Do you ever wish you were a doctor?

[adventure_rn]

I feel like I'm asked this question surprisingly frequently, often by family and occasionally by friends, acquaintances, dates, and even patients. Maybe it's because I come from a family of doctors, or because many of close friends from my first degree were pre-med because nursing/pre-nursing on my campus didn't really exist.

I can say with honesty that I've never come home from a shift and thought, "I wish I was a doctor." However, there have been a handful of shifts where I've come home explicitly thinking, "Holy crap, I'm so glad I'm not a doctor."

I briefly worked in x-ray during nursing school, and I found that some x-ray techs expressed regret that they hadn't become physicians. However, I think x-ray differs from nursing because there aren't as many opportunities for advancement (vs. nursing, where you have the option become an NP, CNS, etc., along with many non-clinical paths).

I'm just curious to see if other ANers are faced with this (well-intentioned but occasionally insulting) question. What's your go-to response?

[bgxyrnf, MSN, RN]

Just very very very scared

Of what?

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

Early in my college career I was pre-med. A very successful physician actually talked me out of it. I was an orderly (that term alone ought to date this) in a hospital in a major metropolitan area. I was sitting in the nurse station awaiting my next call, and a physician who belonged to the most successful orthopedic group in the city was writing in a patient chart. He struck up a conversation and he asked me where I was attending school and what I was studying. He then began to express regrets about his own career choice. "If I had it to do all over again, I would do something else. I make a lot of money, but I don't have time to enjoy it. If I take time off, I feel guilty about leaving my patients. All of my time is spent at the office, making hospital rounds or performing surgery. The phone rings at all hours. When you are a doctor, your life is never your own."

This conversation took place more than 40 years ago, and I still remember every word of it.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

I tell them, no, actually, I don't wish I were a doctor. One: I don't want to rack up a 250-500K dollar debt for school that will amount to more than the mortgage on an Average American home and follow me for years to come. Two: I don't want to work 80-100hours/week or more as a resident, for years, to learn my specialty. Three: I wanted to be a NURSE and being so does not make me less, but a person with different goals and skillset. Four: I don't envy their "status" or education. I am quite happy with my career choice and the ability to leave work at work once I go. I like spending lots of time with my family. Doctors frequently can't do either of those two things.

So no, I really don't wish I were a doctor. I am proud to be a nurse.

I've never been asked that but for all the reasons above & more, I don't wish I was a doctor.

[Princess Bubblegum]

I'm not a nurse yet, but I'm in school and get the well-intentioned but increasingly irksome "but you're so smart, why aren't you going to med school" comments on a regular basis. I feel like nursing is the smarter choice for me. I'm 31 now, and I don't want to be in school for much longer. I dated a doctor for quite some time and got to see his lifestyle intimately, but didn't feel like the money he made was worth the wear and tear on his mental health.

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

I wish I were a broadway star! But, that's not going to happen.

Although, in my quest to be a professional student, I just might audition for the MFA program at the local college.

[cocoa_puff]

In high school, I wanted to be a pediatrician. But now, oh hell no! I don't want the debt, stress, liability, crazy hours, or insane amount of time spent in school (although I love school). The only reason I'd want to be a physician is for their knowledge and paycheck. I'd pick Pathology though, because people-contact is not my cup of tea.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I can honestly say, no one has EVER asked me this.

I am often surprised as to how many nurses on here

say that they get asked this.

I have never had ANY desire to be a doctor!!! :)

[remorej]

Never been asked this, but pts assume that I was their doctor (I'm a murse btw). I would love MD's paycheque and wealth of knowledge, but based on the aforementioned lists above, no I wouldn't want to be a doctor.

[jelloqueen]

Yes and no. Yes, I love medicine, and I love knowing the whys and hows and whens of diagnosis, treatment, outcomes; and the aspect of solving the puzzle of what each patient needs. It is what I like best about being a nurse. I have frequently chosen to attend medical continuing education courses to obtain that knowledge, and I would love to have the ability/ freedom to apply that knowledge more than I do (but believe me, I have put that knowledge to good use many many times!). I would also love to have the respect afforded to MDs -- especially from the hospital administration-- and the instant assumption that I am a bright person, instead of what seems to too often be the opposite assumption.

But, no, I was not emotionally or financially at a place in my younger years -- didn't have family support either, which I would have needed -- to choose that path, and once I was mature and stable enough to consider it, I had family responsibilities and just wasn't motivated to pursue it. Plus, nursing practice and autonomy had developed and progressed enough (not to mention the pay!!) that by the mid 1980s I was getting enough intellectual satisfaction as an ICU nurse and realized how nice it was to be able to shed the responsibility at the end of my shift. I really wouldn't have liked the demands on my time that a physician endures.

Things have regressed some in the satisfaction level, but I am looking forward to retiring as my cure for that.

Yes, I have been asked about being a doctor instead of "just a nurse", and also encouraged to pursue it. I just tell people that it wasn't the path for me.

[coolnurseclub, RN]

Shoot! I get stressed out enough just doing my scheduled shift. At least I get to go home at the end of my shift and try to " put it away" until my next day

[GamerNurs]

Thinking back on the countless times I've had to call, text, fax, and send carrier pigeons to the doctor in the middle of the night or on their "days off" I'd have to say my answer is a hard NO WAY IN HELL. I get stressed out enough being a nurse but I take comfort in the fact I can turn off my phone on my day off and relax. Doctors are basically on call at all times, get woken up, called in, bothered in the middle of sex and sleep constantly. Hey, money isn't everything and it's certainly not enough to get me to work 24/7 with little time to actually enjoy it!

[KittyLuv]

No, but I have wished I were a vet :)

Me too. I started out pre-vet.