RN to MD?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just wondering.........How do you go from being an RN to being an MD? Has anyone thought of going to medical school? Apart from the pay, will it be worth it, i mean considering the extra years?

Please help me out on this. Any input will be worth it. Thanks y'all.

Peeps -

That's exactly the way I meant it (the Duhhhhhh) I also didn't mean for what I said about how different it was to nursing and how much work and all sound unsupportive.

Yeah, about the aunt. Ironic. Practicing psychiatry under an Assumed Name!!! I love it!

Love

Dennie

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Two of the attendings in the ER where I work were RNs. They are absolutely wonderful. However, I have to say that with the nursing shortage our docs help out a lot. They take out IVs, discharge patients, set up their own exams, etc.

If you read what I said, 'SOME NURSES WON'T GIVE YOU THE SUPPORT. I did not imply that this forum wasn't supportive. I read the first few threads here and they were not supportive. I did not say all. A big difference. See, that is the problem. A nurse reads what she /he wants to see.

teshiee,

no you didn't imply it...you said it..."you won't get support from some nurses on this post" is exactly what you said.

and your comment "don't let negativity stop what sounds like you want to do" is absolutely an implication about this board...look at the context...

Specializes in CV-ICU.

Hogan, I read Teshiee's remark to be that nurses wouldn't be supportive of someone going to nursing school and then going on to become a doc. I read "on this post" to be just that: this ONE thread.

I think that the difference between doctors and nurses are inherent in their legal definitions, which are something like a doctor studies the effects of diseases and illnesses on the body; while a nurse cares for the person as a whole, both when healthy or ill. Years ago I remember reading that when nursing first started to define itself as a separate entity from physicians (back at the turn of the 20th century when states were starting to set up boards of nursing, Nurse Practice Acts, and the first nurses registries and nursing associations), the docs could not see nurses as anything other than their assistants and "handmaidens", and nurses had to fight to define themselves as different and separate from doctors. The science of nursing had to be carved out of the broader definition of medicine so that it did not overlap and of the physicians' stuff.

So I guess it depends on what your interests are-- fixing something wrong, or caring for the complete person as a whole.

:)

Good luck in what you decide! Docs have long hours, more liability, better pay but more overhead, and spend much longer in school. I love nursing because I go to work, do what I love, and leave at the end of my shift. My "real" life is my own, not at the beck and call of a pager.

One family practice doc I used to work with was a nurse first, and she was wonderful! However, we figured out that after she paid her staff and overhead/insurance, I brought home more per month than she did, and I worked a .9FTE eve shift with 2 years of experience. However, it's not always about the money.

Do what your heart calls you to do!:)

jennie, that's what I said...

Specializes in Perinatal/neonatal.

Wishing you the best of luck and much happiness whatever you decide!!!

My best friend and preceptor when I started my first job out of nursing school became an MD in her 40's. She was an awesome nurse and is now an awesome OB/GYNE Doc. She is now mid 50's , loves what she does and has her own thriving practice. She had to work very hard and her income isn't the greatest having her own practice takes it all, paying staff, liabilty insurance, low reimbursment from HMO's ect. But she didn't do it for the money. She loved being a nurse and she loves being a doctor. Do what your heart tells you, I personally think Doc's that were nurses first are the best!!!

Good luck!

First let me tell you that I know many people who have become M.D.'s after becoming R.N.'s. The only input I would have for you is as follows; if you want to be an M.D. do not settle for anything less! some of the subject matter is the same, however you must be committed to your quest, and prepared to dedicate many more years to the learning process, in order to achieve your goal.:)

It is really no big deal. I said SOME and not all. That is the big difference. I don't see the point. It just goes to show no matter what someone has to say there is always someone scrutinizing what was said. If she wants to be a MD I say good luck for real. I wander do doctors go through this drama with each other?

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