(Revised) advice!!

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 3, 2016

Looking at your very similar, almost identical previous post on this topic, I think the first response there sums it up.

Going from NP to MD is spending a lot of money and a lot of time in school. If MD is your ultimate goal, go straight there.

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 11, 2016

most of my responses to these will be purely theoretical/anectdotal. Theres a lot of fact-finding you can do yourself online to get more succinct and accurate information, i'm just gonna go off the cuff here as objectively as i can.

1. What is the underlining difference between an Emergency Physician and Emergency NP? (include lifestyle if you could)

to me, this will depend on your facility. I'd imagine NPs are pulling close to, if not, the same amount of long hours that a physician does. i hear nps tend to have an obnoxious amount of paperwork to do. accounts that ive read about nurses that thought their dream would be to become an NP so that they dont have to suffer from back-breaking bedside nursing say the load is replaced with a horrendous amount of paperwork. The scope of practice would be broader for emergency physicians. More complex/specialized cases would likely be handled by the physician where your scope as a nurse practitioner ends, although i believe this would mostly apply to some type of trauma physician; the general basics could still be handled by an NP

2. Do you recommend that i go from NP to MD? If so can anybody give me the pros and con taking this route

this depends on you. for the NP route you can work every step of the way until you reach your goal, and even if you don't, your debt won't be nearly as high as it would as an MD. Graduate school is competitive for NPs but med school will be equally, if not, more competitive. Med school will be several year longer that NP, and without any real medical experience, to get in, youll be competing with many, MANY candidates that are identical to you on paper, so youll really need to find a way to stand out. Finding graduate schools to become an NP allows for a bit more wiggle room and flexibility as to what type of program youll get yourself into. Med schools are pretty standard as far as admission, course work, and length. Personally, the biggest con to med school for me has always been length of schooling, and debt.

3.What are some of the rewarding factors being a EP vs NP

both provide a high level care essential to the community in different respects. Personally, the biggest upside to EP over NP is simply being able to say "i'm a doctor". people get that, and when they hear it, are usually instantly impressed. Not a lot of people understand what an NP entails, and often find them "almost doctors" or "wanna-be's that couldn't cut med school". Either way, both an NP and EP should be regarded as an end-goal, so the "rewarding factor" should be that you've made it and you became what you wanted to be.

4. As a NP will you always deal with MDs letting you know you are inferior to them?

depends on who you work with. some MDs will see you as colleagues, others will see you as a less-trained, incapable inferior. This doesn't really matter with titles, its a personal ego thing. I hear surgeons most traditionally have a God-complex though:roflmao:

6. As you read my testimony, what do you THINK i should do?

follow your heart and other cliches.

don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't become a nurse because you don't want to stay one. the fact that you would rather provide a higher-level of care over being a bedside nurse is nothing to be ashamed of. its a lot of sentiments newer nurses and young nurses share, and its one that bedside veterans tend to resent for one reason or another. and if its about the money, oh well. just know that its going to be soul crushing to go into work only wanting a paycheck and not really caring for the work. but as long as you do your job and do it well, it doesn't matter why you do it. go with your gut, and be who you want to be.

ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2016

Nurses and NPs need to pass and have a strong foundation in Chemistry to be safe practitioners.

If you can not pass Chemistry you will not get in a Nursing program other than LPN or LVN.

I_Nurse · Jan 12, 2016

Hello there.

I am an emergency room nurse in Canada. We have some NP's working alongside the physicians. I am not aware of how all roles work, but for ours it works as follows;

We have an area within the emergency called "See and Treat" this area focuses on dealing with patients that are stable, but do have some minor ailments. SNT deals with minor fractures, sore throats, ear aches... typically all the sicknesses that people have that do not fit a true emergency. This area is staffed by two NP's and one MD. The NP's work full time hours from 830-2300 (overlapping between the two shifts) and the MD works within those hours also. The MD also works in the Emergency on other days.

The role of the NP is respected by the MD, and the NP does have complete autonomy. The NP's and MD's do consult each other and work as a team. As for the "letting them know they are inferior" business, it wouldn't be any different than how an RN has more education than an RPN or an NP than an RN. It's not necessarily the role the person has, but the person that is filling that role. Some people can hold that stuff above you, others are gracious and treat people below them with dignity and respect. It is about how competent you are, if your practice is respectable, you will be respected.