Another poster suggested this thread: Did you (or do you) want to be a doctor?
I never did, but since I've been in nursing school, I've begun to think if I were younger, I would think hard about it. I prefer the nursing model in many ways, but noticed in careplanning that I found it tough to focus on nursing diagnoses and not get all caught up in the medical ones. Of course, there was a time when a nurse was just about the last thing I could imagine myself being, so I'm learning to never say never.
I do think nursing might be just about ideal for pre-med. A lot of docs could probably profit from seeing the other side.
When I was young, I wanted to become a doctor. I took up nursing as a pre-medical course just so I can step into med school. And now that I am a medical student, it is only now that I realize that I REALLY LOVE NURSING.
I told this to a friend and a colleague of mine. She said she suddenly imagined me as someone who gives the medical orders and then carrying them out at the same time. We both laughed at the thought but then again, I love both Nursing and Medicine. I plan to keep my RN title when I finally become a doctor: an RN, MD like my mentor in nursing school. I'll never forget my nursing origins.
I am a doctor because I want to cure but I am also a nurse because I care.
I was actually coming here to post a similar topic to the one of the OP. I too occasionally muse about becoming a doctor instead. You know, 'take it all the way'.
I think I could do it, but deep down inside i think i believe that I'm more cut out for nursing than being a doctor. For starters, I'm pushing 40 now. The age itself won't stop me from doing it, but it does mean I'll spend a good portion of my remaining working life in school. Secondly, I might be wishing to be a doctor for all the wrong reasons. While I find medicine and medical care fascinating as all get out, I think walking around in a white coat might go to my head.
Finally, while I think I've got the smarts for med school, I don't think I have the mental stamina for it. There is simply mindblowing amounts of data to be rote learned and memorized, and I don't think I could stay motivated for several years of that.
I haven't written it off completely yet, but I'm definitely more hesitant now than if I were facing this question 20 years ago.
Specializes in Just starting out in a Nursing Home..
i missed that one. hmmm..
some cats see a litter box and ask why. some cats see a zen garden and ask, why not?
lol..i just thought this quote was hillarious..ha..put a little giggle on my face in a tough time of being a newbie in this career field and trying to still function at school..at my age..ha..so funny..just funny:nurse:
I am in nursing school. But, becoming a physician is something I think about all the time, almost daily. I see what my best friend experiences as a medical resident and it makes me want to experience it. I empathize with those of you who would want to be physicians. I saw a quote on here that explains, "I am a physician because I want to cure. I am a nurse because I care." That touches me very deeply. I want to know more than what they teach us in nursing school and I want to be able to do more for people than what will be within my scope of practice. The alternative to medicine, for me, would be to have a career as a professor in a nursing school and/or as a clinical nurse researcher. I am a few years away to be able to apply for med school. For now, I will remain focused on being an excellent student nurse. I am just so excited and driven and passionate, I could explode with enthusiasm! I cannot wait to see where I let a nursing education take me. Its gonna be awesome, and it is that knowledge that fuels me and makes me feel sufficient.
I was actually coming here to post a similar topic to the one of the OP. I too occasionally muse about becoming a doctor instead. You know, 'take it all the way'.
I think I could do it, but deep down inside i think i believe that I'm more cut out for nursing than being a doctor. For starters, I'm pushing 40 now. The age itself won't stop me from doing it, but it does mean I'll spend a good portion of my remaining working life in school. Secondly, I might be wishing to be a doctor for all the wrong reasons. While I find medicine and medical care fascinating as all get out, I think walking around in a white coat might go to my head.
Finally, while I think I've got the smarts for med school, I don't think I have the mental stamina for it. There is simply mindblowing amounts of data to be rote learned and memorized, and I don't think I could stay motivated for several years of that.
I haven't written it off completely yet, but I'm definitely more hesitant now than if I were facing this question 20 years ago.
Well if it means anything, I have classmates here in med school who are far older than you are. Ranging from 45 years old to as old as 69 years! The decision to become a physician can be tricky. For some, the decision to be one goes naturally; while others have to think long and hard about becoming one and perhaps do some soul searching along the way. Regardless of those instances, the decision to become a physician is a matter of the heart (or in a more accurate manner, a matter of the hypothalamus:bugeyes:).
If becoming a physician is truly in your heart (hypothalamus), then I don't think anything will stop you. The same also goes if you have nursing as your true calling......
I am really pleased that this thread was started. When I first found it, yesterday, it initiated a shift in my consciousness and I became pretty emotional. Being active in this thread is allowing me to confront my truest wishes for my life. I look forward to knowing what has come of the members who posted more than a year ago and where their careers are headed in nursing and medicine.
I am really pleased that this thread was started. When I first found it, yesterday, it initiated a shift in my consciousness and I became pretty emotional. Being active in this thread is allowing me to confront my truest wishes for my life. I look forward to knowing what has come of the members who posted more than a year ago and where their careers are headed in nursing and medicine.
I'd like to second the "nice thread drudge." It's interesting to see what I posted years ago with today's eyes. Six years as a nurse has taught me a lot, not least of which is a ton of respect for doctors. I've worked nights the whole time, so my dealings have almost entirely been with residents on call, and I've had the chance to watch a few progress from "What do we usually do for that?" (a very tough question for a newbie nurse!) to ready to become an attending. I've seen that the line between the nursing model and medical model isn't a line at all--we all operate on a continuum. Nursing seems like a good fit for me, although there have been nights, lately, when truck driving school sounds tempting.
The things that have impressed me about the docs I've worked with have been their vast knowledge base, their compassion, and their common sense. I'm also pleased that the nurse-doctor relationship has turned out to be a lot more collaborative than I expected when I was a student. I've also seen damned little of the egotism that gets portrayed on TV. I work a lot with neurosurgeons, and most are by no means lacking in confidence. I had the impression, early, that neurosurgeons are more decisive than neurologists, and that isn't entirely unfair, although I've come to realize it often has more to do with 1st year residents vs 3rd year residents than their field of specialty. Either way, though, I've had too many occasions of starting to breathe again when the docs showed up not to value their role in patient care.
To the quoted poster, and anyone else who's interested, I've found allnurses.com a valuable tool in forming my philosophy of nursing. I hope it serves you as well. It's a bit like a diary that talks back. (And often with voices far wiser than my own) Good luck with wherever your studies take you.
I have been down this road before in other areas of my life. I know where it takes me. I end up quitting everything to do with the event in question. However, I do think about starting pre-med as a major from time to time, but then I start to think about other times in the past where I have allowed pride to destroy me. Pride is the reason I would want to become a Physician. Physician's are looked upon as the end-all, be-all God's of the healthcare field. On the other hand, nursing is looked at as a sub-dominant profession. Like I said earlier though, I know that starting over just to be at the top of the 'food chain' will destroy my interest in the healthcare field all together; sometimes being at the top is not the best route.
Well, it all depends on perspective. If one wishes to be a doctor for the prestige and the title associated with it, then I suggest one to forget it, for the system will consume you. The path into becoming a physician is long and arduous. It entails suffering and sacrifice. It is a calling.
Also, I don't see nursing as any lower than that of the medical profession. Like the organ systems that comprise a living organism, each has a different function but they are codependent with each other for the survival of the organism as the whole. If doctors are the brains of the healthcare profession, then nurses are at the heart of it all. Would a brain survive on its own? I think not. Each organ has a specific function but they are all equally important. Imagine a hospital with only doctors in it as its staff? No nurses, medical technologists etc. I don't think that hospital will function well. Nursing is a calling and so is the calling to become a physician.
I have already heard and heeded the call of Florence Nightingale. And now, it's time for me to heed Hippocrates' call as well.
Pacs, RN
38 Posts
When I was young, I wanted to become a doctor. I took up nursing as a pre-medical course just so I can step into med school. And now that I am a medical student, it is only now that I realize that I REALLY LOVE NURSING.
I told this to a friend and a colleague of mine. She said she suddenly imagined me as someone who gives the medical orders and then carrying them out at the same time. We both laughed at the thought but then again, I love both Nursing and Medicine. I plan to keep my RN title when I finally become a doctor: an RN, MD like my mentor in nursing school. I'll never forget my nursing origins.
I am a doctor because I want to cure but I am also a nurse because I care.