moyz

sorry to hear this about your son. but the technology for this stuff is getting better and better; i read an article about a young woman who had had a thr at ~28 and she seemed to be doing really well. the doctor didn't give any possible reasons as to why this has come up for your son? he never had any trauma to his hip? arthritis could be do to trauma... (also, i had bone spurs on my foot from trauma...) just some thoughts. anyway, good luck with it all! i did a quick web search and found: why would a young person need a hip replacement? there are many disorders or diseases of the hip that can be treated by a total hip replacement. young people commonly undergo hip replacement for a number of conditions including [color=#003399]avascular necrosis (avn) or osteonecrosis, [color=#003399]congenital hip dysplasia (cdh) and early arthritis as a result of a previous trauma. additional conditions that may be treated by a total hip replacement include hip disease as a result of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, sickle cell disease, slipped capital epiphysis or legg-calve-perthes. often young patients may have had previous hip surgeries for these disorders.

Hi everyone! Thanks for your input! So it sounds like there are a lot of different ways you can go in terms of scheduling and finding a job that fits what you need (compromising in terms of money or compromising in terms of time or stress, etc). I know this is comparing apples and oranges but since mostly everyone has more experience in the healthcare field than I do... It sounds like nurses are able to "choose" (at least to a certain extent) what type of hours they want, whereas doctors (from the research/experience I have) seem to have to work long hours...even if they don't want to put in so many hours (part time work=40 hours/week).

Hi everyone- I'm considering becoming a nurse and I was wondering, do you feel you have enough time outside of being a nurse? Do you feel like you are able to have a life outside of medicine? I've been on the path to become a doctor and I'm now realizing that "wow, I don't want my whole life to be my job," which really does seem the case for doctors (especially through residency and the first 5 years on the job). So I'm thinking nursing now, but I want to make sure that the career doesn't have the same pitfalls that I'm trying to avoid in becoming a doctor. [i recognize that many people would love to have less time working, but I think that's probably true for any job]. Thanks for your input!!

Hey! Thanks so much for your thoughts on nursing. All of the things you said were things that I assumed were issues (and positives) of nursing. I used to work in a medical staff office (made sure docs had the paperwork/credentials to work at the hospital) and then a nursing staff office at the same hospital. I definitely felt that the hospital was extremely respectful of the doctors and that the nurses were taken for granted. Think about the parking reserved for the doctors....I have never seen parking reserved for nurses. Why can't the doctors walk the extra distance to the hospital? (And it's not because they have to rush in to save someone's life!). I think that hospitals need to really start figuring out ways to make the nurses who work there happier. If nurses overall felt more appreciated, the nursing shortage wouldn't continue to get worse and worse every year. I do think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that nursing was traditionally a "woman's" job, and prejudices (and sexism) still abound. As the nursing shortage gets more extreme, I wonder if the hospital administrations will start recognizing they need to treat nurses better or if it will just get worse with the administration trying to stretch the nurses even thinner. My guess is that they will start relying on people who are less trained to do a lot of the extra work, rather than giving the nurses some love. These are just my thoughts on nursing from an outsider's point of view. I'm sure there are many nurses who feel very appreciated by the administration (and I'm sure there are many administrations appreciate their nurses), but it seems that the majority of nurses don't feel that recognition.

So this thread might already be out there, but I couldn't find it, so I figure it's time to ask again:) What's your favorite thing about being a nurse? Least favorite? Do you like being a nurse overall?

I think that you should not take the debt into consideration at all unless you're little sister is really having to rely on you for money. Make the decision on what you want to do. Honestly, a $25,000 debt is a drop in the bucket when compared to the loans you have getting out of med school (Was it a loan? B/c you can ask loans to be held while you're in school. They accrue interest, but at least you're not paying $300/mo). But pretty much everyone comes out of med school in the same boat, a huge debt with little pay...but they will be able to make pretty good money in a couple of years and get rid of that debt. I would also consider looking into USUHS, the military med school (stands for Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences). While in school, the students are commissioned officers in whatever branch of the military they signed up with, and they are paid to be in school, about $65,000/year I think. But then you would owe the military time afterwards-7 years not counting residency, so that could be a big drawback for you. I interviewed their yesterday and the students seemed soooo happy. A little stressed as all med students are, but they definitely seemed happy to be there. Just something to look into for you. Definitely make the decision on what you want to do!

Yeah, the age thing shouldn't really go into the equation for me as much as it has, you're right! But I think also think that even if I ended up having kids later, I would have less work flexiblity that it seems nurses can have (if they find the right job). It sounds like you made the right decision for you. Nice to hear! I'm realizing that basically most important decisions involve some compromise. I'm just really trying to figure out what I'm willing to compromise and what I'm not willing to give up. thanks for your thoughts!

Hi everyone- Is there anyone out there who had planned to become a doctor and decided on the nursing route instead? I've been working towards med school for years...right now I'm in a master's program in which I'm basically doing 1st year med school classes and I'm doing really well. I also just had a med school interview yesterday. I know that I could definitely become a doctor...and now I'm not sure I want to, and I'm thinking of going the nursing route instead. I'm 25 years old, single, but I realized that after med school and residency I would be 33, probably with kids, and probably missing out on a lot of their lives...instead I would be working 80 hour weeks and not making much money. Also, one of the main reasons that I wanted to go into medicine was the patients, and I've realized that most docs don't even spend much time with their patients (in and out). My fear is that I would go through med school, residency and then feel ambivalent about my job while making my family sacrifice. I have tons of respect for nurses and I know that patients do too (when my dad had surgery last year he wouldn't stop talking about the nurses...whereas he didn't even see the doctor). I'm just worried that if I were to become a nurse that I might have issues with the fact that docs are making the ultimate decisions on pt care (and probably realizing that some idiot doctor is making stupid decisions and being condescending maybe?). Anyway, I hope some people can shed some light on how you've found nursing (even if you hadn't considered becoming a doctor). Thanks!