What's the perfect age to retire as a nurse?

[Miranda Belcher]

I know I hope to retire as soon as possible - but so many of my nursing colleagues work well into the "retirement" years. What are your thoughts? What's the perfect age to retire as a nurse?

[Laila Ighani]

I really think it depends on each person. If you still love the work you do and feel energized and fulfilled by it, don’t stop! But if you’re feeling burned out, then don’t sacrifice your own health to care for others. 

[Karin Zonneveld]

I found this article about the ideal retirement age for nurses.

[Miranda Belcher]

On 8/28/2024 at 8:05 AM, Laila Ighani said:

I really think it depends on each person. If you still love the work you do and feel energized and fulfilled by it, don’t stop! But if you’re feeling burned out, then don’t sacrifice your own health to care for others. 

I love this - with the ongoing shortage I appreciate all the older nurses I work with. To this day some of the best parenting hacks and raising kids advice I ever received were from old-school pediatric nurses who learned all the tricks in the books over the years on caring for sick littles ones, not waking a sleeping baby, etc. They could go in and take vital signs without even causing a peep! I have a lot of respect for the older nurses - but its a personal decision and safety needs to be considered in some cases.