Anyone go from law/i-banking/finance to nursing?

[Anivia]

This may not be the right forum to post in, but here goes. I'm a lawyer at a large law firm and am looking for a better lifestyle since my spouse and I are thinking of starting a family soon (my spouse is also a lawyer). I haven't really ever considered anything in the healthcare industry before now, but I know some nurses with great QOL (work 3 12 hour shifts, 4 days off, etc.). It'd probably take me around 2 years of schooling to "retool" for nursing. (I've considered Duke's accelerated program, but it seems kind of expensive.)

Has anyone here done this? What's the QOL for a nurse like? What about expected pay? Nurses get paid $70k on average, right? Is there a chance to make low six figures? What about the fact that I don't really care about healthcare that much? I just want a better QOL to focus on stuff outside of work and a job that pays reasonably well. I also wouldn't mind the chance to do 3 12 hour shifts with 4 days off....

Right now I'm also considering in house jobs that pay over $200k (but with 50-60 hour work weeks and frankly the work kind of sucks since it's always fire drills/ASAP, plus you need to have a blackberry/be on call) as well. To sum it up, here's what I want: not having to be on call when I'm not at work; not having to deal with fire drills/ASAP stuff on a daily basis; never having to think about or do any work after I leave the office; a regular 40 hour work week max; and a reasonable salary. Would nursing meet these requirements?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Law2Doc]

Find a part time law job. Nurses usually max out at the numbers you describe -- you won't get close to six digits with that job and the kind of hours you want. I will leave it to the nurses on here to weigh in on the QOL issues but from my vantage point they deal with an awful lot of crap both literally and figuratively.

 

[Eccesignum]

RN here. It's impossible to answer the simple questions "What's the QOL?" and "How much do nurses make?" for every nurse in every area. It's highly dependent on your region, your institution, your specific job, and your schedule. Not all nurses work on a hospital floor for 3 perfectly predictable 12s a week (the range of types of nursing positions is huge). I'd suggest researching RN salaries in your actual area. It is highly unlikely you will see six figures without significant overtime, and even then probably not.

That aside, though, a lot of nursing is grueling, draining work, both physically and emotionally. If all you want is lots of money, a set workweek, and not taking work home, and you have no actual interest in healthcare, there are a thousand easier ways to get there than nursing.

 

[DokterMom]

In a nutshell, you have a law degree and several years working in a BigLaw firm, and are looking for a job with a six-figure income and high QoL?

Why leave your law degree on the table when it's your most valuable career asset? Don't start over; move side-ways. Start networking online with mid-career professionals who have become parents and seek career advice from them.

 

[Gauss44]

MGH has an accelerated BSN program that says it takes 15 months to complete, http://www.mghihp.edu/academics/nursing/degree-options/accelerated-bachelor-of-science/default.aspx

 

[Jewels86]

I'm an ER nurse and there are pro's and con's to ER nursing.

Pro: Patient education. When a patient is interested in their discharge orders and diagnosis, this is a great patient.
Pro: As an ER nurse, I have a ton of autonomy that otherwise, I would not have
Pro: I see pretty much everything. Enablers chewing me out because I want the patient to walk to the bathroom, drug seekers, drunks, abdominal pain, etc, huge variety. My negotiating skills have been honed in the ER.

Con: long hours
Con: tired of enablers/enablee's that want me to cath instead of walking to the bathroom when it's obvious they can (BTW: they walked in, probably with cheetos and a huge 20 oz sprite with a chief complaint of abdominal pain)
Con: b^%$chy nurses (it's gets old quick)

It's really up to you where you see yourself. I'd never do anything but ED and Psych ED, to which I have done both.

How much do we make...it depends. I'm board certified with my BSN and MA and years under my belt. So...that's not a question that has an absolute answer. Depends on where in the country you live too.

BTW: please, please do not say that we work three-12 hour days with four days off with the idea that you're completely peppy during your off time (and that frustrates a lot of us nurses too). It's a very, very long shift that is very exhausting. I eat on the fly, get 6 hours of rest in between these "3-day" shifts, sometimes need a day/night to recover from marathon shifts and I walk about 6-7 miles between four rooms, the med room, supply room, during these 12+ hour shifts, etc. So...no, it's not exactly as rosy as it sounds.

 

[SDFMD]

I'm a RN, and in my opinion, don't do it. Sure, 3 12's sound amazing, but imagine moving and worrying about your patients nonstop for 12 hours. You're on your feet, you have 5 different people asking you 5 different things, you have a dr. on hold, you have a patient that just vomited all over their self, you have another patient that pulled out their IV, and your other 2 patients are due for their meds NOW, but one of their meds are wrong, and you need to call pharmacy. And lunch/bathroom breaks? Nope, don't even bother looking forward to them, you'll be disappointed. As nurses, you get yelled at from everyone; your patients, the older nurses, doctors. If you are honest in what you said about you not being interested in healthcare, you will be very disappointed. And $70,000? Where do you live, I want to move there! I start work in a couple months, and I signed on for $24/hr, which is around $50,000/year. So no, you're not going to see 6 figures with being a RN, unless you become a NP, and even then some don't. And as far as the "4 days off", you're still recovering from 36 hours of nonstop action like I mentioned above, and dreading/bracing yourself for the next round of 12's. I would find a nurse and shadow that person for a couple weeks, and seriously try to imagine what your life would be like, or better yet, get a job as a patient care technician first. But please know it's not as amazing as you think it is. Patient's lives are at stake, and you need to be on your game at all times, and quite honestly, you won't be if you don't really care to begin with. Patients deserve nurses who really care.

Oh, and another thing, you do bring your work home with you. When a patient dies, when a child is in critical condition due to abuse, when you're caring for a rapist, when your nurse manager tells you yet again that "you're not cut out for this," when you make a med error and nearly kill someone, you bring it home with you. I've been up all night before wondering if I forgot to chart something critical. It was actually a part of our curriculum in nursing school where we trained ourselves to not bring it home. It's in a nurses' nature to be compassionate and caring, so this is a common thing.

 

[Anivia]

Thanks for the responses, all. I'm not saying that being a nurse is "rosy" and happy. But I know for a fact that it will probably be massive QOL improvement for me (at least in terms of hours).

I recently pulled a 360 hour work month (billed 300 hours in that month). That means I was at the office on average 12 hours a day, every single day, including weekends and worked 10 hours every day on average, including weekends. It just doesn't get any worse than this (unless you are an investment banker).

The nature of my practice (transactional practice) means that I never know what is going to happen on a day to day basis. I could be in the office all day with no work, then at 6 pm, they give me an agreement they want me to revise overnight, which means, for that day, I'm probably pulling 20 hours just being in the office. We are on call 24/7, which means that we have to drop what we're doing at night/weekends just to turn agreements. I'm just sick and tired of this lifestyle.

On average, I probably pull at least one 16-18 hour day a week (on top of being in the office Monday through Friday for 10-12 hours a day) plus work the majority of weekends. (I guess the one perk is that on weekends I get to work remotely.)

It just doesn't get worse than this (unless you are an investment banker or at an even more notorious large law firm). This is not that uncommon at large law firms - I have friends at other firms who pull 300 billable hour months when deals go crazy. Trying to turn some convoluted 100 page agreement at the 20th hour at work is also mentally exhausting.

I'm not looking for perfection - I'm just looking for a better QOL with a reasonable salary. It looks like taking a shot in the dark may mean a better QOL for me, as long as I avoid investment banking.

 

[Pound4Pound]

You will definitely have a better quality of life as a nurse compared to the one you have now. Avg national salary is probably below 70k. More like 60-65k. In big cities like New York and Chicago, 70k is doable if you work night shift and work some overtime. It's ok if you don't care about healthcare politics but as a nurse, you're going to be dealing with patients who are at their worst state. Are you compassionate? Do you have patience? Because if not, you're going to have a rough time. As a nurse, you'll be dealing mostly with elderly who cant take care of themselves (ie. unable to walk, go to washroom, bath themselves). Also depending on which department you work, you're going to be dealing with homeless people, criminals, etc.

Are you comfortable taking orders from doctors? or getting yelled at by patients? Being a nurse is comparable to being a waiter in a restaurant. You serve the customers and you take orders from the chef/manager. At the same time, you also clean and fix stuff (like the TV that won't turn on ughhh which is btw not part of my job description but since I'm the first person the patient sees, I have to take care of it lol)

 

[Law2Doc]

Thanks for the responses, all. I'm not saying that being a nurse is "rosy" and happy. But I know for a fact that it will probably be massive QOL improvement for me (at least in terms of hours).

I recently pulled a 360 hour work month (billed 300 hours in that month). That means I was at the office on average 12 hours a day, every single day, including weekends and worked 10 hours every day on average, including weekends. It just doesn't get any worse than this (unless you are an investment banker).

The nature of my practice (transactional practice) means that I never know what is going to happen on a day to day basis. I could be in the office all day with no work, then at 6 pm, they give me an agreement they want me to revise overnight, which means, for that day, I'm probably pulling 20 hours just being in the office. We are on call 24/7, which means that we have to drop what we're doing at night/weekends just to turn agreements. I'm just sick and tired of this lifestyle.

On average, I probably pull at least one 16-18 hour day a week (on top of being in the office Monday through Friday for 10-12 hours a day) plus work the majority of weekends. (I guess the one perk is that on weekends I get to work remotely.)

It just doesn't get worse than this (unless you are an investment banker or at an even more notorious large law firm). This is not that uncommon at large law firms - I have friends at other firms who pull 300 billable hour months when deals go crazy. Trying to turn some convoluted 100 page agreement at the 20th hour at work is also mentally exhausting.

I'm not looking for perfection - I'm just looking for a better QOL with a reasonable salary. It looks like taking a shot in the dark may mean a better QOL for me, as long as I avoid investment banking.

Again, finding a lesser houred job in your own career intuitively would make more sense than swapping it for nursing.

 

[lacZee]

Please don't do it. Nursing may look good on the outside but it is a very physically and emotionally draining job. yes you work three 12 hour shifts a week but most nurses i know work overtime because working just 3 days a week doesn't pay much. I think you can use your law degree to find some work in healthcare and try a small firm.