‘Second Career’ Students Turn to Nursing for Stability and Soul

By Julie Benn NurseZone feature writer

Grace Spruiell, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been an actress, a soloist and even a receptionist. Now, at age 42, she is ready to do what she has always wanted—she’s ready to become a nurse.

Why is she drawn to the profession now? Many reasons. Two of which are being heard throughout nursing schools across the country from people choosing to enter the healing arts: September 11 and the nation’s struggling economy.

"I feel that it is my patriotic duty to go into nursing," said Spruiell. "I am too old to join the armed forces and I have a 7-year-old on top of that…nursing is a profession that would fill a need as well as give me a chance to have a career where I could raise my daughter without having to worry about the grocery bill or fret over the cost of rent."

Nurse Patriots

Connie Koch is the interim dean of the Barnes College of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She said there is definitely a renewed interest in nursing and the service professions since, and because of, September 11, 2001.

"Students who may have toyed with the idea of nursing before 9/11 are now seriously looking at it as a career," said Koch. "They heard what the physicians and nurses said during the tragedy and what a sense of pride there is to be able to help individuals. It made an impression on them."

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing student Erin Clewlow, 27, has a bachelors degree in health and, after working in the restaurant industry and as a personal trainer, has returned to school for her RN. "Sept. 11 has only made me prouder and more excited about becoming an RN. In fact, I would like to join FEMA or the Red Cross as an RN who works on special teams, meaning you have a job, but volunteer to go anywhere in the country when a disaster happens and they need hands," she said.

What’s more, Koch has seen an increase in what she calls "second career" students—those who have a degree in another discipline and return to school for their RN license. Many of these students were unable to find steady work in other fields and, since nurses are in great demand, they have returned to school seeking a more reliable future.

"I’m not surprised that they are coming back to school to get their bachelors in nursing," said Koch. "What does surprise me is the wide range of prior professions these students had."

Koch said they’ve seen second career students come from disciplines such as biology, chemistry, art, physical therapy, and they even have former insurance adjusters pursuing their RNs.

The college offers an accelerated 15-month bachelors of nursing program for graduates of other disciplines or for those who have completed a substantial portion of their undergraduate requirements.

A national report by the American Nursing Association states that the older RN brings not only general life experiences to the workplace, but usually specialized training as well. Of the nursing population in the United States, almost 30 percent of RNs had worked in a health care occupation just before they entered nursing school. Here’s how the statistics break down: