Leave research to go for AGNP?

[hakunamatata, BSN, RN]

Hi all, needing some advice from those who know their stuff. I am an RN, have been for about 2 years. Did 1 year in acute care in a hospital, hated it; then got my dream job in clinical research. I run pharmaceutical trials in a small office in San Francisco and see about 2-4 patients a day; I do physicals, blood draws, and generally talk to them about their health and symptoms/medications. It is perfect for me because I have always loved medicine, I do love being a nurse, but I don't do well in hospitals (I'm a wimp, I'm aware).

Anyways - my doc and I end up doing a lot of primary care simply because part of our job requires it, and then many of our patients are uninsured so we sort of take care of them as we can. I absolutely love the primary care part of my job, and I've come to find out I'm quite good at it (like I said, I can relate to medicine more than my nursing skills).

Thus, I'm considering the possibility of going back to school for Adult/Gero Nurse Practitioner. I do not want to work for my particular boss forever, so I'd either continue to work in clinical research or go back to school.

I've still got a ton of debt from two undergrad degrees, so finances are my most concerning point, but then the career in general. Research does not have a lot of cons for me so I don't want to end up having mass regrets. I am however confident that I'd be a great practitioner and would be very happy with the work.

Any opinions or advice in general would be very helpful. Especially when it comes to how to work and manage school, and what people's advice is there.

Thanks so much