Doctor Anyone?

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Hey fellas,

I'm new to this site and just wanted to post this out of curiosity because it almost seems like a stigma to even mention in nursing school, anybody out there ever plan to be a doctor or ever considered it in the FUTURE (current BSN student)?

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I will be a DNP before I am an MD. If I was still in my early 20s, maybe, but I am not.

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Specializes in Emergency, Med-Surg, Progressive Care.

One of my classmates openly stated that he intended to pursue a medical education sometime in the future (although I don't know if he had the grades for it). I got my ASN in May and am working on a bachelor's degree that includes all the medical school pre-requisites; I intend to apply to medical school for the fall 2015 semester. Becoming a nurse before going to medical school is terribly inefficient as far as time goes, as it generally takes far more credits to get a nursing degree (even an ASN) and then get a bachelor's degree while taking all of the pre-med courses. Getting a degree in just about anything else while taking the pre-med courses as electives can be done far more quickly than the nurse-to-physician route.

Many people on this forum prefer that we use 'doctor' in its proper context: as an academic title rather than a colloquial term for 'physician'. There are doctors that participate in this forum, but they are not physicians.

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I agree nurse-to-physician route is definitely a longer route as far as getting a bachelors degree and taking pre-med reqs...but then again just figuring that out now in nursing school. Never thought much about becoming a physician until I was in nursing school...ironic. Well at the least its good to know i'm not the only one that feels this way. Still not exactly sure but for the time being, getting a BSN is my definite goal.

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I will be a DNP before I am an MD. If I was still in my early 20s, maybe, but I am not.

I graduate at 25yo, work for 5yrs and hopefully begin prereqs when i'm 30. Its never too late...I hope!

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I have often tossed this thought around in my head. I got into clinicals early at my school and will be done a semester earlier than all of my classmates who started off with me right out of high school with my BSN. I think it would be neat to go to med school but so would being a DNP. Take extra classes, see how you do and don't think being a nurse will hold you back from med school, I know plenty of MDs/DOs that were RNs at some point. You can do whatever if you dedicate yourself to it!

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My OB/GYN went that route. She was a nurse for years before she went back. I personally think it has made her a better doctor as far as the way she relates to her patients and her employees and other nurses. When I worked in surgery and there would be a call out, if she beat the team there, she would begin to set up the OR instead of just sitting there waiting on everyone else to show up like the other surgeons would do.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I once desired to be a physician and even applied to a handful of med schools at one point with the intention of making broad application if the selective application didn't succeed. In between the former and the latter, life interrupted and I directed myself along a new path which ultimately led to a nursing career.

Were I much younger, I would certainly choose to be a physician in favor of being a nurse.

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My father was an RN who later went to medical school (that was nearly 70 years ago!), and I just found out the other day that one of the residents rotating through my service completed nursing school and got licensed, but has never practiced and went to medical school instead.

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I considered it and I actually thought long and hard about it. I was going to apply to a DO school close to me and I only needed to take 2 pre-reqs but I didn't because of my age. I'm super close to 40 and didn't want to be 50 just starting out as a new DO after it was all said and done. Now if I were 10-15 years younger I would have done it.

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I never experienced stigma from anyone but the expectations of my peers and instructors (if they found out) was much higher. For me, my own personal baggage was my biggest issue. I finished my bachelor's in science before discovering nursing...I was pre-med, took all the classes that would look good on my transcript, was trying to be 'groomed' for med school the best way I knew how and just didn't make the cut. But, turns out, nursing was a MUCH better fit for me. It wasn't any less rigorous of course work (sometimes harder in some ways!) but there was a sense of 'not living up to my own expectations' I had to let go of. Nursing is not Medicine and Medicine is not Nursing, they are distinct but interdependent specialties...once I realized this, everything changed. Would I consider DNP or maybe even taking another crack at med school? Maybe, but the 'new' of nursing school hasn't worn off yet and I'm still enjoying my new career path

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.

I am a dentist (in Europe), and a nurse (LPN) here in states :) I went to nursing school here because I desperately wanted to stay in the health care field and becoming a dentist in the US was (almost) impossible...

I'm happy with my current job, times goes by so quick, it's crazy busy and I simply love it :) But... I have a strange feeling that I can do much more... In the past few months I've started to think intensively about applying to one of those offshore Caribbean med schools. It would take less time (and money) for me to become MD than NP or DNP... Over there I could trade dentistry for pre-med so at least I would be spared of prerequisites...

Any fellow nurses with similar ideas?

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