Torn between Nursing and Medicine

[Loux]

Hello! I've posted here multiple times about dilemma I pose: my love for both nursing and medicine. I am currently a pre-nursing student, but I'm a bit hazy about my potential future as a nurse. I love the nursing model; I want to care for a patient, not just treat their disease. Sadly, I love the medical model as well and I'm torn between the two. I've considered mid-level care, but I'm unsure of what I would be content with. For a time, I was highly considering DNP or CRNA, but cynics have stated I could finish med school in the same amount of time.

If you haven't read my previous posts, I will give a summary of myself and the path I plan on taking. I just turned 17, but I've been in college since I was 16. I'm in my second semester of getting my pre-reqs for a BSN program and I have two more semesters left before I plan on applying for direct entry to aforementioned program. The program will take two years to complete, leaving me with summers sans schooling. I was contemplating taking the courses needed for medical school during the summer semesters "just in case". If all goes as planned, I will graduate with my BSN in 2014. As stated in my other posts, I have two specialties of choice: emergency medicine and global health. If I were to go the MD route, I would definitely be interested in trauma surgery (mainly why I was considering MD over NP).

I know that medical schools generally frown upon nursing degrees, but if I have a great GPA, high MCAT scores and the required courses, is there any reason I wouldn't be considered? I've been told that I shouldn't take up a spot in nursing school if I'm even considering medicine, but for the time being, nursing is what I want to do.

I guess my main questions are: Has anyone here considered medicine instead of nursing (or vice versa)? If so, what was the outcome? Do medical schools really oppose nursing degrees as much as it seems? For the DNPs or CRNAs...how do you feel about your job? Would you change anything about your choice of career?

Thanks so much!

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

So, OP...what is your decision?

[CCL RN, RN]

CCL RN, I'm wondering what you are currently and/or plan on doing if you are frustrated at the bedside and do not wish to go further in nursing? Incidentally, I agree with you, or, I face the same reservation about the NP route, that it wouldn't really provide a strong enough science background to provide a good base for advanced practice. But at the same time, it's certainly the easiest route to advanced practice, and provided you could learn on your own, the job description of an NP is nice/not that functionally different from a Dr.

That said, I like the training of PAs better. Dunno. just wondering what you (or others in a similar position) are thinking...

Sigh...I dunno. I really don't know. I've been thinking PA as well. Maybe MPH. Just not NP...

[metal_m0nk, BSN, RN]

It's obvious how important this kind of information is when it comes to being a good nurse. /sarcasm

I think the majority of people will agree that on the job experience prepares people more for the real thing than any academic program could. Sure, you need the tools, but unless you use them you're not going to build a house magically.

Might come in useful in a convo with a Doc...

[CCL RN, RN]

Might come in useful in a convo with a Doc...

Or how we are perceived to them. If we can't even hold a conversation with them about basic disease processes, I'm sure they Might think we aren't that smart.

[RNbrent]

Nurses are not God. Obviously, you don't acknowledge our true God, or you wouldn't have said that.

Sorry, I didn't realize this was a christian site. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'our true God'. I'm a monk, are you telling me my God isn't true, because that's certainly the impression that was just made.

Without getting in an argument, I just wanted to point this out. If a person holds any judgements about another person/ patient, similar in the way a judgement was just made about my God, it's going to hinder your progress to becoming a good nurse. Regardless of what I believe and what you believe in, one should always treat people with the same amount of respect.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Dudes, let's not start a religious debate when the OP is asking us to help her decide between medicine and nursing.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

This is what should have been said from the start. Instead we have people arguing which field is a 'better' field. I didn't mean to offend anybody with my comments. My point I was trying to make is, people feel that M.Ds are a much better place to be in than R.Ns, when it comes down to it, it's where you want to be and not much else. These comments that keep saying "go for doctor" imply (to me anyways) that M.D. is a much better place to be, and to be honest it is to each its own. If you are in it for the money, then sure, go for an M.D. (although I know many nurses who make more than family doctors) but, one can never understand how rewarding the field of nursing is until you've actually been able to experience it first handedly.

DNS, sorry if it seemed like I was attacking you, because I truly see your point, I just felt it was too general.

Nah, I think the argument has taken a toward more in the direction of how to improve the nursing field rather than which field is better.

Like another poster so astutely put it, I now work to live - I no longer live to work. I wasted ten years of my life living to work, and I'm done with that now.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

Sorry, I didn't realize this was a christian site. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'our true God'. I'm a monk, are you telling me my God isn't true, because that's certainly the impression that was just made.

Without getting in an argument, I just wanted to point this out. If a person holds any judgements about another person/ patient, similar in the way a judgement was just made about my God, it's going to hinder your progress to becoming a good nurse. Regardless of what I believe and what you believe in, one should always treat people with the same amount of respect.

As a monk I find it surprising you have never heard the phrase" our one true God."

I didn't know though that they had internet in the monestaries.

No religious debate here...just saying.

[RNbrent]

Anyone that works to live needs to re-adjust their lifestyles. There is a law in economics called the propensity to consume, the more you make the more you spend. If you re-adjust your lifestyle you can live on any amount of money per year. You may not have all the things you want, but you will be able to live. Whether you're happy or not is based on you as a person. I've lived with rich parents, both M.D.s and had everything paid for all the way through high school. When 18 came around I decided to move out and do things my own way. Consequently, I got an apartment with a friend, got a job as a pharmacy tech, and was paying for my own rent and apartment. I wanted no help from my family (although they did offer plenty of times!). In the end, I realized, it wasn't the money that made me happy at all, it was the experience I was getting. It was my new lifestyle pretty much. It was a different lifestyle, but it was new and exciting, and I loved it! Sure, I had my down times, but I NEVER regretted making that decision to move out at the age of 18. To the poster that claimed, she was 'working to live' - sorry, but YOU made that decision based on the lifestyle you chose. That's just how life is. Every choice you make reflects upon you in some way.

OP, you asked whether you should go for nursing or for M.D. What does your heart tell you? Why do you even want to go medical in the first place? If it's money you want, biomedical engineering is a lucrative field. If it's power you want, politicians have that. What is it YOU want? I think I remember you mentioning that you're younger. It's good that you have such gusto. It's smart to know what path you want to go down while you're young, but being young, you're prone to change your mind many times. I thought pharmacy was what I wanted to do for so long, and went down that path at first. I later found out that (working in a retail setting) they didn't use their knowledge they acquired in school. It was all computerized. It's was a little bit different in a hospital setting, but still, not the best choice for me.

After 3 or 4 times of changing my mind, I finally landed on nursing. Why? Because I love people. I love science. I love motivating others. I love continuing my education. There were many other things, but these were just some off the top of my head. OP, ultimately, you have to decided. Let me tell you though, medical school is no easy feat. It takes more than brains to go that route. It takes an overwhelmingly large amount of discipline. Go after it if you have passion for it!

Sorry for getting off track with my other posts.

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

Sorry for getting off track with my other posts.

I was just about to jump in and say please no religious debates so thank you for getting the thread back on track.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Yeah that XB9S.

Seriously these last few posts would seriously creep me out if I wasn't laughing so hard at them.

[PatMac10,RN, RN]

Well how about those Packers!