Humanities People

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2010

I am considering doing an accelerated BSN with several degrees in humanities and other related fields. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to meet people who have gone down similar paths, especially with MAs and other advanced degrees. I would be interested to hear your stories of how your background helped/didn't help in this field, how you decided to switch, and the differences between excelling at (let's say) philosophy and nursing. Thanks so much.

I was a linguistics major in college before I switched into nursing (and was actually far enough along in that track that I managed to finish it up as a double major). I had a lot of Latin in high school and college, which definitely helped when I started slogging through medical terminology :lol2: For me, the lightbulb moment was the summer after my sophomore year, when I realized I was halfway through a linguistics degree without any idea of what I wanted to do with it -- I don't know any languages well enough to go into translation, and I had no interest in continuing in academia and someday being in a position to turn out more linguistics majors in the same quandary about their futures. I'm the offspring of a doctor and a nurse, so I've always kind of felt that the hospital is in my blood, even if I felt no personal draw to hospital work at first.

That said, it was sort of a culture shock switching from humanities to science. I got marked way down on my first nursing paper by a TA who didn't understand the concept of a sentence involving two clauses and a semicolon (so if you're coming from philosophy, heads up!). The biggest difference, which is probably an obvious one, is the difference between an idea-based field such as philosophy and the fact-based field that is medicine. The bulk of a nursing program is rote memorization. Skills such as critical thinking and the ability to travel from premise to conclusion will stand you in good stead, but expect a lot less discussion and a lot more question-and-answer, especially at the outset.

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 17, 2010

I haven't actually gone down that path ... but as a nurse with a BSN, MSN, and PhD in nursing, I have often thought of picking up some additional credentials in a humanities field (or fields). I've have taken electives in philosophy, but don't have the solid credentials I would like to have. Sometimes I wish I had taken history classes to give me skills in doing historical research into nursing and/or health care practices. I wish I had taken more writing courses to help me be a better writer. etc.

I have always imagined that if I had the financial freedom to work only part time and "take a few courses just for fun," I would take humanities courses rather than science courses. They would enrich my understanding of the world and also provide me with analytical and communication skills that would enhance my nursing practice -- for teaching, research, publication, and the provision leadership.

I hope you get lots of good responses in this thread. I'll be checking back to see.

llg, PhD, RN

onthefence · Mar 17, 2010

As someone finishing their MA in philosophy I would totally encourage you to take those classes if you can. Digressing from the MA--BSN question at hand, I have no question that my pursuit of this discipline has added immeasurably to every aspect of my life. I really hope other people get the opportunity to delve into this kind of knowledge and would love to assist you in any way if you decide to do anything with philosophy.

mazy · Mar 17, 2010

On the fence, I accepted your request, do not know if it went through.

For me, I always had it very clear in my head that I wanted to go into a helping profession, although a little unsure of what that meant. I went into philosophy because that was very interesting to me, and did complete my degree, but also got a degree in another field at the same time, as i felt I needed something more practical to do career wise -- I came from an academic family and intended to go into academia but decided it was too pie-in-the-sky. Did go on to get a master's in human rights law, so clearly i was pretty sure that I wanted to do something useful.

However, I found that i do not have a the kind of personality to work for change and advocacy on a systematic level, I am not a political animal. I like the behind the scenes, in the trenches, one-on-one part of nursing. that's just me, i like to be up to my elbows in stuff. I like the direct interaction with people, that's my personality. Gave up my career to do this, and I can say that I did not really have much knowledge about nursing, other than knowing some people who were in the field. I just know that after spending about a year questioning myself and what I was doing with my life and having the thought that "I don't know if my life matters to anyone" running through my head, I realized that nursing was what i wanted to do, and once I realized that I knew that nothing else would do. I simply knew that it was what I HAD to do. And I have not looked back.

It is a very intellectually stimulating profession. You learn something new every day, if you are open to that. Good critical thinking skills are crucial. If you are a person who enjoys the study of formal logic, you will find that there is a sort of parellel to the concrete equations of logic used to define the more cerebral aspects of philosophy and the use of very specific rules and structures in nursing to define how people (nurses) can carry out the more "undefineable" idea of helping people.

Don't know if that helps. It's a big leap, and it is a leap of faith. It is very hard to do this profession, especially if you are the kind of person that thinks and ruminates and mulls things over. For me it's worth it,I like all of that kind of thinking about things you do in philosophy but only if it leads to a specific action or result.

:twocents:

koi310 · Mar 18, 2010

I am considering doing an accelerated BSN with several degrees in humanities and other related fields. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to meet people who have gone down similar paths, especially with MAs and other advanced degrees. I would be interested to hear your stories of how your background helped/didn't help in this field, how you decided to switch, and the differences between excelling at (let's say) philosophy and nursing. Thanks so much.

What's your work experience like?

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 18, 2010

As someone finishing their MA in philosophy I would totally encourage you to take those classes if you can. Digressing from the MA--BSN question at hand, I have no question that my pursuit of this discipline has added immeasurably to every aspect of my life. I really hope other people get the opportunity to delve into this kind of knowledge and would love to assist you in any way if you decide to do anything with philosophy.

Thank you for the kind thoughts. Welcome to nursing. Maybe I can give you a hand someday.

For me at the moment, taking classes seems out of the question as I am working 2 jobs. I have a full time hospital job and a part time faculty job at a local university. At age 54, that leaves me too tired to take any classes. But I fantasize about semi-retiring in a few years and taking a few classes while teaching part time. Maybe it will happen ...

Faeriewand, ASN, RN · Mar 18, 2010

I am considering doing an accelerated BSN with several degrees in humanities and other related fields. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to meet people who have gone down similar paths, especially with MAs and other advanced degrees. I would be interested to hear your stories of how your background helped/didn't help in this field, how you decided to switch, and the differences between excelling at (let's say) philosophy and nursing. Thanks so much.

Please, is there some way to make your post more readable? I can't read it at all. The other posters all have readable words. Why is that?

onthefence · Mar 18, 2010

Do you not like the font? I am confused as to the issue.