Decision time: Nursing App or MS?

[calgrrl]

My story starts when my friend asked me to help at the delivery of her baby. It was so amazing that I decided to go back to school to take prereqs for nursing. I also volunteer at a hospital (med surg, ortho, PACU, L&D, etc) and am coming to realize that the scope of practice for nursing is limited. I mean, I'll like it in the beginning, I'm sure, but with time I wonder how it will be.

End goal: I know I want to catch babies. I have to decide what road to take: RN: Midwife, NP, PA (maybe?) or MD??!!

While I'm pretty sure I want to focus on maternal/women's health, it seems that the road would be almost as long to be a midwife or NP as it would be to go to med school...sort of. If I go to MS and match to OB/GYN, I know the commitment would be huge as would the Liability Insurance! But, I'm pretty passionate about the area. I figure as an OB/GYN I could do obstetrics and towards retirement focus more on gyn as primary care. As a nurse midwife or NP, I'd only have to schedule 12 hr hospital shifts and wouldn't hold the burden of the OB/GYN, but I'd still get to work with women in labor. Or, even if I worked as a PA, I would not have to carry as big a burden, but there are still patients that don't care to work with PAs and I'm not sure I want to have to explain my degree every time.

There are significant pros/cons. It's a long back and forth. It's been a real challenge to make up my mind. :) I don't have kids, but would like to start a family and probably before/during school given my age, 32. My husband is willing to support me, but even he is apprehensive and I want to make sure I know what I'm getting into! I know it will be a tough road and tougher if I choose MD. I've been a bit of a disaster trying to figure this out.

The question is whether the burden of pursuing medicine and its subsequent reward/continuing burden worth the cost at this point in my life? Is NURSING BETTER? I ask myself this almost daily, should I, should I not, but I can't be in school forever without a concrete goal. I have a BA in liberal studies and am already having to do prereqs I should have done in college. I'm almost done with my core prereqs and have to decide whether to apply to nursing or keep going to apply to med school. That's my life in a nutshell. Any suggestions, thoughts?

[BCRNA]

You should think about how much you want to work, how much time you want with family. Being a physician is a way of life, not a job. I had to decide between MDA/CRNA, I think I made the best decision with CRNA. I have the job I love, and all the family time I want. Also, school for physicians is often 80 hours per week for several years. My worst week in graduate school was 60, typically just 50. I never had to take 48 hours or more of call and stay awake that long. I worked with physicians that did that regularly.

Also ask yourself how old you want to be when you are working. Nursing could be started quite sooner, with much less debt. If you already have a bachelors then you will be a physician in 7 to 10 years. You could do an accelerated MSN if you are not an RN and be a NP in 3 or 4. 6 to 7 years if you take four years for a bachelors.

I know many doctors who wish they had gone into nursing, because of health care policy issues mainly. I think it all depends on how much you want to spend on family and work.

Both would be great career choices.