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?

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

No I haven't wished I were a doctor. Nobody has ever asked me that. Though sometimes I have looked at physical therapy assistants and physical therapists with some envy. Only because patients and other members of staff blame everything on nursing and expect nursing to carry out duties that are non nursing when they are not expected to.

I like what I do, I don't like the expectations of nursing by non nurses sometimes.

[Allgood2016, LPN, LVN]

NO !!!!!!!!!!

[Skippingtowork]

I am actually pursuing my NP right now and i often have a lot of regret about it. I'm afraid that i am going to miss bed side nursing and miss being hands on. I love getting very sick critical patients and essentially stabilizing them. So no, i never wish i could be a doctor

Do not give up bedside nursing. Work per diem. You see today, but not tomorrow. It's hard to get back into bedside nursing once you leave.

[djh123]

No. (And dang, it made me add several more characters or it wouldn't post my succinct answer :^).

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

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."

And that is why many newer physicians are seeking employed positions vs setting up an independent practice. They do their job for X hours, and then someone else is responsible.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Never, but I wish I had the income!!

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

In my case, I was in the process of trying to get into med school when life intervened and I chose to let it go. I do regret it and I would certainly prefer to be an ED physician than be an ED nurse. This job suits me but given a choice between the two, I would choose the former.

In the rare times that it's been mentioned to me I say pretty much what I just said. It just wasn't in the cards.

Same here. At a certain point, you just gotta get on with your life and whatever happens is what was actually meant to be. But, like others have said, as much as I would prefer the workload and interesting case studies as a doc, I don't relish having the hours and time away from family. Nursing definitely lets you be you while you still have a chance. Plus, I work in hemonc and there are some spells where it just seems like every other kid in the world has cancer and the docs are the ones breaking it to the families. Eff that.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

The few times people asked me that I think the "are you nuts"expression on my face answered enough for me and shut them up

[nutella, MSN, RN]

No - I never wanted to be a physician - otherwise I would have gone to medical school.

Also, for the same reason I will not study to be a NP though I am almost done with my MSN. The simple reason is that I do not want to be a provider. I value nursing and the essence of nursing - the fact that our action are rooted in nursing theory and the professional caring. I like to interact with families and patient as a palliative and hospice nurse. In my role I have the time to do what I enjoy - which is rare nowadays in healthcare - and I find my work meaningful. Nurses view patients differently, the medical model is not the same.

I am very happy with what I am doing, I am happy to be a nurse and I think becoming a provider would actually decrease my job satisfaction and the level of happiness.

I know more NPs who are unhappy in their provider role than NPs who are happy with it.

[concreterose]

Of what?

going down that long path and have it turn out as a poor life decision on my part. I've shadowed and work amongst them, I've thought about it a long time, but I'd be the first in my family to go down this road and its a lonely feeling making all the mistake I've made with no guidance at hand. I just want to be happy with the choices I make. And succeed.

[Graduatenurse14]

I've never been asked this and if I were to be I would laugh out loud and exclaim "NO!"

There are tons of reasons probably #1 being that I don't have the brain power to be a doctor! I am more than ok with that too!!

[MarisL]

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?

I take it as an attempt at a compliment. It doesn't land that way for me, but I'm pretty sure it is usually meant that way. That said however, Nursing has fought for a long time for recognition as a career worthy of respect (and dare I say pay) more commensurate with the the job we do. Not glorified handmaidens, rather skilled professionals. So my go to response is usually smile and reply: "I'm glad to be a nurse." And I leave it at that. I think our profession has a ways to go to get the respect we are due, but we have come a long way also. Most days I AM glad to be a nurse. A very few days, not as much. Still, I'd never trade the one to one time we get working with patients, for the student loans and training years and malpractice fees that bind docs to their career choice.