Nursing School Vs Med School, no comparison

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

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As someone who is about to complete medical school, and who went through nursing school for a BSN, the knowledge gap between the two is exponential. In light of recent arguments made by militant nurses who argue that the required nursing courses to complete an associates degree or BSN is just as good as medical school. First you take an A&P, 101 course on microbiology, a introductory 12 week course in "orgo/gen chem, Biochem" all combined superficially in 12 weeks, 12 week course in Pathophysiology 101.

Looking back those courses, they were very superficial at the amount of knowledge required to pass. Those science courses were no where near the complexity that medical schools dig into, where things get broken down into the mechanism of protein structures that allow them to function a certain way. With out understanding the complexities of the inner workings of what actually occur at the cellular level, you can't begin to understand what went wrong when the ALGORITHM they are trained to follow doesn't go according to plan. Then comes the nursing courses, and the "clinicals" that they do. The actual nursing courses were good enough to understand and complete NURSING tasks. They were not good enough to treat and effectively manage complex disease, but when I was a nursing student at that time I thought I knew just as much as a doctor, and I was dead wrong. The clinicals were a joke, you passed out meds,maybe gave a few injections, changed wet diapers on incontinent patients, and followed the orders given by the doctor.

I am all about advanced education, but there is NO DIFFERENCE in the fundamental knowledge between a RN VS BSN other than some "nursing research courses and fluff to get fancy titles like clinical nurse specialist, or infection control specialist" but the core principles are EXACTLY THE SAME. So when they claim they have a BSN not an associates in nursing, there is NO difference, and I dare you to find me a BSN who would say there is.

Something else that ticks me off I hear from nurses trying to be MD's is " I have 15+ years in the ICU, ER, or MED/SURG floor," that counts as more education like a residency. Good for you! But, when I worked as a nurses assistant for 5+ years I didn't claim to know or be equivalent to a RN just because I saw what they did, and helped them carry out orders. How would NURSES like it if LPN's claimed to be EQUIVALENT to RN's/BSN's? Probably wouldn't go well. I am not knocking down the profession of nursing, what I am annoyed with is NURSES/NP's claiming to be equivalent to MD's. You are not, you were trained in the NURSING SCOPE of practice.

I love nurses, yes I would trust a seasoned ICU nurse's opinion vs a Freshly minted MD out of med school in July as an Intern, but I guarantee that by the end of 3-4 months of intern year, his knowledge base will increase exponentially to surpass that of any ICU nurse due to his knowledge base gained from 8 years of education that doesn't stop during residency, and now applying it daily as a intern. So nurses I beg you to please just work within your scope as a nurse, and stop trying to claim equivalency through studies "propaganda" funded by the militant nurses association.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

Please link the posts that outright state anywhere that any nurse on this forum has said that a BSN is equivalent to medical school.

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Specializes in Neurosurgery, Neurology.

This person is a troll. There's a thread over at Student Doctor Network, in the Allopathic section (Error | Student Doctor Network), with the same name. Someone said, a year ago, to post it here and see fireworks, and now a year later the OP said that he did it.

Don't feed the troll.

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Who's bringing the popcorn?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
In light of recent arguments made by militant nurses who argue that the required nursing courses to complete an associates degree or BSN is just as good as medical school.
In a decade of nursing, I have never heard a nurse claim that an associate degree or BSN is 'as good as' medical school.

Medicine is part of the medical model of care provision, whereas nursing is part of the nursing model. Medicine and nursing are two strikingly different professions, so comparing the two would be akin to comparing apples and eggplants.

I strongly suspect you posted this discussion on a nursing forum to kick up a potential dust storm because you know the overwhelming majority of respondents are going to be nurses or nursing students. Your accomplishments and educational attainment are to be applauded. On the other hand, I urge all future respondents to avoid feeding into this obviously baiting argument.

Thank you for posting this controversial piece, by the way. It will certainly attract traffic and serve as tantalizing click bait. :)

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This person is a troll. There's a thread over at Student Doctor Network, in the Allopathic section (Error | Student Doctor Network), with the same name. Someone said, a year ago, to post it here and see fireworks, and now a year later the OP said that he did it.

Don't feed the troll.

Can moderators delete this person's account?

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I didn't post it just to get a reaction. I seriously want to see the alternate viewpoint. Do nurses actually try to compare their 2-4 year (post-high school) training with the 11-15 year (post-high school) training of a doctor?

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I didn't post it just to get a reaction. I seriously want to see the alternate viewpoint. Do nurses actually try to compare their 2-4 year (post-high school) training with the 11-15 year (post-high school) training of a doctor?

No, they don't. You have some bad information. Or you are confusing the discussion of the current multiple educational pathways to registered nursing ... with completely separate consideration of the equivalency of care provided by advanced practice nurses (CRNPs / APRNs) as compared to other providers.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Do nurses actually try to compare their 2-4 year (post-high school) training with the 11-15 year (post-high school) training of a doctor?
Uh, no. Let me furnish a few facts...

70 percent of all adults in this country are without a college degree. Most of the unwashed masses in the US will never attain 15 years of postsecondary schooling, let alone 1 year of it.

I'm in it for a paycheck and a job that I can forget when I go home. I don't want to call any shots or have 24 hour responsibility for patients, so I'm pleased that physicians would willingly submit to this lifestyle and level of liability because I don't want it. Congratulations!

What is your point in visiting a nursing forum again?

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I haven't seen anyone say nursing school is equivalent to medical school. As far as staying in one's scope of practice, you appear to be ignoring APRN programs entirely.

The studies I see posted here generally refer to patient outcomes in primary care.

However, the most dominant feature of your post is your unexplained personal antipathy toward nurses in general.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
I didn't post it just to get a reaction. I seriously want to see the alternate viewpoint. Do nurses actually try to compare their 2-4 year (post-high school) training with the 11-15 year (post-high school) training of a doctor?

Back-pedaling much?

You didn't ask for opinions. You made a seriously inaccurate accusation from your personal soap box. You aren't going to get a rise out of us because what you think us "militant" nurses believe regarding nursing school vs med school is ludicrous.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Who peed in this guy's corn flakes?

Sheesh-----troll

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