I was discussing retirement with a colleague the other day and she mentioned the expected age of retirement for my generation is 67. I became a nurse at age 20 so I will have been a nurse 47 years if I retire at age 67. In fact, after 25 years as a nurse I am only a little over halfway there.

This is very discouraging. If I had been a military or school nurse I would be eligible for full retirement now. A patient actually said to me, “Don’t worry. The next 22 years will go by quickly.”

The physical toll alone is daunting. How many people (and backs) can withstand the rigors of 47 years of nursing? One out of 10 serious work-related back injuries involves nursing personnel, and about 12 percent of nurses leave the profession because of back injuries. “No lift” policies have been adopted in other nations such as the United Kingdom and Australia but have yet to be accepted in the US.

In addition to this danger, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of all nonfatal injuries resulting from workplace assaults occur in health care and social service settings.

An average of 429,100 nurses per year reported that they were victims of violent crimes in the workplace. 25 injuries annually result in missed work days for every 10,000 full-time nursing personnel, 12 times the rate of the overall private sector. Fifty percent of nurses surveyed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and the University of Massachusetts said they had been punched at least once in a two-year period. Some reported being strangled, sexually assaulted or stuck with contaminated needles. In a 2006 survey by the Emergency Nurses Association, 86 percent of respondents said they had experienced violence in the previous three years, and a fifth said they encountered it frequently. A 2004 survey of 6,300 randomly selected nurses in Minnesota, found 13 percent of respondents reported having been physically attacked during the previous year and 39 percent reported having been threatened, verbally abused or sexually harassed. Patients committed almost all of the physical assaults and two-thirds of the verbal ones, with visitors as well as physicians and other staff members responsible for the rest.

I realize I have not been pacing myself well for the LONG haul. As a result I have been more cautious at work regarding personal and back safety. I obtained my BSN after twenty years of nursing; after twenty five years I have decided to pursue my MSN. I would encourage those entering the profession to seriously consider military or school nursing.

Perhaps I should consider opening a “nursing” home to care for nurses such as me who retire after 47 years of service.