Would you ever be a doctor?

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm sure we've all gotten the question, some time or another from friends and family, "Why didn't you just become a doctor?" As if a nurse is just someone who helps the doctor, who wants to be in the medical field but wasn't quite smart enough to become an MD.

So I've thought about it. Honestly, if I had to do it over, there's no way I would ever become a doctor. Sure, you make more money, but the hours are horrible and the schooling takes a million years and costs an arm and a leg. I would much rather have a career where I can pick my shifts, schedule my days so that I have seven or eight days off in a row, and be able to go home at the end of the day and not have to be on call. Plus, I know I can get a job anywhere at the drop of a hat, and I can just as easily work part-time as full-time or overtime. And I can call in sick, at least a few times a year, without a huge hassle of trying to find another doctor to cover for me or having to cancel and reschedule all my appointments/surgeries for the day. And the pay, while nowhere near as much as what a doctor makes, is definitely enough to live comfortably on. Plus, I have a life outside of my job.

So what am I missing? Why does anybody become a doctor? Let's say you had a full scholarship to medical school - would you take it?

Specializes in ER/Trauma.

"I work for a living, thank you" :D

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Like most of you guys, I seriously thought about medical school prior to going to college, and I often spent most of my college years as a nursing student wondering if I had made the right choice and thinking maybe medical school was the way to go.

Then my boyfriend of two years was accepted into medical school. And we dated the entire time he went through and through part of the residency. That was enough to stop my wondering. He studied constantly (even though he was VERY smart), and if you think some nursing instructors are mean! His were worse! I found myself in social situations with other younger MD's and soon to be MD's whose attitudes towards other people began to change. (Not everyone, but a large percentage) Their ideas of nurses became more negative and they began to see themselves as "special."

I saw this take a wonderful boyfriend/fiance who was caring and turn him into a crass, self-centered man. I'm sure it doesn't do this to everyone, but over the seven years time (school+ residency) he changed and began to have an air of entitlement. I finally ended it when he was given bad service at an electronics store and pulled the "I am a physician and a Very Important Person, I should be treated better than this."

I don't want to go through all of that and what if it changed me? I NEVER thought it would CHANGE who he was, (we knew each other since we were three) but it did. I'm happy as a nurse/nurse practitioner and would never under any circumstances go to med school.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
He might be wrong about the salary.

If you want to be a doc, by all means, go for it.

Family Practice in the area in which I live START off at 80-90,000/year. This is SALARY and you may get more for productivity bonuses. You get paid the same pay each week no matter that you go to the hospital at 5AM, see pt's al day usually without a lunch and then back to the hospital that PM, get home at 9 or 10 and then get sick calls all night from worried parents about their kids. Wake up the next day and repeat, plus if it is your week-end (if you are lucky to be in a group practice and not private) on call you can go two full weeks without a day off. But if you worked it out as HOURLY pay, meaning break that down into working however hours/week, it would equal nurses pay or less. Probabably that is what he meant. I know if I worked doubles five days a week as a nurse, I could break 100,000/year

When I worked as a nurse practitioner full time, I took hospital and after hours call. This was rotated amoung me and two physicians. I was payed salary, so anything over 40 hours was not extra. If I broke my TOTAL hours worked into hourly pay using my salary wage, I made a whopping 19.50/hour.

Absolutely!

Growing up I always wanted to be a physician, I even have most of my med school pre-reqs done. If I wasn't 33 and had kids I would be a Dr. I don't have the time for it now though and don't want to put my kids through that. If I was still 20 years old I would do it in a heartbeat though. Heck, maybe I still will! My children's Ped was an RN and then she went back to medical school when she was in her 40's and she loves it and is a fantastic MD.

More than likely I will go to NP school, I know I will be happy and satisfied with that :) I think where I am now in life the NP route is a better fit and I will be happier overall.

Im 20yr.s old and I still consider myself too old. Plus i neither have a wife nor kids or an active personal life. I will probably do the opposite of what many do. I'll wait till I get married and have kids to decide to go to med school.

Specializes in ER,Neurology, Endocrinology, Pulmonology.

I have all intentions on going to med school. There are many things against me - age, family responsibilities, lack of money, learning in a foreign language, because I am Russian, etc. Being a nurse gave me more drive to go after the dream I had since I was a child, because many times I feel helpless and frustrated when I see my patients ignored by a doctor who just doesn't care. I don't know if I will make it, but I will try.

My dream is to either work with the poor and the elderly and/or open a holistic clinic. There are several docs in my hospital who are encouraging me to go to med school, very supportive. All of them are "different" in a sense that their approach to medicine involves having a hart and no fear to take a risk.

Natasha

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