Nursing Future?

Good Morning, Gil · Dec 1, 2011

PA school would probably be a better fit with your background unless you had a change of heart, and decided you want to do direct patient care (as the other posters have mentioned). There's also other positions in the medical field that aren't as obvious. I remember when I was in nursing school observing an open heart surgery, one of the guy's jobs was just to completely manage the bypass machine, required a 4 year degree, too. Not saying you want to do that, just that there may be other options for you that are outside the box that may utilize the knowledge you have gained.

yuzzamatuzz · Dec 2, 2011

This is what gets to me. I see SO many posts re students/young people who want to do nursing and 'can't wait to get into medicine!' Nursing IS NOT medicine. You have to realise that, as you will probly be disappointed and hate it. It is very different from being a doctor or ultimately, a surgeon.
Can't you study all your material again and sit your exam again? I reckon you're selling yourself short by becoming a nurse if you can become a doctor, and that is NOT a slur on some of the fantastic nurses I've worked with. I think you will have more opportunities as a doctor.
What else can u use your BS for in the meantime? I'd contact your university & have a talk with the career counsellor or your old lecturer there maybe.
I also think young people should not go into nursing, as they aren't prepared to deal with the life & death of it all - you see some horrid sights I think - and they aren't mature enough to handle other people's problems. I'd encourage you to do something else if ur still young. You can always switch to nursing later. But just remember it is not medicine.
Good luck, & let us know how u get on.

I respect your opinion and see where you are coming from, but as a very young nurse I disagree with you that young nurses are too immature to handle the things we see in nursing. I decided to go to nursing school when I was 17 years old and couldn't wait to go into nursing, not medicine. Having turned 22 in the past 6 months, I am by far the youngest nurse on my floor. I have a very sick, chronically ill pediatric patient population, and have witnessed death and devastation on my floor. I have handled this and everything that comes with it very well in my opinion. In contrast, I actually think I have the energy to deal with all my patient's problems and some of the horrible things that people have to go through. Just the other day, one of the parents of my most devastatingly sick patients told me she will never forget me for how much I cared about her son. Do I think my peers who are not in nursing understand what I see on my floor when I talk to them about it? Absolutely not. But neither does my 51 year old mother and she's certainly not immature. I think you have to be mature to go into nursing, but you also have to be a certain type of person to handle everything we see and I've met some pretty great young nurses who handle the life and death of it all with grace and dignity.