nurses vs. doctors

both are good. one can not work without the other.we are allied, we are team! so there's no reason to find out who's better or not coz both have roles in promoting the wellness of a person.it's similar with a boat and a paddle, one can't work without the other most especially if the water is very still (pertains to the patient near death).so i salute both.

Being a doctor is better because people don't seem to care when you don't wash your hands, but when you are a nurse, even if you wash your hands 1,000,000 times a day, you get blamed when the patient gets infected.

Doctors have the financial advantage over nurses because they earn more money; in addition, doctors have the sociological advantage because they're members of the most prestigious occupation in the world. Moreover, doctors have many more years of rigorous tertiary education.

Docs also have far less flexibility, more non-medical responsibilities (office overhead, employee expenses, outrageous malpractice premiums), and greater likelihood of either bringing the job home with them or not coming home often enough.

I make enough to be happy. I'll gladly give up the prestige and the big bucks to have a life I consider sane and flexible.

Dr. Tom Scalea, who runs Baltimore Shock Trauma (the place where "the Golden Hour" was first named and understood), said he never married because he wanted the freedom to put in 100-hour weeks and not feel he was neglecting his family. Granted, not all docs put in that kind of committment, but I don't know any who can work in-house per diem or agency. Or who can change to a different specialty area with just a few months of orientation.

Of course, we need docs. I just don't want to be one.

Perhaps Nursing as opposed to Medicine ... philosophies of care, training and education as prep for the job, how the professional relationships have changed say in the past 30 or so years. I don't know, does that sound somewhat like your goal for this project???

If there's a pomegranate category, I'd like to be in it.

Seriously, if you're asking which is better, the counter-question is, "better in what way?"

Here are some advantages that come to mind when I ask myself if I wish I'd gone the doc route:

--shorter education time to be a nurse

--lower financial committment

--more flexibility as far as specialty. When I needed a break from

psych, I switched to postpartum. Can't do that very easily when you've invested 3-5 years in a residency.

--low overhead. Don't have to staff an office or buy tons of equipment. Give me scrubs and a stethoscope and I'm set.

--I like scrubs and prefer wearing them over business attire.

--many, many options. Can work anything from NICU to geriatrics and everything in between. Don't even have to have patient contact if I work in QA or insurance.

--longer patient contact time. Lots of teaching opportunities.

--can leave the job at work.

--option to work part time or per diem. Has been very valuable to me.

--potential for more family time. If I'd gone the medical route, I know I wouldn't have had six kids.

Considered becoming a doc. Had the grades. Had the interest and the motivation. Preferred nursing for all the above reasons and many more.

Thanks for your post. I've struggled with the same issues myself (I have the grades and interest), but what you said reiterated my feelings on the issue. ESPECIALLY the part about being able to switch specialties without having to deal with the residency issue.

why are you chosing the other profession when in fact you are a nurse? you should have chosen to be a doctor instead. it's a matter of who knows better in different areas.a nurse is more skillful than doctors most especially in saving lives right on the spot! but for doctors, they are more better in prescribing medicines hehehehe...

I'm apples over oranges - except when it comes to the fruit juice:D, not sure where that would put me in the paper?

For my I would still choose nursing over being a doctor because of the flexibility it gives me and the known working hours (within a few anyway!). I don't think I'd want to be a doctor, I think they have a very stressful job (even more than mine) & what's the point of earning all that money when they don't really have the time to enjoy spending it!

I appreciate what they do & like being part of the medical team but don't want their part of it! I usually manage to get on really well with doctors I work with - but no way would I want to swap places with any of them!

What's the difference between a nurse and a doc (and a distinct advantage for being a doc)?

Oh, I'd say about $150,000.00 a year.