is it a stupid idea to become a Physician Assistant if you're a Registered Nurse, tired of it and 46 years old?

Submitted ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨eli04@linux.community⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

cross-posted from: 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.

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Comments

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neidu3@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Well, you’re going to be 50 soon… you might as well be 50 doing something you like.

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JayhawkJedi@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Would recommend the NP route, especially starting as an RN.

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MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
NP

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southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
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 :)

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ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
NP and PA are both reasonable options. NP is probably faster, but both can end up at about the same place.

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1984@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Random internet people doesnt know this better than you.

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