Robert (EM MD)

I was an EMT and later a paramedic working in a busy 911 system and am now a happy EM physician. My suggestion to you would be to carefully reflect on what exactly you want, or don't want, in your career, before you make any irrevocable decisions. You are conveying discontent with your nursing education but it's not clear to me if you are dissatisfied with what you see looking forward to a nursing practice. Nursing theory seems from my limited exposure to it to have a lot of woo; med school has a lot of science but is not without its irrational aspects too. For example, many of the "scientific" explanations you learn in med school are known to be false, yet they continue to be taught out of tradition and habit and unwillingness to say "we really have no idea why this happens." But formal education is temporary and practice is lifelong. In practice (pardon the pun) physicians tend to have a little more grounding in science and research methods as well as more freedom to vary their practice based upon the evidence. But good nurses and good doctors both follow the literature, pay attention to pathophysiology and pharmocology and (OTOH) spend large parts of their day on communicating with patients, implementing standard protocols laid down by hospital committees, CMS, JHACO, etc., and examinations and other physical skills (not to mention charting . . . lots of charting.) If you want to think and be a scientist, you do not have to be an MD/DO, or even an NP -- ED and ICU nurses are scientists, you'd better believe it! So nursing practice and physician practice don't necessarily differ to the extent their educational tracks might lead you to expect. What distinguishes physician practice is greater responsibility for the overall plan of care and (usually) managing more patients at a time. What distinguishes nursing (it seems to me; others could tell you better) is more direct bedside care; nursing is "the tip of the spear" in military parlance. I do plenty of physical things: I help move patients, I put in lines and ET tubes, I examine everyone. But I rarely empty a bedpan, I don't fetch as many blankets of cups of ice chips, and there are times when I would much rather be at the bedside doing those things and talking to my patient than doing what I am doing, frantically scrolling through 15 years and a dozen hospitalizations' worth of medical records trying to understand my patient's history. There are other things to consider too: healthcare education is exhausting and most of us have fantasied about throwing it over and doing something else. This may be your way of thinking about getting out of the situation you're in, when in reality you're exactly where you wanted to be and you just need to gut out this stretch. Or, if you decide you want to be a provider, you can consider whether you want to build on the nursing path you've already started on with an NP or CRNA, or whether you want to get off the path quickly as early as possible and start again with the goal of being a PA/MD/DO or what have you. Only you know what is really important to you. I went to med school because I wasn't satisfied with the limited path and treatment of paramedics. I didn't become a PA or an RN because I knew that I didn't want to spend the next 30 years carrying out someone else's plan or being called an "assistant." I am very happy in my career, although I do miss the bedside care I got to do as a medic, and the pressure and demands from patients, regulators, administrators, nurses (yes!) and my partners is no joke. I wouldn't change it for anything. I hope you find the right path for you.