Not smart enough to be a doctor?

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Specializes in Med/surg, rural CCU.

Grr- I also frequent a parenting site, and was appalled at a mother's thread. She was asking for information about becomming a neonatal nurse. Then followed with "I'd love to be an OB dr, but D*mn I'm not smart enough"

Really??? But you feel you are "smart enough" to take care of critically ill babies??

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

Maybe she meant that she's not "academically inclined" enough. Would it offend you if I said that I love being a nurse, but chemistry makes me cry? ... and calculus makes me want to jump off a tall building? I am the smartest person in the whole world....or at least in the top ten....but it would be very difficult for me to get anywhere near accepted to a medical school.

Please take all of this only 50% seriously.

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Specializes in Med/surg, rural CCU.

When I questioned her, she followed with she'd never feel competent to deliver a baby. I'm not an OB nurse, but I know they deliver babies sometimes (though it;s not the preferred outcome)

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EMTs deliver babies at times and that's only roughly a semester of school with no other pre-reqs other than a clean record and being 18 years old. :p

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A lot of the general public have no real knowledge of the skills and education needed to be a Nurse. She was probably making an opinion based on what she'd seen in the media.

And we ALL know how they portray us....

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Specializes in ER.

Lots of babies come out on their own without any help at all.

I wouldn't make a doctor because organic chemistry makes me cry.

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delivering a healthy baby is cake... Its more about staying out of the way. The human body is amazing that way. Thats a big difference from taking care of very sick babies in the NICU with wires and resuscitation and meds and random crashes.

IMO the biggest difference between nursing school and MD school is time. I could do it. I wouldn't love the classes but I've no doubt that I could get through. However, the idea of that much school straight and being moved all over the country before being let loose to actually get a 'real' job, not to mention the debt incurred, almost makes me break out in hives.

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I once had an instructor in school, early on (pre-reqs to NS), who adamantly thought I should go to med school instead of NS and for two entire semesters he tried to convince me of it. [He had multiple doctorates, including MD with advanced specializations... don't know how he had any time to practice with all the time he spent in school...]

I tried to explain, but he never got it: I WANT to be a nurse. I do not WANT to be a doctor. The jobs are totally different, and I prefer nursing. Some people will never get that.

And others just think that neonatal nursing involves cuddling cute babies all day long... sheesh.

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Specializes in NICU.

Ummm.....I'm in orientation for NICU right now. I'm shaking in my boots. And yes, I'm very smart. I was in a gifted and talented program all through elementary and high school, I'm awesome at the sciences, and I did spend a few months in deep thought about whether I wanted to go to nursing school or med school. I'm fully confident that I would have been accepted to medical school should I have applied. I'm super excited about my unit....but each day of orientation makes me quake a little more with (a healthy amount of) fear.

I'm agreeing with a PP that perhaps she thinks a neonatal nurse works in the well baby nursery and does nothing but cuddles babies all day.

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Lots of babies come out on their own without any help at all.

I wouldn't make a doctor because organic chemistry makes me cry.

Bwahhhhhhhhhahaha! Coffee up my nose...

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Specializes in Med/surg, rural CCU.
Ummm.....I'm in orientation for NICU right now. I'm shaking in my boots. And yes, I'm very smart. I was in a gifted and talented program all through elementary and high school, I'm awesome at the sciences, and I did spend a few months in deep thought about whether I wanted to go to nursing school or med school. I'm fully confident that I would have been accepted to medical school should I have applied. I'm super excited about my unit....but each day of orientation makes me quake a little more with (a healthy amount of) fear.

I'm agreeing with a PP that perhaps she thinks a neonatal nurse works in the well baby nursery and does nothing but cuddles babies all day.

Exactly. I graduated one of the top in my class in HS, but I actually WANT to be a nurse. My sister has asked me before why I stopped at "just a nurse" :mad: No, I did not start medical school and start at a midpoint! I picked the career I wanted and went for it. I have goals, but being an MD is not one of them.

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I hate the public perception that people become nurses because they aren't smart enough to be doctors. I could probably make it through medical school, but as a 30 year old mother of two children, it doesn't make alot of sense.

I want to be a nurse because I like the direct interaction with patients and opportunities to improve their situation beyond prescribing meds.

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