Nurse or Doctor *Please Help*

Never had any desire to be an MD. It was always nursing for me.

And keep in mind, "doctor" is not a single thing. There's a big difference between being, say, a podiatrist and a trauma surgeon. One's got office hours, one's on call. There's also a wide swing in the amount of money different specialties make -- back when I was a nerd and actually made money, I was making the same amount of money as a pediatrician my sister went to medical school with. A good gastroenterologist can easily make 3 times that.

The colleges I've gone to always had access to testing that helped you figure out your strengths and weaknesses. I'd suggest she make use of them, it might help her narrow down her choices; it might not be that she likes medicine/nursing, but maybe she'd actually be more suited for research, or maybe she'd be best in trauma, or maybe she'd need to stay out of trauma. Make use of what's available to help her decide.

If you want to go to medical school, why even go through nursing school? We do not need tourists and the slot you have taken could potentially be filled by somebody who wants to stay in the profession.

I disagree. Just because someone doesn't want to be a nurse forever doesn't mean they have no business being in nursing school. Some of the best doctors I know were actually nurses for a few years first. I think it made them better doctors because they were able to see that side of patient care.

People do things like that all the time. A friend of mine is going to school for her social work masters....and has no intention of becoming a social worker. She is doing her masters in social work to help her get accepted to a doctorate in psychology program.

The only thing that I would urge the OP to consider carefully about going to nursing school if you intend on going ot medical school, is to understand that nursing school is not easy. It is not something that is going to be a joy ride to get through, particularily if you are viewing it as a "backup." Nursing school is a big commitment, and the motivation it takes to get through school may or may not be enough if the motivating factor is "a stepping stone" to something else.

I would NOT advise taking premed requirements the SAME TIME AS NURSING SCHOOL. Nursing school is hard work. If doing a BSN, then the degree has built in space for elective credits, in which case the OP could take premed requirements. Otherwise, planning to do your premed requirements side by side of nursing school is, in my opinion, foolish and shows that you are either underestimating the difficulty of nursing school or overestimating your own abilities.

Good luck.

I am a former nurse turned doctor and just finished my first year of residency. I realized during my nursing career that I was frustrated by not fully understanding the pathophysiology and treatments for my patient's diseases. I think at first, I thought i knew a lot as a nurse, but it became clear that I didn't know as much as I wanted. I think one of the previous posters articulated this really nicely when they said that nurses focus on taking care of the patient, whereas doctors focus on the medicine/science. (Not to suggest that I don't enjoy spending time with my patients!) I also like making decisions about what tests to order, medicines to give, what the diagnosis is, etc.

I think that deciding to go to medical school was the right decision for me, but there have definitely been some sacrifices. I'm over $200k in debt and am currently making less money than I did as an RN. As an med student and intern, you get dumped on a lot by the more senior residents, the attendings, and nursing, which gets extremely frustrating, especially when you are working 80+ hours per week (my program is notoriously non-compliant with resident work hours). You give up a lot of your free time, since you're spending every third to fourth night in the hospital during residency and in some cases, fellowship. Then you finally become an attending, which pays better than residency and generally better than nursing, although many advanced practice nurses make more money than MD's. But, you've got to re-pay that $200k, which is now more like $250k because 3 years of interest have accumulated....and will continue to accumlate until you finish paying it back, which is well over a decade for many MD's. As a junior attending, you're taking the overnight calls, the weekends, the holidays, the less interesting patients and procedures, etc. And, as the doctor, you're ultamitely the responsible party for the patient's well being.

There are also some things I miss about nursing. I miss having only a few patients each day, rather than 25, so I can spend more time with them. I miss the flexibility....I was able to work in the ER as well as on the floor during my nursing career, but at this point am sort of stuck in a relatively narrow area of medicine. I miss working 3 days a week and going home and being done.

In the end, I think going to medical school was the right decision. I think I'm a way better doctor than I ever was a nurse. But, I think I underestimated how difficult medical school and residency would be, so I would advise you to really consider how much time, money, and energy you're willing to sacrifice.