By Paul D. Rosevear

What makes nursing attractive to an adult with work experience in other areas?

In May 2001, Joseph Oseghale earned his master's degree in nursing from the MGH Institute of Health Professions (Boston, MA). He was excited and equally intimidated; he felt he was being initiated into a noble profession he had always admired. Before entering the nursing program, Oseghale was a licensed social worker with a master's degree in psychology. He had worked as a school teacher, magazine writer, and nurse's aide, the latter of which led him to his professional goal of becoming a nurse practitioner.

A Viable Career
Many people are picking nursing as a second career," affirms Arlene Lowenstein, Ph.D., RN, professor emeritus at MGH, and former director of the Institute's nursing program. "There's a nursing shortage, and the salaries have improved dramatically. Both men and women can see this is a viable career," she explains.

According to the latest projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, published in the February 2004 Monthly Labor Review, more than one million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2012. The American Nurses Association reports that the average staff nurse working in all settings now earns $35,212; hospital staff nurses, $36,618; clinical nurse specialists, $41,266; nurse practitioners, $43,636; and nurse anesthetists, $76,053.

MGH had its largest class in September 2003 -- a little over 80 students, according to Dr. Lowenstein. “The majority of the students worked in something else and struggled at it," she says. "Some always wanted to be nurses; others had experiences with family members or other people they knew in illness situations, and had a chance to observe some of the roles." First careers run the gamut from psychologists and horticulturists to lawyers and engineers. "Such backgrounds give depth to the education the other students get," notes Dr. Lowenstein. "They're bringing experience from different vantage points."

Researching Career Options
Keith Tomlin was a medic in the Army who served in the 82nd Airborne Division during the Gulf War. After completing his enlistment, he earned a bachelor's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Upon graduating, he worked for the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) as a health educator/researcher in a VA hospital, and then in a similar position at Duke University (Durham, NC) before he decided to enter UNC's nursing school.

In addition to missing the hands-on patient care skills he performed as an Army medic, Tomlin wanted to continue providing patient health education. "Medical and physician assistant schools did not seem to offer what I was looking for," he says. Tomlin finished the 14-month bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program at UNC in August 2003. The accelerated program was fairly intense, he says, because it was 10 months shorter than most BSN programs, while requiring the same amount of class and clinical time.

Despite the intensity, such programs, particularly ones offered online, are attractive to the growing number of interested professionals. "Over the past four years, we increased the number of students admitted to our prelicensure BSN program from 144 to 160," says Linda Cronenwett, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean and professor of UNC's School of Nursing. During this same period, enrollment in the master of science in nursing program remained stable with approximately 150 students, but the Ph.D. program enrollment increased from 38 to 52 students. "The strong interest in nursing as a second career was a major reason the UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing opened its 14-month degree BSN option in May 2001," she says.

UNC's program has a challenging curriculum and requires particularly strong motivation and endurance. "The second-degree students come to us with degrees in many fields -- religion, English, music, anthropology, and pharmacy, as well as traditional biomedical sciences," says Dr. Cronenwett. "We also admit some transfer students from community colleges, which brings diversity in socioeconomic backgrounds."

Increased Interest
Gwendolyn Ostrinski graduated from Quinnipiac University's (Hamden, CT) nursing program this May. As a child, the former claims processor always wanted to be a nurse, but while in college, she worked in a hospital pharmacy and met nurses who were unhappy with their work. She decided to major in sociology instead, with a minor in psychology, which she earned from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Ostrinski spent 10 years in the insurance industry, working her way up to senior systems analyst. She then worked for a hospital as a systems analyst, documentation writer, and trainer. After that, she did the same thing for a large bank until the position was eliminated. At that point, she'd had enough of the corporate world. "I wanted to do something that would leave me feeling fulfilled, like I had done some good for someone," she says.

The need for a more satisfying career, recent media attention to the nursing shortage, and good salaries for beginning nurses provide incentive for many, but there are other attractions to this career. "Another source of interest may be attributed to student loan forgiveness given by health care institutions and the federal government when students are hired after graduation," notes Elizabeth McGann, DNSc, RN, CS, associate professor of nursing, and chair of the department of nursing at Quinnipiac University. Quinnipiac started with three students in its second-degree-program class in May 2001, and expects about 30 students this year. Students are described as motivated, well-prepared, and academically strong. "They come from undergraduate majors such as biological, social, and behavioral sciences, some from related health professions. Most have work experience, and quite a few have master's degrees," says McGann.

"Nursing is becoming increasingly attractive because of the prospect of job stability and a fulfilling career," adds Harriet Feldman, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean and professor of the Lienhard School of Nursing, and chair of the Institutional Review Board at New York City's Pace University. "Many of these individuals have had an interest in nursing for a long time, but for one reason or another were unable to pursue this career." Pace's number of second-career students has more than doubled in the last three years, cites Dr. Feldman. "The population of second-career individuals who come to Pace is diverse in background, past employment, and culture," she says. "They are uniformly bright, motivated, committed to success, and mature."