Anyone thinking about med-school?

[nurseabc123]

.....

[BA2BSN]

No. If I wanted to be a doctor I would have been one.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

Thought about it, but concluded that nursing would be more rewarding to me (bedside) not interesting in pursuing anything else not even management. Thinks and ideas may change down the road of course, but for now all I want to pursue is nursing in the bedside

[Someday-C.R.N.A.]

There's a very similar thread going on that may provide some answers to your query.

Med school thread

I say do what you think will make you happiest in the long run. That's something you'll ultimattely have to decide for yourself.

Don't worry too much about "getting behind" - You are young. A year or two one way or the other will amount to very little in the long run.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!! :)

[Maggie in NC]

I haven't thought about med school but I have thought about P.A. school. Just seems as rewarding with better hours than an N.P. Any thoughts regarding my perception are welcome!

[sgent]

I haven't thought about med school but I have thought about P.A. school. Just seems as rewarding with better hours than an N.P. Any thoughts regarding my perception are welcome!

From a purely technical viewpoint, I would rather be a NP than a PA for a variety of reasons -- the biggest one being that the nursing board oversees NP's, and the Board of Medicine oversee's PA's. If the doctor's don't like what the PA's are doing, they can change it very easily.

As for hours, I know NP's that work 7-9am M-F and make 25k a year, I know those who work in an outpatient clinic 8-5 M-F, and I know those who work 3rd shift in the hospital. NP's have a lot of options.

[TLC RN]

Like Someday-C.R.N.A. said, you are young. So don't worry about the length of time. Doing what you want and what makes you happy is most important. So take the time to really figure that out.

I think your plan to take all the prereqs for med school while doing your nursing degree is a good idea. Working as a nurse you can see up close what nurses and doctors really do. Once you see what each career entails, you can make a choice.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I haven't thought about med school but I have thought about P.A. school. Just seems as rewarding with better hours than an N.P. Any thoughts regarding my perception are welcome!

Maggie I'm curious about your take on this ... the NPs and PAs I've seen have really had interchangeable roles as physician-extenders, both in private physician-affiliated practices and in the hospital setting. Either way, there's no difference in hours. Maybe you've seen something different?

[grentea]

My roommates who are in med school sometimes lament that they wish they were in nursing school. I on the other hand often wish I had just gone to med school and settled for being a doctor. :) I'm doing an accelerated degree program right now and in the past, I had thought about med school but I found nursing and I love it. I'm happy too because all of the reasons I wanted to be a doctor were really the reasons why I wanted to be a nurse. I'll be able to spend more time with patients and I can be an advocate for them. I can work in whatever field I want and go anywhere. I suppose being a doctor is never really out of the picture but I think I'll be a rather happy nurse. One of my roommates graduated with a BSN and is now in med school. She is going to be one awesome doctor!

[goodknight]

I thought about it for a few months before choosing nursing. I made my mind up when I realized that MDs treat diseases, nurses treat people, and NPs treat both.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yes, I've thought about it. A lot recently, in fact.

[nurseabc123]

Yes, I've thought about it. A lot recently, in fact.

Why a lot recently?