Why have you decided to become a NP and not a Doctor?

Specialties NP

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Just what the title says.

NPs don't go to medical school because they can't hack the prerequisites classes for medical school.

... considering how competitive nursing school is getting, no.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
... considering how competitive nursing school is getting, no.

Sadly I wish this was still true. If someone has the money to pay tuition they are guaranteed a spot in a NP program somewhere. :(

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... considering how competitive nursing school is getting, no.

Online nursing school.

The biggest joke of them all. The main reason why prescriptive privileges from all NPs need to be immediately suspended until this gets sorted out. The floor has fallen out of any level of respect NP can expect. They allowed in a mold which is corrupting and casting aspersions on their entire education and training.

Meanwhile, PAs are adding months and years of actual education where they spend time in cadaver lab and in their fourth semester of pathophysiology. Contrast this to yet another "nursing leadership" class.

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Online nursing school.

The biggest joke of them all. The main reason why prescriptive privileges from all NPs need to be immediately suspended until this gets sorted out. The floor has fallen out of any level of respect NP can expect. They allowed in a mold which is corrupting and casting aspersions on their entire education and training.

Meanwhile, PAs are adding months and years of actual education where they spend time in cadaver lab and in their fourth semester of pathophysiology. Contrast this to yet another "nursing leadership" class.

Online schools have watered down the profession and yes there are way too many "caring" and "feeling" topics and not enough hard core science. However, many NPs I work with were nurses for years and studied to make up those deficits. Granted those are all B&M trained and I cannot speak for most of the online graduates.

As far as PAs go - not meaning to bash - I have met a total of 2 I thought were great and at least 60 that ranged to average to scary dangerous. They are great at procedures but they seem to miss the boat of decision making and following best practice guidelines. Maybe that is just the military PAs - maybe the civilian ones are not as bad.

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Rock,

I'm not even talking about NP programs, I'm talking ADN and BSN programs to even get the RN license in the first place.

As to online programs... just because it's online doesn't make it inferior. It's just tailored to the fact that NP students are already legally allowed with patients, something MD and PA students don't have an advantage on them in. While there are, I'm sure, some shady programs or there taking advantage, being online doesn't stop them from having to have clinical hours or having to pass their licensing exam.

Finally NPs are not MDs. The training is different. Different doesn't mean less, or inferior. I live in an independent practice state and NPs are a viral part of keeping our healthcare system stable and affordable here.

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Online nursing school.

The biggest joke of them all. The main reason why prescriptive privileges from all NPs need to be immediately suspended until this gets sorted out. The floor has fallen out of any level of respect NP can expect. They allowed in a mold which is corrupting and casting aspersions on their entire education and training.

Meanwhile, PAs are adding months and years of actual education where they spend time in cadaver lab and in their fourth semester of pathophysiology. Contrast this to yet another "nursing leadership" class.

I'm also not a fan of online NP school, but be aware that this isn't exclusive to nursing. You can find an online program for almost any degree and there are actually a number of online PA programs (source at the bottom).

I know many of my former classmates, colleagues and I believe that online nursing school poorly prepares students. However this is based on anectodal evidence. I would love to see some actual research into how graduates from B&M schools compare to those from online programs. Have any of you found any? I'm seriously asking

The Best Online Physician Assistant Master's Programs of 2

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Specializes in acute care.
NPs don't go to medical school because they can't hack the prerequisites classes for medical school.

That is a gross overgeneralization...there may be a few for whom that is the case, but I don't think it is the majority. Frankly, your comment is insulting and uncalled for and I can't believe I am dignifying it with a response!

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If you read that poster's prior threads/posts you'll see many similar comments. She (or he) is a former RN who became a PA (although this varies depending on which post you look at - her story changes a lot). She has something against NPs, not sure why because all the PAs I know respect NPs and vice versa. There is clearly more to the story. But if we talk about it too much she will report us, as that's what she did on another thread where she reported 15 posters for talking about her posting history.

As for the actual content of the post you quoted, I agree with you that it is a gross overgeneralization. You could say that about anyone in the health field who is not a doctor and it would be true for *some*. However, many of my former NP classmates did very well in pre-med studies, some even took the MCAT and were quite successful with it. But they, like me, did not see the rationality of going to medical school to become a primary care doctor. Sure, they make more money but they also have nearly twice as much debt and a much more difficult lifestyle, especially early on.

That is a gross overgeneralization...there may be a few for whom that is the case but I don't think it is the majority. Frankly, your comment is insulting and uncalled for and I can't believe I am dignifying it with a response![/quote']
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Specializes in Aesthetics, Med/Surg, Outpatient.

1. Residency

2. DEBT

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
But they, like me, did not see the rationality of going to medical school to become a primary care doctor. Sure, they make more money but they also have nearly twice as much debt and a much more difficult lifestyle, especially early on.

.

That is how I feel. In the back of my mind I still think I might explore this after my kids finish college.

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Actually, I found out yesterday that the physician boards may not be quite as difficult to pass as I previously thought. I took a full length USMLE step 1 practice test that has a 0.9 correlation in regards to predicted score and scraped by by a couple points. Mind you thats not impressive by any means (made like 12%tile) but it is passing. Probably 20% of what I got right was from what ive taken in med school so far, the other 60% from nurse practitioner school or work, with the rest being stuff Ive read on my own. Mind you if I scored that on the real thing I probably wouldnt have much of a shot at anything besides family medicine in BFE. But it was still a few magnitudes more difficult than the AANP exam.

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I was actually in the middle of applying to medical schools (had a good gpa in a hard science, got a competitive mcat score, extracurriculars) when I ended up getting really sick - emergency surgeries, etc - had to put that on hold. When I was able to revisit the topic, I made the decision to get my BSN while getting a handle on my health, and if I wanted to go to medical/PA/NP/CRNA school I could do that in a couple years. I eventually decided to go the ACNP route because I think that will be most fulfilling for me personally. But, I'm also going out of my way to make my NP program more medically oriented. Every person needs to examine their own goals and the dynamics in their lives and go from there. It's not a competition, although it all to frequently feels that way.

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