A bit discouraged

I'm with you. I have what is on most days a cool job although I'm about to the point where I'm tired of doing it. I like change in the work place A LOT.

That said, I have a B.S. as well, and there's not much that I can do with my degree. I even taught h.s. biology for a while although I took no education courses in college and literally sat through a seminar to get a teaching license. The jobs I've had were jobs with which a degree of some sort was only a requirement or where I got paid more as a result of having it. Along with my B.S. I just happen to have all of the prereqs for nurse school, but I lack organic chemistry usually required by PA school and always required by med school. I also lack physics. How I got out of that is interesting.

Frankly, I don't want to take those classes, and I'm really skeptical about amassing the debt of med school and spending four years studying. Although that area is interesting to me intellectually I feel like I'd eventually get tired of reading about it. I'm also very much afraid that President Yomama will take away any perks associated with being a physician.

At any rate, I'm once again considering nursing school having previously (just this year) ruled it out entirely. Like you, I ultimately want to do other things with it. I used to work some as a paramedic and have for several years thought about transitioning from EMT-P to RN via an abbreviated course, however, I let the paramedic certification lapse while keeping the basic EMT cert. I have no intentions of working on an ambulance again, and I don't have time to keep current so I let it slip by the wayside. I was in paramedic school at a community college near where I got my B.S. degree. Neither institution knew that I was enrolled in the other. I took 36 credit hours one semester (fall 2001). Paramedic school did give me a significant interest in working as a CRNA.

I think becoming a PA would be more difficult than becoming an MD/DO in many respects. There are less schools, there is an increased demand for PAs, and I keep seeing the profession listed as "hot" which is going to attract more people to it making more competition for getting in. Additionally, a lot of qualified premeds don't want to subject themselves to the misery of medical school and residency. Also, PAs aren't that common in my state, and I don't want to move for long.

Despite all of the above, the biggest hold up I have about becoming an RN is my personality. I am not by any means a nurturer and am fairly aggressive in the workplace. I'm also a bit anal-retentive. I have no problems with taking physician orders and administering meds and performing other nursing duties albeit wiping butts isn't all that wonderful of an idea to me. Anyway, when I see compassion, and care, and caring, and other such words it makes me think "oh please!" Now, it's not that I'm a giant a-hole or anything because I'm not, and I never had any problem being compassionate with my patients as a paramedic. That's a facade though. When I was a teacher, for example, I'd hear sob stories and just reply with typical "life's tough, get over it, or similar phrases." I know nurses "don't do medical stuff" but seriously that's what I'm interested in. The reason I'm drawn to healthcare is because you have people (physiology) who are sometimes interesting to talk to, disease (microbiology and such), how the disease screws them up (pathophysiology / pathology), and then everything that goes along with that. Being involved with and learning about that is interesting. In short, I'm interested in health and not hospitality.

By the time I did nursing school and got a few years of nursing experience in critical care I don't think I would want to go back to being a full-time student which is what CRNA school would entail. Becoming an FNP would be somewhat more student-friendly, and I'd like to take those advanced courses. Whether I'd work as one is another issue. As I sit here typing this "administration" is the avenue that would ultimately be more appealing to me. I'm a law enforcement officer and have been fortunate enough to "promote" into an administrative position. I like directing law enforcement, budgets, reports, personnel, being a supervisor, application of law and procedure, and all of that. It appeals to my meticulous nature. Even if I quit this I'd like to remain a reserve officer somewhere.

So in summation, I have no clue what to do here, and this reply will in no manner be of any assistance to the OP.