Don't you want to be a Doctor?

Nurses Men

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Ya. I've heard that damn question several times this week and it's actually starting to get me angry. I'm starting to take offense at that question. I had one person say to me, "This is all you do?" or "Are you in med school or something, you just want to stay as a Nurse?" I try not to tell people what I do anymore in conversation because I don't want to go through the same questions anymore.

I have a friend that is 30 and thinks he is going to be a doctor....by the time he's even done with his residency I'll have paid off my house.

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Specializes in Gonna specialize in OR/surgical nursing!.

It absolutely gets under my skin & it irritates me when people ask me that. I'm already tired of dealing with the stigma of being a male nurse, lost my patience with many in the process of defending myself, which i really shouldn' have too. No, i do not want to be a physician. I don't suffer from a mightier-than-thou god complex. It's sad that i'll be dealing with Surgeons on a daily basis...sigh.

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

Surgeons a people too. Your relationship in the OR will be totallydifferent that on the nursing units.

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Specializes in Gonna specialize in OR/surgical nursing!.
Surgeons a people too. Your relationship in the OR will be totallydifferent that on the nursing units.

I know, i know, not all my interactions with physicians will be horrible. I shouldn't let 3 negative encouters jade my views on the docs. I'll play nice for now.:)

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Specializes in Cardiology, Emergency.

Part of me has a yang inside to be a doctor I wont lie there, but then I relate to the reality that I would have no life and I actually really enjoy the work with people, the sitting down with my patients and being the listening ear, the support worker, the all rounder with them. A doctor unfortunatly doesn't get the chance to have those moments like a nurse does and yes they do become limited in their specialty area.

I get mistaken for a doctor often as I am the only male in my unit and I carry a stethascope, so naturally patients are making an assumption I am the new intern or the resident, even though I wear blue scrubs that say the word nurse on them and wear a nursing medal on my uniform. Oh maybe the eyesight needs refreshing on my dear patients eyes.

Scotty

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

lol, I have had people that work within the hospital with me for 10 years ask me if I was a doctor cause they always just assumed I was.... lmao...

Dont get me wrong, there are some a-hole surgeons out there and the majority of them are a-holes when they are down in nursing units with nurses and medicine drs..... Life is diffferent in the OR though, the majority actually treat the nursing staff and scrub techs with respect. They do this because we help them and make them look good alot of times...... They know they depend on us to know about them and their surgery so they dont kill someone and so they can actually complete the surgery and there arent many in our profession.....

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Specializes in icu/er.

nope, i want want to marry a doctor, got my eye on a nice lookin ent doc that is on our hospital. also @ my part time job there is a nice general surg. that just got dumped by her fiance (stupid)..took her on a few fishing and sking trips.

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

Wow- 15 years ago I got that a lot but I haven't gotten that question for a quite a few years. Maybe it's because I work in a hospital where there are a lot of men in nursing- on some units it is most of the staff. We have two universities in the area with big BSN and MSN programs. Perhaps that changes some of the gender mix of the local nursing population. I guess I would get tired of the question pretty quickly if I got it every day. Try this response: " no, I've never really considered going into medicine as a career- did you???"

My father asked me how long I had to work as a nurse before they made me a doctor. I told him it would be a long, long time but I would keep him posted. ( I'm still waiting)

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"no, I'm from housekeeping, just filling in today" that's my usual response. LOL

There's nothing that keeps a nurse from wearing a white lab coat as well. That just bugs other nurses though. When I wear green scrubs, top tucked in with my fire dept. pager, they assume I'm a surgeon. Actually, I do plan to go to medical school.

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