My I'm going to medical school

[synaptic]

Why I'm going to medical school. Ill keep this short and simple. How does this relate to everybody else? Read the entire thing and see, this explanation is not at all about me.

Overwhelming amount of masters level nursing programs. Never before besides law and maybe the MBA have I ever seen such a large amount of specific programs pop up. Every school in america seems to have a masters level nursing program in their academia. This includes the notorious for-profit schools that everybody excluding people who hold degrees from these institutions seem to loathe. Our credentialing bodies, by allowing all of these poorly regulated programs to pop up, have lowered them selves to the level of weaksause, bile-like vomitus.

decreasing job market. Again, with every soul in america for going an advanced practicing nursing degree, our job availability will decrease severely in the next few years. This has already began to take place, with many NPS across america, varying geographically of course, fighting for entry level jobs making substandard wages.

Low barrier to entry. This is where the nail gets hit on the head. Essentially, to keep enrollment high, higher level nursing programs (excluding a few from higher end schools) have DROPPED their admission standards, in fear that somebody will go to another program instead of their own. NO GRE, NO GPA, NO EXPERIENCE, NO INTERVIEW. I mean come on people, really??? Your so money hungry you will lower your admission standards just to get more applicants and provide more seats. At least in the medical world, schools keep it competitive, for which is mostly to make their school look better.

Role confusion. This is not prevalent everywhere, but even with all these nurses pushing for education of the np model to patients” a large amount of people still don't know what we are. PAGING DOCTOR NURSE, DOCTOR NURSE. I mean how ridiculous does that sound. DOCTOR NURSE??? while the DOCTOR NURSE complication may be DNP and PHD specific, there is much confusion to a nurse wearing a while coat, prescribing medication, etc (not anything wrong with it but it is confusing to patients)

Weaksause curriculum. I am sure there are very difficult schools out there that provide the MSN needed to obtain the overly sought nurse prackk” status, but many of these online programs at for-profit universities have really dumbed the requirements. I know of many schools that require no closed book tests, being the only one you take is your majorly feared BOARD EXAM, which was so notoriously easy i don't see how anybody can fail it. I think the hardest question I had was. SOMEBODY COMES IN WITH THAT BILE-LIKE- VOMUCKUS AND RIGHT QUADRANT UPPER PAIN IN THE ABDOMINALS AREA. WHAT LOLTEST DO YOU ORDER IMAGING WISE FIRST SO U CAN DIAGNOSE THIS PATIENT LIKE A 1337SAUSE NURSE PRACKK AND BE EPICLY LEET AND GET A LONGER WHYT KOAT. But anyway…. it is too easy, to short, and does not always prepare people for the level of knowledge required to do his or her job. If you disagree, then why do we aways get these ZOMG I CANT TAKE MY JOB ITS TOO HARD AND HARD AND I CANT FUNCTION, DIDNIT LERN ENUFF, HELP” posts on all nurses from these inadequate providers that went to the university of the FEENIX at western senator university and didn't even learn what lisinopril is? epic failure my fellow PRACKKS.

I could keep going but i will spare you all from my wonderfully notorious grammar and poor use of capitalization to go study the MCAT since medical school actually has requirements to get into it. By no means am I smarter or think I'm smarter than anyone else, but by taking this path I will have a much more rewarding career, more job options, and an overall better outlook than most (if not all) NURSE PRACKKS. None of this is due to any quality I possess besides the fact that I have been imbued with the knowledge that Low barrier to entry, overly easy schooling, hot popularity, and poor credentialing bodies will lead to a severely saturated market for current and future nurse practitioners, which I have chosen not to be a part of.

If anybody else wants to follow me through a more difficult and rewarding pathway than advance practice nursing can provide, you will reap the rewards of the hard labor you shall put forth, if not, enjoy the last few years of excellent salary guarantee (excluding excellent providers, which most people think they are but they are not even close) and wallow in your despair once your fighting for jobs that pay a couple grand more than RN positions.

Eat dirt you poorly managed nursing credentialing bodies, for imbuing all these poor people with high hopes and dreams which will burn in fumes faster than the dotcom bubble did.

THE PRACK BUBBLE WILL POP, ARE YOU READY?

#incoming hate

#pulverize the dead horse

#all of the people who cherish his or her APRN license will be super MADZLOL and be offended by this which is awesome

#hanging out under my bridge

#overly sensitive nursing population

Oh, and I also put down a 200k+ year job to do all this, for all you people who will be like "LOL YOUR BADZ AND NEED MORE SKOOL TO BE GOODS AND PROBABLY MADE LIKE 55K PER YEAR ROFL ROFL ROFL."

[nurseactivist]

Can't respond to someone who has so little respect for the English language. Learning to write before pursuing any career should be #1 on the list.

[elkpark]

The day will come when I will wear with pride the badge that says, "José Quiñones, RN, BSN, MD."

I doubt that v. much. I've known plenty of physicians who started out as RNs, but none of them volunteered that info other than to close friends. I've never seen a physician with a hospital-provided badge that said anything about any prior occupation/role other than "MD" (although plenty of them have other backgrounds). Just as RN's badges don't say anything about how they were a CNA, LPN, RRT, whatever, prior to becoming an RN. I guess you might choose to wear some kind of personal "RN" pin or badge to identify that you are (were) a nurse, but expect your work setting (outside of your own private practice) to have a problem with that.

Becoming a physician isn't about becoming a nurse with more, better credentials. It's about leaving nursing and entering another discipline.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Can't respond to someone who has so little respect for the English language. Learning to write before persuing any career should be #1 on the list.

I think you meant "pursuing".

[JoseQuinones]

8:12 pm by elkpark I doubt that v. much. I've known plenty of physicians who started out as RNs, but none of them volunteered that info other than to close friends.

All due respect, elkpark, but I will. I think both sides of medicine are hugely important, both the nursing and the doctor side. We all need each other. Perhaps I won't run around on the floor with that badge, but in my public life I will. Heck, I'll put it on the jackets of my books too (supposing I write books, but you get my drift).

[Jules A, MSN]

Your "quality of care" does. Working an 8 hrs a day doesnt make me or anyone else less of a provider. If I have to work more hours at my practice to educate a patient on their acute or chronic disease or when their managing severe symptoms e.g. stroke, heart attack until ambulance reaches them then I will. I have always done so. Which provider will not? I could never sleep well if I did not give it my all. But also when you add the 6 or more hours of charting/reviewing new labs you have to do at night and the follow up calls to patients you have to do in the morning as well signing heaps of paperwork...then how much extra work is needed?

Are you working 6 extra hours a week to finish your work? I hope you get paid for that time. I work several jobs and there is rarely a time when I am not able to get my work finished during the shift. My staff handles patient phone calls. It is my opinion that if I am not able to assess, diagnose and prescribe in the expected time frame I'm not doing something efficient and I need to make changes.

Perhaps I'm misreading your and others' points but it seems like we are back to the self-serving thought that spending more time with a patient and having them "like me" equates to competent care and I'd disagree.

Could we just agree NPs are midlevel providers and stop protesting that label? We truly can't have it both ways.

[nurseactivist]

I googled and didn't correct the spelling, just read the definition. thanks, editor

[anayo, DNP, APRN, NP]

Are you working 6 extra hours a week to finish your work? I hope you get paid for that time. I work several jobs and there is rarely a time when I am not able to get my work finished during the shift. My staff handles patient phone calls. It is my opinion that if I am not able to assess, diagnose and prescribe in the expected time frame I'm not doing something efficient and I need to make changes.

Perhaps I'm misreading your and others' points but it seems like we are back to the self-serving thought that spending more time with a patient and having them "like me" equates to competent care and I'd disagree.

Could we just agree NPs are midlevel providers and stop protesting that label? We truly can't have it both ways.

I dont get it fellow collegue. I know I am a midlevel. Ive said that before. Ive also said that NPs need to know their scope/boundaries as well. But MDs should respect NPs or any other midlevel too.(Not take advantage of them). Im not trying to be an MD. But being MD doesn't make you a "signifcant power" Every health professional needs to work together. Thats what I said before. I am happy being a midlevel. But hey, there are others who are not and want to MDs. Nothing wrong with that. Is it wrong to deliver good care and patients liking you? If youre not in this health profession do so then what are you here for? I know if you had an a-hole PCP you would fire him or her. If its about making lots money then that varies from state, county, or job in your current practice. And no its not all time I do 6 hours extra but you just said NPs arent willing to working hard enough according to docs. Maybe I am misunderstanding you. Does owning multiple practices + making lots of money + not seeing your patients + not being reliable make a good MD for some anyways? Even my own friend whose an MD says, " Those patients are like your family. Treat them like your dad, mom, sister, brother...."

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Could we just agree NPs are midlevel providers and stop protesting that label? We truly can't have it both ways.

Maybe you are a "midlevel" to someone, but the vast majority of NPs are not. Most function independently even in the states that require collaboration agreements. Those agreements have one purpose: to ensure physicians remain in control of the revenue stream. If it were for any other reason an experienced NP could be the supervising provider for a novice NP.

You argue that you won't "do any tasks that a physician wouldn't do" and demand equal pay but then spout this kind of nonsense about NPs as "midlevels". You are right, you can't have it both ways.

I care for a large panel of medically complex patients fully independently in a state that requires a collaboration agreement. My collaborator is my business partner and treats me as such. We do the same job and see the same number of patients on days we work; he works 3 days a week the rest of the time I am alone both inpatient and in clinic. I am similar to the vast majority of my colleagues, most of which make 15-25% less per patient in reimbursement and 25-50% less in salary than their "collaborating" physicians.

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

You're also incredibly intelligent and a fantastic Nurse who puts her patients first and makes a major difference. I've no doubt you'll be an even better NP.

Heya, toots. Thank you. Been thinking about you!

[zenman]

I also do not understand all of your post. MD vs NP vs PA is all a personal choice. Could I have done medical school? Sure. I just didn't want to go that route. Does that make me wrong? No.

Much luck in your endeavors. I really hope there was a good reason for your (lack of) proper grammar.

You think he needs to take an IQ test first?

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

Interesting points have been brought up about "appliance nurses" (new term for me, love it) and nurse practitioners wanting to not work as hard as MDs.

That is because nursing is a pink collar profession, which means nursing is/was a profession of mostly women. Traditionally women are/were the primary caretakers of the home and children, which means we need our work to be flexible, accommodating and not all-encompassing.

As gender roles evolve, we are learning that both sexes need flexibility at work, both sexes need time caring for the family and home; and time contributing to society (that's what nurses do). If we want to still have physicians in the US, (we are running out of them, grabbing them from foreign countries and getting desperate) we will need to change the schooling requirements to fit the needs of the millenial and boomlet generation. This generation does not have sex roles that allow the continuation of the med student who works 80 hours for 7 years for little pay. The contemporary med student does not have a wife who is taking care of everything else, pouring her whole self into the well being of her doctor husband while he lives at the hospital. Nope. Not happening.

The Nurse Practitioner path is doable. Not only that, NPs have similar outcomes to MDs. NP is the future. Not saying there isn't room for improvement. Of course there is. But the idea that NPs are going to become extinct? Not in my lifetime.

Physicians could become extinct. I don't think it will happen, but I think it might if we don't grow with the times. We need to realize that with the internet, the wealth of constant information, we simply do not have to school physicians the way we used to. We can relax a little. And that's a lucky thing.

[Jules A, MSN]

You argue that you won't "do any tasks that a physician wouldn't do" and demand equal pay but then spout this kind of nonsense about NPs as "midlevels". You are right, you can't have it both ways.

Actually that was meant to be tongue in cheek for those saying they don't need to work as hard as a physician because their patients get so more attention and holistic care. The point I was attempting to make all along was that if we want to be considered on par with physicians we need to function as they do.

I'm in an independent state so no collaborator needed here but sadly no my pay is not equal to what the psychiatrists bring in.