things work and as I’m getting older and have experienced my own health and life issues, I just think I’ve got to get out and do something more satisfying and exciting to me. I want to help people feel good and I want to find out more about the human body and life and health.

I guess I am after some advice and opinions….I would love to hear from any of you who are nurses/midwives or involved in life sciences etc to give me some thoughts and opinions about your jobs and what’s involved including both the good and the bad :) What are the career options in these fields, hours, etc?

Thanks in advance for your help :)

Hi Lyn,

I'm a nurse. I currently work in the field of Alcohol and Other Drugs. I'll try and tell you a little about nursing - feel free to ask me any questions. I'm a bit tired and DD is waking up so might be a bit disjointed - bare with me...

Career Options: What isn't there? It really depends on who you work for I guess but usually pretty good. There are so many fields of nursing that you can always move around if you need/want a change. There are a great many courses you can do as well - University and hospital accredited. Of course, you don't have to "nurse" either - you can go into management or research... I even know a couple of nurses who went and did Law and became involved in medical negligence stuff. With nursing, you can also go and work in remote areas like the Mines in WA and there is the option of movie sets. Nursing has so much variety it is brilliant!

What it involves: This is largely dependent on the type of nursing you do. My field involves educating patients, symptomatic treatment when in withdrawal, treating wounds, helping the patient to liase with their prescribing doctor, helping them to access other services (such as mental health, food aid etc). Helping them to manage their medications - esp when they have comorbidities (more than one medical issue) - a lot of our clients have other conditions such as Hepatitis and HIV.

Good bits: Helping people - so cliche but so true. Especially when you see someone who has been in treatment for 10 years finally complete treatment and feel confident they won't return to using. Or when a patient who completed treatment a few years ago comes back to say hello because they are still clean. On a day to day basis - knowing that you have helped someone through a very difficult day.

Bad bits: The abuse. Unfortunately some patients are incredibly abusive (verbally and physically) when in withdrawal. Some don't even need to be in withdrawal to be abusive. You do tend to desensitise to it but it gets very tiresome and so we seem to have a very high burn out rate in this field. I've been in it for almost 4 years and am ready for a change.

Hours: At the clinic I work at - we are open 9-5 (although we are trying for a night clinic) Mon-Fri. Hours depend on the employer - one of my friends just got a job with another AOD venue which has him working traditional shift work.

HTH

MG

good for you Lyn!

Hi Lyn, I'm a nurse but my full time job is now as a paramedic. Before changing careers I worked in emergency in a major trauma service. As MG said, there are a lot of career opportunities in nursing and it is very flexible work which can be taken all over the world. Extra qualifications usually involve some sort of financial input though, for me to get my certificate in emergency medicine I had to pay to study. Nursing generally involves shift work. Even though there are areas, such as the area MG is in, where there are more civilised hours, initially you will most likely have to do mornings, afternoons and night shifts while you gather experience. Nurses are in demand so you are generally guaranteed a job and can work as little or as much as you like. The study is pretty full on with a lot to learn. It involves unpaid clinical blocks where you work in the area to gain experience. Emergency is a very demanding area of nursing and unfortunately rather thankless, so it can be very tiring. As MG said, nurses can cop a lot of verbal abuse from patients due to frustrations with the system (especially in emergency where people are waiting hours to see a dr). Nursing is a very rewarding career and you definitely do feel like you are helping people. Nurses are no longer the hand maidens that they used to be - they are educated practitioners with the ability to make decisions. As I said, it generally involves shift work, and having said that there are times when I was rostered on to work 10 days straight, it doesn't involve a regular predictable roster (one of the reasons why I changed careers). I still do the occasional shift (well before I went on maternity leave) to maintain my skill, and this is the beauty of nursing that you can do as many or as little shifts as you like. Good luck with your decision. Feel free to email me if you want to ask anything else nrvgi@yahoo.com.au :D

Thanks so much for your replies :D

What you've said has definitely helped and it's confirmed the 'ideas' I had about nursing. I just wanted to check for real and not just hear the glam stuff that the uni courses advertise.

I do like the fact that you can work shifts and as often/as little as you like. When I have kids one day, this will be nice to know I would be able to fit everything in. It is definitely good to know that there are so many opportunites and career paths in nursing, more than I realised.

I think it is something I would definitely love to do. I just have to take the plunge and go for it :rolleyes:

I've often wondeed the same thing Lyn... persuing one of the health sciences. My career focus to date has been in hospitality and education but I've always been fascinated by medicine and attracted to helping people. Thanks for posting Mother Goose, very interesting. My mother is still nursing and also says that the verbal abuse can be shocking. I think i could handle it... as i grow older i've become more philosophical about that kinda thing I guess, and certainly thicker skinned.

What science subjects did you do at school Lyn? I did Biology, Human Bio, Agriculture (a fair ammount of scientific content), Physics and general science... was good at them all... struggled a bit with Chemistry and pure maths though... if I had been good at those I would have tried to study medicine I guess.

Hi Bathsheba

Unfortunately, I didn't study any science units in Years 11 & 12 at high school. This is the only obstacle I can see with getting into a course of study. I'm aware though that I should be able to do a 'bridging' course. I already have a commerce degree as well so maybe that will help with getting into uni again.

Although I didn't study science at high school, I know have a big fascination with this subject area mainly due to being older and as you say more philosophical about life and health in general and also due to my own health issues. I am fascinated about how our bodies work, etc...

Bath - a mature attitude certaintly helps when dealing with abusive clients/patients but sometimes it is the repetative nature of the abuse and the type of abuse that gets to people. For exaple, the abuse I copped from parents when working at the Children's was completely different to the abuse I cop where I am at the moment. Abuse for the purpose of venting is easier to handle (in my opinion) than abuse with the purpose of intimidation or threatening behavior. But most employers are fantastic with providing debriefing and nurses support each other pretty well which makes it much easier to cope! Being able to cope with stress and having effective de-stressing techniques is vital in nursing.

There are no pre-req's for nursing so don't stress about not doing science. Everything they want you to know - they teach you. From the basics of anatomy up. There IS a little bit (and I mean LITTLE) of chemistry but they teach you what you need.

I wouldn't necessarily worry about a bridging program Lyn. My step-brother did one but that was because he wasn't old enough to qualify for Mature Aged entry and hadn't completed high school. The idea was to get people into the idea of study and how to write essay's etc.

When chosing a University to apply to - look at the requirements for whilst you're studying - particularly clinical placements. Some Uni's have more placements than others - or longer ones - which can impact on your current employment, child care etc. It is also worth trying to talk to students from the different Uni's as well. Some Uni's focus more on Clinical Practice and interpersonal skills whilst others are more "academic" or "scientific" which may impact on where you would like to go. Some Uni's offer it part time (not all) and some offer it externally (you attend for workshops prior to going on placement).