Is nursing something I really want to do?

[vanillajenkins]

I am currently a senior in high school and starting university next Fall at Marshall University. I know many people will say that I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do which is somewhat true, but it doesn't hurt for me to get an idea right now. My Father passed away from cancer a year ago and for awhile now I've known I want a career in the medical field. I do know that I'm not passionate enough about medicine to become a DO or an MD. I've considered nursing and I still am, but being a nurse isn't really my career goal. I think I would really only be getting my BSN to further my education after, which I'm not sure is a problem. At this point in time the idea that interests me is having my own patients or clients and treating them holistically. I would like to intertwine western medicine with naturopathic medicine if possible. Something else that interests me is looking at cells and determining whether they're cancerous or not. ONE more thing that interests me is midwifery. In the end, I'm wondering if anyone has any advice as to what education or career opportunities may suit me. I know this post may be a bit all over the place and I apologize, but I will take any feedback!

[Kitiger, RN]

It might help you to both interview and shadow people in some of those professions. Get a feel for what they actually do, and why.

You sound like an intelligent young person. Yes, it's too early to decide, but now is a good time to gather more information.

[cleback]

That's too bad you are not interested in medical school since all three things can be accomplished with going to medical school (primary care with an emphasis on alternative medicine, pathologist, and OB). It's up to you, but if those are your interests, you might just want to bite the bullet and do it. I just feel like pursuing other fields might take equally as long as medical school but the profession would not allow you as much autonomy as you seem to desire.

But I absolutely second the other posters about shadowing. Unfortunately, shadowing in the medical field cam be challenging due to confidentiality. Maybe you could work as a transcriptionist or medical assistant during college for exposure to different job possibilities.