can you bridge from RN to MD?

Nurses General Nursing

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Maybe that's a dumb question, but I was talking with my NP about her experience with NP school and she says she wished she'd just gotten her MD instead. Is there a way to do that as an RN without starting from scratch?

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To go to medical school, you have to have completed at least 90 credit hours as an undergraduate (though it is uncommon for anyone who is not on graduation-track to be admitted), in addition to having completed the prerequisite coursework (which typically involves 2 semesters of general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology, in addition to several others).

If you are a BSN who has completed the required undergraduate courses, you can apply.

No credit towards an MD/DO is given for PA, RN, NP, or any other coursework.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I have an ADN, so first I'd have to get a bachelor's and complete all the premed courses before I could apply. I figure by the time I finished med school and my residency and would be ready to practice, I'd be in my early fifties with a mountain of debt. I've calculated it would take me the next ten years from start to finish. I've decided to complete my bachelor's before making any big decisions, but at this point I'm leaning toward just being the best nurse I can be, and see where nursing can take me. If they begin to require a doctorate to be an NP, I won't be going there.

If being a doctor is what you want, I say go for it while you can.

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TiredMD is correct. Minimum requirements include a baccalaureate degree and those prerequisites. And dont forget the MCAT which is the most difficult and longest standardized test in the nation. Having an RN under your belt will definetly give you an advantage over other applicants!

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I know two physicians who were former nurses. One was a diploma RN who got her BS in Biology and the other was an LPN. I know she never became an RN, so she too does not have a BSN, though I am not sure of the undergrad degree which she did attain. It does take a long time to become a physician. I think being a nurse would help you to relate to pt's, but I think we have very different education and prospectives. Good luck in whatever you decide. BTW, Dr. Nurse is an NP, not a physician. I did a clinical rotation w/ an awesome Dr. Nurse who grduated from Columbia U. One brilliant lady!

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Thanks for the info. I'm not really interested in that path, it seems so different from nursing and nursing (I'm halfway through LPN school) seems like a perfect fit for me so far. I am going staight into a ADN program in Aug. so it would be a crazy amount of time to tack on the pre-req's and med school. Plus, I barely got through Chem I. I do think someday I'll go for my NP, but right now I'm just focused on finishing nursing school and getting my son and I to a stable place. Thanks for the info, it's good to know!

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My daughter is in medical school, she has several classmates who were nurses. Most had to complete a post BAC program since a BSN doesn't have all the required pre med courses. Medical school is very difficult to get into.

Doctorate in nursing does not equal MD.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Maybe that's a dumb question, but I was talking with my NP about her experience with NP school and she says she wished she'd just gotten her MD instead. Is there a way to do that as an RN without starting from scratch?

Nope. The depth of the scientific knowledge you learn in the first two years in medical school is so overwhelming there is no way to easily skip it. Your RN will pay off come the third year when you are already familiar with how "the system" works, how to interact with patients, and the several overlapping physical skills.

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hi,

i assume you are an md? very appropriate nick name "tired"..i am an rn and currently in the fnp track at thomas jefferson university and have to admit that i absolutely hate it. my ex - husband is a forth year pathology resident, during the three years that we were together i was able to see a dramatic difference between his education and mine. ironically i am four courses from being done, and believe it or not i do not want to do it. to many people have no idea what or who an np is, what is their field of expertise, and so on and so forth...the school is not as great as it probably sounds as well (besides the name), i am sick of all the politics. for the amount of work that i put into this all i get is that i am a nurse with advanced education.. i am mad that i listened to my mother at one point, since she is an np and followed her footsteps, since from the get go i wanted to go to medical school and she told be that for a woman it is a bad path, very stressful. i agree that it is not easy, i had a chance to live with an md and that is one crazy life, but at least i would be doing what i really want to. right now my position is well defined and i really am not looking forward to be done and not be able to feel like a practitioner, but rather something that is neither a piece of meet nor a fish. when i was a little girl my dream was to become a doctor and have my own practice one day. i cannot do this as an np, i have to be working "with" or "under" another md however you want to call it. i guess all those are just thoughts out loud...i wasted so much time and i regret my decision to become an np...maybe because it was never my decision, i was just following somebody else's dreams not mine...sorry, didn't mean to bore you with my story. maybe you have some sort of advice for me? is there a way to change something at this point and apply to medical school and how long it would take me to become a doctor approximately? what about you, if you don't mind me asking, where do you practice and how you like the lifestyle?

iryna

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When I was a little girl my dream was to become a doctor and have my own practice one day. I cannot do this as an NP, I have to be working “with” or “under” another MD however you want to call it.

That is not necessarily true -- there are states where NPs practice entirely independently of physicians. If that's what you want (as an NP), you just need to seek out the states where that is legally possible.

However, if, in your heart, you really want to be an MD, you're right that you'll probably never be happy as an NP. If that's what you really want, you are as welcome as anyone else to apply to med school. You will not get any special consideration or short cuts as an RN (even as an NP). Plenty of people do it later in life, though. My father was an RN who went to medical school in his mid-30s (before I was born), and had a long, satisfying career as a physician.

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I have been trying to find some body on here who know about thomas Jefferson FNP program. I am applying for this program and would like some insight on how the program really is so if you wouldnt mind please let me know how the program was structured. Please reply soon I am sending my application in this week.:nurse:

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