Nurse to Doctor

amzyRN · Apr 17, 2008

I know of a DO that was originally an RN. She's a political activist these days, and is involved in trying to actually reduce the practice scope and independence of NPs in our state. Her rationale: When I was an RN, "I didn't know what I didn't know".

Wow, that's lame, sorry to hear that.

dhigbee · Apr 17, 2008

Thanks. I had planned to go to medical school at one point, and was actually accepted. Since we had 2 young children at the time, it just didn't feel right. My husband is an MD and is quite bright, so I had a good idea of the time and commitment, and mental and physical exhaustion that would be involved. I'm happy with my role as an NP, and I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do, working with the underserved in a Christian organization.

Dana

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 17, 2008

I've known several physicians who had been nurses. Most of them are great to work with and have a wonderful bedside manner. I do have to say that one of the rudest physicians I've met in recent years had been a nurse.

I've also known physicians who had been respiratory therapists, psychologists, dentists, and even veterinarians. Sometimes we think we know what we want to do, until we actually do it.

One gentleman I knew was a dentist until he was in his 40's. He left his practice and went to medical school. Someone asked him why, when he'd decided to be a dentist? He replied: "No, an 18-year-old boy decided I wanted to be a dentist. I want to be a doctor!"

Like dhigbee, I'm satisfied with being an NP. I worked in a teaching hospital for 13 years, and even though I know that now residents are limited to "only" 80 hours a week, I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to become a physician. I plan to get my "terminal degree" eventually, mostly so that I can someday teach while sitting at home in my jammies. No medical school, not if you paid me to do it.

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 17, 2008

I know of a DO that was originally an RN. She's a political activist these days, and is involved in trying to actually reduce the practice scope and independence of NPs in our state. Her rationale: When I was an RN, "I didn't know what I didn't know".

I've known a few physicians of whom you could say the same. Or, if they knew what they didn't know, they wouldn't admit it.

VivaRN · Apr 17, 2008

I had a GP who was an ICU RN for many years. She became an MD because NP's hadn't really caught on yet. She is an excellent provider and took great care of me. She could talk to me about my health knowing the lifestyle of an RN.

There are also two NP's in her practice. She loves working with them and tells me about things they have taught her.

orangepink, NP · Aug 9, 2009

Yes, RN to MD is doable but quite difficult to accomplish. I have an aunt, a nurse for 12yrs, married with 3 very young kids, got into a medical school in the Carribean. At 42yrs old, she is currently a 2nd year resident in Miami. Unfortunately she has had to forget about her family in New York in order to focus on her studies. Only gets to see them maybe once every two to three months.
One of my friends, an ICU RN was lucky to get into a medical school in the States but spent three years taking science classes before applying.

when you mentioned that your aunt still went for med school at the age of 42, i felt so much relief. i'm 27 yrs old and i'm just thinking of taking my pre-reqs for med school and i feel ancient just thinking about committing the next 7-10 yrs of my life to med school but i just want to give it a shot. whether it works out or not, i wanna say to myself that at least, i tried so thank u so much! it means a lot to me!

MedSurgeMess · Aug 9, 2009

I've known a few physicians of whom you could say the same. Or, if they knew what they didn't know, they wouldn't admit it.

OMG, you work where I do :chuckle

Nurse2Doc2008 · Aug 10, 2009

I went from nurse to doctor! Nursing didn't really help at all during the first two years, since the volume and depth of information was so much greater than nursing school. It helped somewhat in the third/fourth year because I knew how things worked in the hospital and had done a lot of assessments on patients as a nurse. However, the considerations of MD's are much, much different than what I thought about as a nurse, so in terms of coming up with treatments/plans, I don't know that nursing helped THAT much, although it probably helped a little. I found it most helpful in terms of interacting with patients and families...most of my classmates hadn't been in the role of a healthcare provider at all and were nervous communicating treatments and plans to pt's and families. Most people got over this within a few months, but I think I had a leg up. Also, I was much more comfortable with procedures...I was proficient at blood draws and IV's while my classmates hadn't ever performed these procedures. And incidentally, at the hospitals I worked as a med student and now a resident, nurses wouldn't draw blood OR start IV's, so we had to do quite a bit of both...

As far as nurses and doctors not knowing what they don't know, I think it's true of both populations. Further, I think both nurses and MD's should be a little less arrogant about what they know and don't know -- nurses about diagnostics/treatment and doctors about the patient's overall wellbeing. I have great discussions with many of the nurses on the floor, mostly b/c I explain WHY I'm thinking what I am and then they explain WHY they're thinking what they are....personally, I think things fall apart when one or both parties fails to do this.

JoblessRN · Aug 10, 2009

i just graduated form nursing school. growing up, i always wanted to be an md or rn, but didn’t think i was smart enough to be an md. i barely passed high school (i won't go into details as to why, but i didn’t have time to concentrate on high school and didn't care - too much going on at home with a critically sick person to take care of). i enrolled in cc and did very, very well. however, as i started my med pre-req's i first enrolled in botany. i got a "d" on my first exam and freaked. i studied like crazy and did way better on the second one, but i psyched myself out and convinced myself that i wasn't smart enough for med school. i transferred to a very prestigious public university and volunteered in different capacities working with md's and rn's. i decided that i still wasn't smart enough for med school (i clearly have confidence/esteem issues still), and thought nursing would be a better fit anyway b/c i wanted a family.

i have regretted my decision ever since. (i have good days where i am happy with my decision with nursing and days where i get really upset with myself).

i wished that i would have believed in myself - i'm not stupid and i could have done med school. sadly, i feel that i am too old now and simply cannot afford to go back for med school. i can’t even find a job as a new grad nurse for the life of me (now going on 36 job applications with no luck).

my pcp was an rn first. it’s obviously been done, but i don't think nursing would give you that much of an advantage. in fact, i have heard that med schools don't like admitting rn's. now, i don't know if that’s true, but i imagine (imo) it is.

if you really want to be a doctor, don’t waste your time in nursing school. like i said, i have heard applying to med school as an rn might put you at a disadvantage.

i hate to live my life habitually living with regrets, but this is something i can’t really forgive myself for. if you want it, do it. don’t make the same mistake i did (if you want med school). :twocents:

RN2MD2013 · Sep 21, 2010

I was a nurse for 9 yrs in ER, MICU, PICU and currently in my second yr of med school. As everyone said, it is doable but not easy. Prereqs, MCAT, letters of rec, applying, interviews, etc. For me I knew I wanted the scope of practice so it was worth it. To answer one of the questions regarding did being a nurse make med school easier.....in some regards thus far. The basic sciences are hard regardless of nursing experience, but talking w/ pts, the interworkings of the hospital, and the endless knowledge that a nurse gains while pulling 12-hr shifts in the unit definitely give us an advantage. We already know ACLS, hemodynamic monitoring, why you keep a nitroprusside protected from light, sterile technique, why you just hit an artery and not the vein, why PEA sucks, the difference between NS and D5NS.....and on and on. Good luck to any out there who are considering crossing over....think hard about it cuz it's a committment that is unrelenting while you're going through it. But I'd do it again.

RN2MD2013 · Sep 21, 2010

I totally agree w/ nurse2doc2008. I'm in my second yr of med school and my 9 yrs experience in ICU and ER haven't really helped w/ the basic sciences. No words can describe how difficult and time consuming it is but it's doable. I made another post w/ what the benefits are of nursing experience so I wont touch on that now, but I will say I agree that nurses and doctors need to be more humble toward one another and realize that they both do important jobs, albeit very different, but important. Many doctors, mostly young doctors still in residency or even med school, make ignorant comments about what nurses know / do on the wards. In time, most of them will see how intelligent many of the nurses are and how they contribute to patient care / well-being. However, the 9 yrs I was a nurse, I heard so many nurses comment on the stupid order the doctor wrote, or that the doctors have no idea what's really going on, etc. I use to even think that about some of the ICU residents...not attendings.....I worked with.....then I went to medical school. There are reasons for why docs order what they do, when they do. Their decision making process's are completely different than what we were taught as nurses. Not saying they are worse or better, but different b/c they are in a different role than the nurse. I once thought that nurses should be taught way more than they are in nursing school, but now I think they are taught plenty b/c nurses have to worry about virtually everything involving pt care. They dont need to know what 7-alpha hydroxylase does in hypothyroidism...they have enuf on their plates. A nurses true critical thinking skills are learned on the job w/ yrs of experience. I mean come on, HOW MANY nurses out there can say they graduated nursing school and knew more than enough not to kill or harm someone???? We were all green but we learned and seasoned, which is what you have to keep in mind when the new resident writes a wrong order. Dont call them stupid b/c let me tell you they went through med school...they are not stupid, so use the opportunity to train them! OK I gotta study. Thanks for listening.