Aspiring Nurses: Why not Med School??

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Many of the courses required for Nursing Schools and Medical Schools are the same, as many of you are aware. What made you choose the Nursing route over the MD? They are both challenging and require lots of commitment, but MD gets more prestige. So why Nursing? Enlighten me! :idea:

As a recent graduate from a MSN program to be a nurse practitioner

Congratulations!

:yeah: :cheers: :yeah::w00t:

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While I agree with most of your points here, keep in mind that pre-med students can actually declare any major. Just off the top of my head, I know physicians who majored in English, music, psychology, nursing and French. At one time I was a pre-med student with a biomedical engineering major.

Biology and chemistry are popular choices for pre-med students (largely due to the fact that the med school prereqs are built in) - but they are not the only choices by any means.

I think the intent of Barbiegirlnurse's comment was that they weren't pre-med majors, in contrast to nurses who do major in nursing.

Wow, biomedical engineering huh? That actually sounds like it must have been fascinating :)

Peace,

Cathie

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Specializes in Cardiac.
Cardiac,

I never said I would start a controversial topic and bail!??

.

No, that was my point. A normal person wouldn't start such a thread and then bail. I wasn't meaning you personally. My apologies that it came across that way.

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To be honest with you most of the courses for nursing school are NOT the same as for med school. I know quite a few nurses who have gone to med school and have had to take many additional core courses

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

Because I was too chicken to take the MCAT after completing my Biology degree & the 2 nursing courses I used to complete that degree came so easy that I only had to show up for those classes to take the tests (Pharmacology & Patho). Also, I started to think about how old (and further in debt) I would be and decided to apply to my university's nursing program. My original intent was to work as a nurse to pay for medical school. Now, I just think that I might go the PA or NP route. The math and the years just don't add up to see MD after my name. If I was able to start my education at a younger age, I probably would have gone the medicine route. Nursing does have its rewards and I would not trade some of the positive patient experiences I have had as a nurse for anything.

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Specializes in Women's health/primary care.

To Loricatus:

Please stay in nursing and become a NP. NPs are protected by the professional organizations ANA and NLN. The role of the PA as a midlevel practitioner came about largely as a response to NPs. Many physicians felt threatened by NPs and felt that they may take patients away from them (and business). Thats when the PA role came into play.

The PA is not protected by its own professional organization. The AMA controls PA standards and scope of practice. PAs cannot operate autonomously without a Physician, whereas a NP can have an independent practice in many states. There is a largely held public belief that PAs are in some way superior to NPs. This is very evident in the salaries of the two. Where I live, the annual salary of a PA is $10,000-$12,000 greater than that of a NP in a comparable setting. It makes no sense.

If the AMA could phase out NPs to gain control of the healthcare market, they would. There have even been cases of NPs being sued for practicing medicine without a license, while practicing as a NP --within the respective scope of practice. Fortunately, these cases have not held up and the NPs have prevailed. However, if we lose prospective NPs such as yourself to the PA profession, the AMA will be one step closer to eliminating the role of the NP and the integrity of nursing practice as a whole will be jepardized.

Please continue on in the nursing profession! We need more advanced practice nurses!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, DOU.
Gentle,

I don't know you at all, but I would say that you are living up to your screen name

Thanks Curious me. I am trying :)

No, that was my point. A normal person wouldn't start such a thread and then bail. I wasn't meaning you personally. My apologies that it came across that way.

It's okay. Goodnight everyone. :idea: Time for another good book.

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I think the question, "Why not med school?" reveals the common belief that nursing is a lower extension of medicine. They are quite separate and distinct disciplines.

I like nursing philosophy and focus. I'm not too fond of the disease model of medicine.

I fully agree with you and this and the fact that nursing is all about caring for the person, not diagnosing and manage a pathology, is what draws me. Nurisng is an amazingly diverse field and one so very unique from medicine. It certainly is what I want to be doing.

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umm, i dont know where u live but I use to be pre-med and I took MANY more science courses and HARDER than what nursing majors have to do. Your probably thinking of pharmacy because their similar not nursing.

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Specializes in Women's health/primary care.

moncj66,

I am just curious as to whether you went into nursing, since you say that the prerequisites for medicine and pharmacy are much harder than those for nursing. Just to point out--Nurses with a BSN typically have two years of prerequisites, whereas Pre-med majors' prerequisites for medical school are often related to their Bachelor Degree major (Biology, Chemistry, etc..). So comparing the upperlevel science classes to the lower level nursing prerequisites is unfair. You are comparing two different things. For example, basic Microbiology required for nursing school probably is much easier than an upper level biology class required for medical school, but when you compare a senior level science class to a senior level nursing class, can you say the same thing?

I graduated nursing school with an individual who had a previous degree with double major in Biology and Chemistry. She said that she felt her first degree program classes were much easier than her classes in nursing school. That being said, the concept of what is "Harder" can be very subjective based on the individual, so please be sensitive to that fact.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
moncj66,

For example, basic Microbiology required for nursing school probably is much easier than an upper level biology class required for medical school, but when you compare a senior level science class to a senior level nursing class, can you say the same thing?

I graduated nursing school with an individual who had a previous degree with double major in Biology and Chemistry. She said that she felt her first degree program classes were much easier than her classes in nursing school. That being said, the concept of what is "Harder" can be very subjective based on the individual, so please be sensitive to that fact.

Upper level biology classes and upper level nursing classes cannot be compared side-by-side. They are so completely different it is impossible to say which one is harder-it truly depends on the person. I found the upper level biology classes easy because that is how I think and process information. Environmental toxicology, immunobiology, biochem, molecular biology of cancer, advanced animal physiology, endocrinology, physics: were cut and dry, cause and effect, easy to understand and be tested on. Pediatric nursing, OB nursing, psych nursing, geriatric nursing, community health nursing: has such a great deal of subjective reasoning, that no one defined correct answer can be found for a many a question on a test. Nursing uses a lot of pure gut instinct, which cannot be taught or tested on-making it difficult to form a curriculum and a defined set of standards for teaching.

For me, the upper level nursing classes were boring and therefore harder because I had to do a lot of projects, presentations, papers I knew only one person would read and then throw out, etc. When it came to nursing research and technical aspects (eg, community health assessment, geriatric clinical papers, technical critical care related testing...), I did well because of my interest in the scientific thought process. Now, does being able to do well in school for those things make me a better nurse?---NOT AT ALL. Because that's not what nursing is about!

Yes, you must have a grasp of medicine to understand the basics of disease process & pharmacological interventions; but, as a nurse, your empathy, advocacy for your patients and work ethic comes from within you, not from schooling-therefore, you cannot be tested on it at any point, and attempt to compare it to a biology degree.

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Specializes in neurology, cardiology, ED.

I am 27 years old. I can start nursing school in the fall, and be working as an RN before my 30th birthday. If I find that I want more authority after going this route, there is always the option to get my NP. I have a friend who is my age and has just begun her first paid medical residency. It's the first paying job she's ever had in her life. I don't have that luxury.

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