Do you ever wish you were a doctor?

Nurses General Nursing

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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." :rolleyes:

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?

Specializes in Med-Surg/ ER/ homecare.

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

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

My answer depends on who's asking.

If a pt or some unknown stranger asked me, I'd be PC and say, "No. My job as a nurse is different from that of a dr and I very much like the fact that I get to spend more time with fewer pts than a doctor does."

When my kids have asked me, or someone else close to me has, I've answered, "Did you know that a well paid RN earns more than a low paid MD?" RNs is my area make very good money if working Acute care, whereas PCPs without a specialty aren't being paid enough money to compensate them for the debt/time they incurred in medical school.

When I ask *myself* that question, I think that, at times, I've considered becoming an MD---for the autonomy. If that itch to become a provider and have more autonomy becomes super strong, Ill become an NP. They can prescribe in my state.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Emergency.

I'll throw in my two cents here, I'm definitely struggling with this idea right now. I'm looking at DO, PA and NP routes of advancement. At this point in my life, I definitely wish I had somehow had the foresight to go straight to med school out of high school. But I had no idea I was even going to be a nurse, much less want to be a healthcare provider at the age of 18. I work in an ER, and only wish to be a MD/DO for the ability to manage patients, push the edges of intervention, and just do more. So I'm looking at these different routes of achieving that goal. NP seems the most attainable, I only hope that at the end of that, I don't feel disappointed/frustrated by a lack of autonomy and scope.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a RN in the emergency setting. I literally look forward to going to work. I am absolutely grateful that through what seems to be chance and fate, that I found myself where I am, and if I do this forever, I will be happy. I only feel driven by this desire to do more, to learn more, and attain more skills. That's what makes me wish I had done it differently.

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Specializes in Critical care.

The subject has been brought up a few times. A physician or three, several nurses and other staff mention it to me. I even jokingly said it about both my spouse and I when browsing for homes way out of our range. I have the brains, but severely lack the stick-to-it-iveness to make it to the finish line. No way do I have half the ability to delay gratification long enough.

Also, similar to what's already been posted, I value the time I have to spend juggling the hundreds of other 'bright, shiny things' in life that draw my attention. My physician pals far enough into their careers all have plenty of $ for pursuits, but little time to actually do them.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I do and wish I had the maturity and family support as a younger person to even have considered med or vet school. That said although nursing is positively cringe worthy sometimes I loved being a floor nurse and love being a NP. My schedule and responsibility level is the same. Like someone else mentioned I am envious of my MD colleagues' knowledge and their income.

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I'll throw in my two cents here, I'm definitely struggling with this idea right now. I'm looking at DO, PA and NP routes of advancement. At this point in my life, I definitely wish I had somehow had the foresight to go straight to med school out of high school. But I had no idea I was even going to be a nurse, much less want to be a healthcare provider at the age of 18. I work in an ER, and only wish to be a MD/DO for the ability to manage patients, push the edges of intervention, and just do more. So I'm looking at these different routes of achieving that goal. NP seems the most attainable, I only hope that at the end of that, I don't feel disappointed/frustrated by a lack of autonomy and scope.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a RN in the emergency setting. I literally look forward to going to work. I am absolutely grateful that through what seems to be chance and fate, that I found myself where I am, and if I do this forever, I will be happy. I only feel driven by this desire to do more, to learn more, and attain more skills. That's what makes me wish I had done it differently.

I love this. A desire for advance practice for right reasons, in my opinion. It's so rare, encouraging and refreshingly different from all of the "how do I skip bedside care, how do I escape bedside care?" reasons for pursing a NP with minimal experience.

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Specializes in Float Pool - A Little Bit of Everything.

No, never. Some docs are great, but the majority of what I have dealt with makes me happy I am not that obnoxious and arrogant.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Nope.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Med-Surg.

Yes. It is one of the big regrets of my life. I have two sons who are physicians (both of whom went to med school on military scholarships so don't have huge debt). The only reason I didn't is because I didn't think I could.

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The only time I wish I was a doctor or even an NP or PA for that matter, is when my patient needs a critical order and the doctor on-call takes forever to respond to several pages sent to him or her and at the moment there's not a thing I can do other than reassure and try and make the patient as comfortable as possible while I wait. I wish I could just put in an order so that I can help them. But other than that, nursing suits me just fine.

P.S. I'm night shift and the hospital where work doesn't have a hospitalist or NP for that shift. :down:

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Yes, and specifically a psychiatrist. I am going back to school to become one. I have no regrets about being a nurse and I feel that being a nurse, and working at a teaching hospital has influenced my decision. After I finish my BSN spring 2017, I am going to start working on becoming a doctor. I do understand the stress and responsibility of the job and although I can't say that nursing comes close to it, I will say that we share stress and responsibility as well. It is expensive but I am free from paying a mortgage and I am blessed to have wonderful in-laws that are supporting me in doing it. One day I would like to own a practice. The doctor's pay is pretty darn good. Maybe one day I will own that range rover. Having the nursing background I feel will make me a better doctor. I could not be content as a NP as I want to have the last say in the patients care. I definitely don't want to go into management in nursing because you can still end up taking patients and being at the bedside and not doing the job you are mainly supposed to do. I wouldn't be surprised if before long NPs are expected to be at the bedside. I wouldn't want to go into management in nursing because it seems that people working in this area are forced into taking a pt load, when they really shouldn't being doing so. I wouldn't be surprised if the nursing field forces NPs to work the bedside or go back to school for their Doctorate.

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I want to be one now and I can't tell if I'm making a mistake.

I enjoy work as a nurse but still, my desire to go into medicine has not loosed its grip

Just very very very scared

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