in aug i will be starting the nursing program at my local college and will be graduating in 2012 ( long time) with my rn. recently i have started to consider entering med school in 2014 at the ripe old age of 30. i was wondering if anyone has considered this and what your reasons may have been for not doing it, other than financial. or is anyone doing something similar and could share their experience.
also since most of you work in a hospital setting, what can you tell me about the doctors you work with? most of my experiences with doctors have not been good. that's one of my reasons for wanting to go all the way. i think if more nurses became doctors we might have happier hospitals.
Whoa! Please tell me you are being sarcastic?!?!?!
Same here. That was the most ridiculous thing I've read this morning. And depending on the doc's specialty they don't always make a ton of money either.
Question first? Are you starting your pre-reqs for nursing school this fall. Why would it take you 4 years to get through nursing school? Are you going part-time?
I don't see what the big deal is with people getting offended, I think some people are overreacting. I'm not a nurse yet, but I intend on going to nursing school and the possibly applying to medical school. I know the two are totally different. I've always wanted to be a nurse but I truly feel that nurses should get paid more for the work that they do!!! I do not think it is fair. I am planning on going through nursing school first so I can get a feel of the healthcare field and see if I want to expand my scope of learning and also income. And technically you can apply to med school with ANY degree, as long a you have the correct sciences under your belt. As for me I have made sure that I the sciences I take for nursing school are for science majors, and many of the science classes that I have taking for nursing school A&P, Micro, and Chemistry all fit into the classes I need for med school. Granted I need O-Chem, Physics and Bio-Chem, but that is it. And if decide not to go at least I will have my BSN to fall back on.
I want to be an OB/GYN, originally I wanted to be a CNM but the median salary for a CNM in Dallas 87,000, compared to an OB/GYN in Dallas, TX who makes on average 240,000! CNMs should make alot more for doing about the same amount of work, maybe even more. So I figure I might as go all the way to get my MD...maybe. If I decide not to CRNA would be all the way for me.
But as of right now my dream is to be a nurse I respect nurses and I feel it will make me a better doctor. As bad I feel that nurses should be able to call the shots on everything, they can't. I also know of nurses personally and on TV that have crossed over from the nursing practice who got tired of doing physican work for nursing money.
THIS IS NOT TO OFFEND ANY NURSES ON HERE! I want to be a nurse myself! But I also feel as if some people on here are talking down on doctors just because of the amount of time and energy they put into their education (not to say that nurses don't) but some posters seem to come across a negative toward the medical profession. I don't think that is fair considering we don't like nurses being talked down upon. I do not agree with the way some MDs interact with patients but I feel that being a nurse first would make that easier for a doctor to do.
For God's sake, if you want to be a doctor then go to med school. This idea of getting your feet wet by becoming a nurse first then working your way to physician is just silly! No one is "talking down" on doctors but you and the OP do not work in healthcare and clearly do not understand that the two fields are totally different. Don't you get it? Nursing is not a rung on the ladder to physician, they are two different professions! And quite frankly if you are becoming a nurse just so you will have something to "fall back" on if you don't "make" physician, then we don't want you. Once again, if you are a nurse who decides to become a physician you are changing professions. Period.
I can only speak for myself but I do think that most of the posters aren't stupid and they did "get" what the OP was trying to say.
The question is why bother being a nurse when what you really want to be is a physician? The OP also has some misconceptions about nursing. She seems to believe that a physician is like a nurse only more highly educated hence the "going all the way" comment. A nurse is not a doc and vice versa.
Why go through all the drama that is NS just to move on immediately after? I also know first hand that medical schools accept a variety of majors. One of my friend's majored in Anthropology and another in Biology. Some would consider one major to be more difficult than the other but the point is that they were both accepted and one is actually finished now.
Getting a degree in nursing because you think it's going to make you a better doctor is like wanting to learn Russian but taking Chinese first because you think it's going to help you learn Russian.
I don't think that was her question at all...I think she was inquiring if there was anyone on the board who had made that decision or knew someone, and did that work out for them.
My point was before other members starts bashing a poster, I would probably see if there was any intent involved...and there clearly wasn't.
To her, she saw physicians at the top of the medical food chain, but many nurses here (and I'm not one yet), see a DNP, NP or a PhD graduate, at the top of the medical food chain--in the NURSING field.
It's all about perspective, but I don't think it was disrespectful in any level.
I just hate seeing someone attacked for asking an honest question.
One thing that I have found in working with NP's is that they are easier to work with b/c they've "been there". If a being a physician is too far off for you then consider doing that. You're never too old for education. I started at 50! I don't have time to go that far anymore but even with what I did I am proud of myself. Yes, I won't get 30-40 years out of my degree, but I did it! So follow your dream b/c it will make you happy.
If you want to be a physician, study something easy like history or art and then minor in pre-med. Nursing is a really difficult degree to get if your ultimate goal is to go to medical school anyways.
edit: I hear all the time from patients, "You're a great nurse! You must be studying to be a doctor!" I look at them like they're crazy....hell no!!! Nothing against the medical profession, but I'd prefer to leave work at work and not let my career run my life (as seems to happen with most physicians). I WORK as an RN. Being an RN is something I do for a career, not something that I AM as part of my identity as a person. I am first and foremost myself, my ego needs no stroking. If I happen to be at work then I am an RN. I try to set an example in my daily life to others, but I'm not perfect. You will find it is the exact opposite with 99% of physicians/....I don't need the ego thanks.
I haven't had time to read all the posts in this thread, but when I read the OP I was taken aback by the "go all the way" suggestion that MD was better than RN. The medical profession and the nursing profession are two separate trees growing in the same garden. And as trees, there are many paths and no defined "top" (with most trees, anyway). The branches go in all different directions and meet many other paths at intersections.
I want to be a nurse because I like providing care to people. As a nursing student, I have seen MDs come to the hospital to examine their patient. No doctor's examine that I have seen in the hospital has been as thorough as a nurse's. I once saw a doctor come in, put the stethescope on the patient for two seconds, felt her belly and then left the room. Didn't ask her a single question. What kind of exam was that?
So going all the way to me is getting to the top of your specialty in nursing. Be that education (dean of a nursing school), nurse practitioner (owning a practice), or management (CNO). There are so many paths in nursing that no one is on "top." And a doctor is definitely not the end all and be all.
If you want to be a physician, study something easy like history or art and then minor in pre-med. Nursing is a really difficult degree to get if your ultimate goal is to go to medical school anyways.
edit: I hear all the time from patients, "You're a great nurse! You must be studying to be a doctor!" I look at them like they're crazy....hell no!!! Nothing against the medical profession, but I'd prefer to leave work at work and not let my career run my life (as seems to happen with most physicians). I WORK as an RN. Being an RN is something I do for a career, not something that I AM as part of my identity as a person. I am first and foremost myself, my ego needs no stroking. If I happen to be at work then I am an RN. I try to set an example in my daily life to others, but I'm not perfect. You will find it is the exact opposite with 99% of physicians/....I don't need the ego thanks.
I don't understand why the idea of becoming a physician after getting experience in nursing is so objectionable to people. It seems that some of the frustrations nurses find with physicians have to do with the lack of understanding and appreciation they may have for the nursing role.
So then, if a student is willing to go through the grueling training of becoming a nurse, work in the field for a few years and gain valuable experience/understanding of what it takes to take care of a patient minute by minute, wouldn't that experience make the person that much better of a physician? To me, physicians and nurses work as part of a team to care for each patient, and I just feel that the more a doctor can understand the nursing role, the better coordination/communication there will be. I say, if you can handle the training and work of both nursing school and med school, then more power to you!
BTW, with regards to egos... I'd say in reading some of the responses that this thread was not without its share of egos.
I don't understand why the idea of becoming a physician after getting experience in nursing is so objectionable to people. It seems that some of the frustrations nurses find with physicians have to do with the lack of understanding and appreciation they may have for the nursing role.
So then, if a student is willing to go through the grueling training of becoming a nurse, work in the field for a few years and gain valuable experience/understanding of what it takes to take care of a patient minute by minute, wouldn't that experience make the person that much better of a physician? To me, physicians and nurses work as part of a team to care for each patient, and I just feel that the more a doctor can understand the nursing role, the better coordination/communication there will be. I say, if you can handle the training and work of both nursing school and med school, then more power to you!
BTW, with regards to egos... I'd say in reading some of the responses that this thread was not without its share of egos.
You have a point. I think if you are unsatisfied in your career than you should definitely be willing to switch. Nursing and medicine is apples and oranges though. They're both fruits, but they don't look nor taste the same.
I don't think going into medicine after nursing is objectionable, I just think if your ultimate goal is medicine then you are wasting your time with nursing. I'm not sure if you've been through nursing school or not, but torturing yourself for an undergrad degree is not worth it if you are planning on hitting medical school after you graduate. That's just my humble opinion on the matter.
Physicians spend a lot of time with patients, true. But the amount of "hands on" care is practicially nil (unless they happen to be a surgeon or stitching someone up). I laugh when I see physicians on "grey's anatomy" pushing patients around in a wheelchair to be discharged. RIGHT! Medicine is a cerebral science/art. Physicians come in, do their thing, and go to the next patient. Often within a matter of minutes.
can't say that i am all the way caught up on this thread (all 9 pages of it...i am working on it though) and so if i am reiterating what others have mentioned i apologize....
i am a currently an rn who is looking into the requirements of what i need to get into med school. the reason for this was not because i did not find nursing incredibly challenging or rewarding.....it was both, or felt as a physician i will be smarter with more authority (neither being true by the way). i simply realized i was looking to practice a different kind of medicine. while i doubt any harm was meant by the op, i have to agree with many of the responses on here stating that becoming a doctor is not taking nursing "all the way". becoming a crna or a np really is nursing at its highest level. this is a common misconception many people seem to have about nursing... along with many others (such as nurses really just being glorified coffee fetchers ) while both are health based professions they are entirely different and unique, and i personally believe co-dependent.
while the op is probably already looking at why it is they believe they want to become a physician; i would really encourage them to take some time and get a feel for each role. what draws you into medicine.... what are your strengths.... are you looking to work more directly with patients and families... make sure that you want to become an md because that is the best fit for you.
good luck in whatever you decide to pursue....
oh btw... i did not go into nursing to become a doctor.... and i would not recommend anyone else to either.... if you want to become a physician please don't take up valuable seats in nursing school needed to be filled by nurses.... (i know... i know... i did it myself and looking back i wish i had known myself a little better and had been able to go a more direct route) also med schools do not usually look favorably at nursing majors to fill med school seats... not from lack of knowledge.... they too know of the shortage and would rather pull from the fine arts pool or a biology major and not increase the shortage......
I considered it but for one thing, I'm not very smart so I decided to become a nurse. That wayI could still work in the hospital even though I wasn't doing the important stuff like doctors do. Also, like you, I was way too old-. I was 27 when I graduated with my BSN. Gosh, if I went to med school then I would have been almost 40 by the time I finished my residency- that's almost dead isn't it? Sounds like you have made the right decision in becoming just a nurse- leave all that doctor stuff to the smarter people.
WHAT?! If you're a nurse, you're smarter than you think. I just hate that people sometimes think that people become nurses because they aren't "smart enough" to be physicians. I am smart enough to go to med school--I just want to be a nurse!
Didn't ask her a single question. What kind of exam was that?
) while both are health based professions they are entirely different and unique, and i personally believe co-dependent. 
:lol2:
RN1982
3,362 Posts
Same here. That was the most ridiculous thing I've read this morning. And depending on the doc's specialty they don't always make a ton of money either.