Going from a nurse to a doctor?

EastCoast · Nov 5, 2003

Originally posted by skybirdrising
Have there been any studies on nurses going on to become doctors? Do med schools look down on nurse wannabe doctors? Am I too old to consider med school as I am 33 yrs old? Am I unrealistic or just plain crazy? Just couldnt think of being a bedside nurse for any duration beyond clinicals and perhaps up to a year after graduation for experience sake.

To my knowledge there are no studies. I would examine your reasons for wanting to go into medicine. I would also note that you are 33 and it seems by your post that you haven't started working as a nurse yet. Why are you bothering to finish a nursing program if your plan is to go to med school. I would strongly advise if you want to be a doctor to start looking at what prereqs you need or are missing and keep your GPA high.

Town & Country · Nov 5, 2003

There USED to be a female doctor here. She was WONDERFUL; a former RN.

She went to med school because she thought she would never have children.

She was THE most awesome doctor you could imagine. Everybody wanted her!

When I worked the med/surg floor, she would HELP US BY STARTING IVs and such...(how many physicians do that?) But she'd been there and knew how short-staffed we were, so she'd get right in there and do it.

When I finally was lucky enough to get her as my private physicians, she left the area.

Also, one morning at the hospital I asked a medical student who was the OLDEST person in their class: she responded that they had people of all ages but the oldest was a man IN HIS FIFTIES.

33 isn't that old. If you want to be a doctor, get going.

"Just do it."

:)

Azdream'nRN · Nov 5, 2003

Dear Sky,

I knew a nurse who went on to become a doctor and she was not only a very helpful physician, but a very humanitarian at that!

I also had a friend in nursing school who decided to go to med school instead and left the nursing field. There are a few examples around, you just have to talk to people around. I don't think you are too old at all at the age of 33. I wish I had done it, but I couldn't owing to ongoing problems with my youngest child which dragged over the course of many years. I had my heart set on medical school as well from a young age and thought my ticket would be via nursing. Unfortunately, my child was abducted when I was 29! I still have not gotten her back yet. The concern for her and the depression that followed that I went through forced me to stop studying and just look for her. So it's out for me because I am nearing 43, but if I were 10 years younger like you are, I would just go for it. You have nothing to loose.

LPNtoBSNstudent, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2003

OMG azdream'n how terrible! I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you can find comfort in some way.

I knew one physician who was a former nurse. She was very approachable from the patient perspective but not from nursing perspective, for some reason. She was the one who would be snippy when we called, etc. Probably just a personality issue.

Newbie4 · Nov 6, 2003

The OB/Gyn who delivered my babies had been a nurse before he became a doctor. He was wonderful. Very kind, took time with his patients.

skybirdrising · Nov 6, 2003

Originally posted by Azdream'nRN
Dear Sky,
I knew a nurse who went on to become a doctor and she was not only a very helpful physician, but a very humanitarian at that!
I also had a friend in nursing school who decided to go to med school instead and left the nursing field. There are a few examples around, you just have to talk to people around. I don't think you are too old at all at the age of 33. I wish I had done it, but I couldn't owing to ongoing problems with my youngest child which dragged over the course of many years. I had my heart set on medical school as well from a young age and thought my ticket would be via nursing. Unfortunately, my child was abducted when I was 29! I still have not gotten her back yet. The concern for her and the depression that followed that I went through forced me to stop studying and just look for her. So it's out for me because I am nearing 43, but if I were 10 years younger like you are, I would just go for it. You have nothing to loose.

Sorry for your loss. I experienced a loss of my daughter who was five at the time when she drowned. That was back in 1995. Really, in that year alone, I went through hell. My wife left for another man, whom she latered married three months after she filed for divorce. She left me with my two daughters so she could 'experience' life on her own. Had to find babysitter virtually overnite because I was working out of a factory pulling 12 hour shifts with rotating days to nights every three days. About two months after wife left, recieved phone call at work to tell me I need to go to the local hospital only to later find out she was DOA by drowning because babysitter took nap and left daughter out to play without supervision. Didn't sue cause babysitter was my own family relative. My wife then took me to court to get joint custody for other daughter who was one year old at time. I gave in without fighting and had to file bankruptcy cause of medical, attorney and other bills incurred through marriage and death of child. Five months and I had lost everything from credit, child and wife. And recently my other daughter, now ten, asked me if I can adopt her over to her stepfather and mother cuase I went away for two years to Florida to work as a restaurant manager and just needed the time away from everything. So I basically brought that on myself. So I am starting fresh over. At this point, what do I have to lose? It isn't like I carelessly lived my life in a bottle and in drugs. I've led a clean life. But bad things usually happen to good people based on my experiences.

I admire the nursing profession and will find it an honor to work with any one of you whether I am an RN or a MD.

bargainhound, RN · Nov 6, 2003

My sister went from RN to MD and is the best. It is stressful just like nursing. She was at the top of her class. She does agency work and relieves other doctors and likes that role....can rest at intervals and does not have to set up her own practice and have that headache/expense.

There was a man over 80 in her class and he said that even if he only worked as a doctor for 3 months that he was doing what he wanted to do. There is no age limit on ability.

TinyNurse, RN · Nov 8, 2003

I just graduated ADN in June, but an ED doc that I work with suggested med school to me, so um yeah i looked into it.

i'm due to start on my bsn jan 5th 2004.

with this bsn i can apply to med school, and if anything should happen that med school doesn't work out, well at least i can still go for NP or CNA.

yep i'm going for it....

anything worth doing is worth doing well.

xo

Jen

Azdream'nRN · Nov 8, 2003

Dear Sky,

I am terribly sorry about your loss. It is very very hard to lose a child in death. I can't even imagine it. I do not think you brought this on yourself as you say. I think it was all a matter of how your circumstances stacked up. When you work, you obviously have to keep your child with a baby sitter. It happens to the best of people, really. In the state of Arizona, we have more child drownings than anywhere in the entire nation. It is a familiar scene. Many of the kids are brought back by CPR, only to be brain damaged for life.

I hope you go for being an MD, I don't think you have anything to lose. I always liked school and enjoyed learning and the challenge of classes. This for me would have been the best part.

Best Wishes

BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN · Nov 8, 2003

I PM'd you.