why a nurse and not a doctor

eltrip · Oct 1, 2004

We ARE smart! We knew enough of the potential drawbacks to a medical career & CHOSE nursing!

trauma_junkie1 · Oct 1, 2004

You know, I started out wanting be a doctor and several nurses told me that I should, "just be a nurse." There argument was that it was easier school, less school and less debt. My arguement at the time was that NURSING is not what I wanted to do. They seemed to think the same thing that a lot of people think, that nursing is the same thing, except an easier road and a better lifestyle.

I ended up changing my mind because I worked for 4 years as a tech in a hospital (Telly, ICU, and ED) and found that I was more interested in what nursing had to offer.

I am a hands on guy. I like procedures. I probably would have become a surgeon had I gone to med school. But I learned that other than surgeons, that aspect of medicine drops off sharply after residency. The folks getting to do the cool procedures were all residents. The attendings hardly even SAW patients. In private practice, the docs (surgeons excepted) never really did any procedures. RTs intubated in codes, very rarely did I ever see a doc put in any kind of access (like a deep line).

Even the surgical stuff I was interested in was done by residents or PAs. I didn't really have the interest to be in the OR all day doing the monotonus bowel surgery that you have to do as a GS. I would rather be out in the unit putting the chest tube in or other such "smaller" procedures.

I thought about PA school, but realized that in Nursing, I could do a lot of cool things that I was interested in along the way to being an NP. And maybe I'd even decide to stop along the way and settle down.

I've worked in ICU, ED, I'd like to fly, maybe do some OR work and then go for my MSN ACNP.

So, I think that they are very different careers and you can't just say, "well, I'll be a doc, but if decide I want an easier road, I'll be a nurse."

edogs334 · Oct 1, 2004

This is an interesting question to discuss. It seems as though whenever I tell people at my undergrad. school what I want to do after graduation [i'm looking to become a nurse after I get my BA this May '05], they almost always give me this confused look and say something like "Well, why don't you just go to medical school?" Maybe it has something to do with the fact that most people who go into a medical field at my school end up becoming MD's. I think it also has something to do with the fact that I'm male, and the unconscious (or conscious) stereotype of a guy who's interested in pursuing a health care job is someone who's going tp become an doctor. I wonder if these same people would have a different reaction if I were female. No offense, but I still think that the stereotypical image of a nurse is still decidedly female in most people's minds. That's kind of understandable, because nursing has been a female-dominated profession for such a long time (not that I think that's a bad thing). So maybe now I have a small understanding of what it's like for women to hear confused reactions from people when they tell them that they are going into historically male-dominated professions, such as engineering or firefighting.

Ian

talaxandra · Oct 1, 2004

The blue collar aspect RN4NICU brought up is interesting - the (private, all-girls) secondary school I went to produced over fifty doctors (out of 201 year 12 graduates) but only two nurses. I didn't even think about nursing (and my mother, aunt and cousin were nurses!) until I'd been out of school a couple of years - I wanted to be a psychologist, which I am wholly unsuited for!

PennyLane, RN · Oct 1, 2004

I never even considered nursing until a couple of years ago (I'm 29). All my life I had thought I'd either be a doctor, a teacher, or an astronaut. After graduating college, I started working in the IT sector and hated it. I decided I wanted to enter healthcare, but I wasn't willing to put myself through med school and all the years of working toward becoming an MD, only to find I had no life outside of the hospital.

I began researching nursing and found it fit better with my idea of how to help sick people--treat the whole person, not just their physical ailments. Hold their hand, listen to their fears, talk to them about their families.

Plus, like Tweety said, work 3 12s and have 4 days off! Switch areas! Work part-time! Travel nursing!

abundantjoy07, RN · Oct 1, 2004

Because nursing kicks some major booty. That's why.

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 1, 2004

IT is very simple:

I wanted to be a NURSE, not an MD.

I wanted a life outside work.

just that much.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Oct 2, 2004

What Deb said.

allnurses Guide · Oct 2, 2004

As one of the earlier posters said, they are two totally different professions.

I provide bedside, hands on, physical, and emotional care. I directly address the needs of people, I assess their status, note any changes, actual or potential problems, and am there 24/7 (figuratively speaking). I focus on the person, not the diagnosis. Nurses have a wellness oriented educational thrust in general.

Medicine has a diagnostic, "figure out what the problem is", educational thrust. There are many very caring doctors (I work with a great group), but our educations take different tracks. We do different things, in parallel.

ayndim · Oct 2, 2004

Well I am choosing nursing for a couple of reasons. 1) I want to be a nurse not an MD. 2) I love spending time with my kids, being there for them. I figure as a nurse I can work nights and be gone while they are asleep, dh will drop them at school, I will grab a couple of ZZZ's then collect them from school. 3) I like only working 3 days a week. Love 12 hour days. And like hospitals, not as a pt though :) 4) I rarely see an MD myself, usually I see a NP and a CNM so why in the world would I want to go into a profession when I find another profession better at meeting my own personal needs. Now the kids do have a great ped that is an MD and I like my backup MD (if the NP tells me it is out of her scope/knowledge) but the APN's spend more time with you and because we are on a first name basis we seem to have a better realtionship. Weird but I feel more comfortable telling them very personal info probably because of being on a first name basis.

Lastly, nurses are the best.

beckymcrn · Oct 2, 2004

Why a Nurse and Not a Doctor?

I have many reasons for being a nurse and not a doctor.

1)I started nursing school when I was married with children. Nursing school was hard and took long enough I could not imagine going through all that school then. ( although now since the kids are grown I will be going back for a higher NURSING degree)

2) Since I have becaome a nurse and can look at both sides of the field I choose nursing. A nurse spends time with patients. The doctor although they do get to form a relationship with their patients it happens in minute amounts of time. I get to spend as much time as I choose with my patients. I am not dictated by 15 minute intervals of time when I see a patient get all their information and make it better. I am the one who after the diagnosis is given and the patient sits devastated in the room trying to figure out what effect this will have on their life can sit and hold their hand or just listen to then as they recount in their own words what the doctor has just told them.

I am the one who is THERE when they are given their first dose of chemo therapy, or first unit of blood or blood products. I am the one who is there when they need pain meds or to ADVOCATE for more or different pain meds for them when theirs is no longer working. I am the one who is there when the patient gets back from surgery to comfort and care for them, and/or finally I am the one who is there when the patient takes their last breath to help the passage be a peaceful and painless as possible for the patient and the family.

And finally 3) I am a nurse instead of a doctor because of all of the above and I feel some of us are called to be doctors, some nurses, some cooks, and mechanics. Me, I have been called to be a NURSE.

There is no other job I would rather have. I can't imagine not being a nurse.

angel Ann · Oct 2, 2004

whew!. you've probably got the most brilliant answer up there..We all love being a nurse,don't we?..For me,it is God who actually put us in the position with a genuine heart of compassion to look after the sick people.Have we ever thought of using our diligent hands still won't make much difference at all?..Doctors need nurses,we do on the other way round.It won't even work succesfully without the other.