"Too smart" to be a nurse

Published

Everytime I tell people that I am studying to be a nurse, the reply is always the same. "Oh, you are so much smarter than that! You should be a doctor!" :angryfire It infuriates me every time I hear it. Nurses do so much more than they get credit for, and I know nurses who are a lot smarter than some doctors. Just because nurses are not in school as long and don't get paid as much as doctors, DOES NOT mean we are not as smart. I happen to want to be a nurse because I love interacting with patients, who are human beings in need of someone to take care of them. Nurses get waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more interactions with the patients than the doctors do.

Has anyone else been told the same thing?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I believe almost everyone was told that. You have to make you happy there are so many levels of nursing. Maybe the person or persons telling you that you are too smart for nursing dont really know the qualities or the benefits of being a nurse. Maybe you need to explain why it is so important to you in becoming a nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

People think that healthcare jobs and intelligence (and pay) stretch out in one big line. CNAs, home health aides, and similar folks are at one end. Docs are at the other. We, as nurses, are seen to fall somewhere in between.

There are a couple of things wrong with this scenario. One is that it makes ridiculous generalizations, as if people at the low-pay end are all too dimwitted to function at a higher level and that the folks at the higher-paid end all possess superior intelligence and skills. As most of us are aware, this "just ain't so."

The second generalization might be the easier one to address. That is that nursing and doctoring are achievement grades of the same career, as if nurses were substandard docs and docs were supernurses. Not at all accurate.

You might be able to explain that nursing and doctoring, while both dealing with healthcare and patients, are very different jobs that each entail their own approach and responsibilities. Docs do battle with diseases and conditions. They focus a great deal on gathering data and getting results. This is highly necessary but it isn't nursing.

Nurses implement the docs orders, to be sure, but their focus is on connecting with the patient (a luxury many docs wish they had), and being an advocate for health and well-being.

You probably won't have more than ten seconds to make your point before your listener moves on to something else, so, I would suggest saying that there is overlap between the two professions but that nursing offers some things that being a physician doesn't. If they ask you what, you can mention more patient connection, greater flexibility, and the opportunity to "specialize" in more than one area.

Docs see patients for a comparatively shorter time, are rarely able to work part-time, and can't easily change specialty areas. They get paid big bucks (often not a much as people imagine) for living a life that can be family-unfriendly and stress-filled.

Nurses have stresses, too, but we have the wonderful option of choosing an entirely different specialty area without doing a 3-5 year residency. Tired of med-surg? You can work in a clinic or go to L&D or become an occupational health nurse. Try that if you're a doc.

You aren't going to change perceptions over night. The most important thing is that YOU know the difference. Don't let other people's misinformation get into your head and allow you to feel judged. Proceed full speed ahead in the knowledge that you will be a capable, caring, intelligent nurse and that your patients will benefit from your knowledge and skills.

All the best to you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I believe almost everyone was told that. You have to make you happy there are so many levels of nursing. Maybe the person or persons telling you that you are too smart for nursing dont really know the qualities or the benefits of being a nurse. Maybe you need to explain why it is so important to you in becoming a nurse.

I have had the same thing happen. I wish it wasn't the case. A lot of my peers from my first college look down on me b/c I am in nursing school (most people went to med school instead). It's hard, but it's what I want to do, and I don't care what anyone tells me!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

People who say that sort of thing are really just talking about pay. They think, if you have the capacity to get through med school and make lots of money, why go to nursing school and make less?

Don't let it bother you - they aren't slamming nurses. It's just that they think making big money is the main thing. Of course, if I ever meet a 50 year old surgeon who looks happy, and is still married to his/her first spouse, it'll be the first time, so maybe a career in medicine has its own costs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Of course, if I ever meet a 50 year old surgeon who looks happy, and is still married to his/her first spouse, it'll be the first time, so maybe a career in medicine has its own costs.

:yeahthat: haha, I love it! So true!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

If these folks who are so quick to question your choice of career path are so smart, why aren't THEY in medical school to be doctors?

There are also a million people out there who are probably smarter than ALL the current candidates for president of the US. Does that mean they should all run for president?!?! Puleeeeeze.

It's really too bad when people can't keep their noses and opinions out of other people's business.

Best wishes!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Everytime I tell people that I am studying to be a nurse, the reply is always the same. "Oh, you are so much smarter than that! You should be a doctor!" :angryfire It infuriates me every time I hear it. Nurses do so much more than they get credit for, and I know nurses who are a lot smarter than some doctors. Just because nurses are not in school as long and don't get paid as much as doctors, DOES NOT mean we are not as smart. I happen to want to be a nurse because I love interacting with patients, who are human beings in need of someone to take care of them. Nurses get waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more interactions with the patients than the doctors do.

Has anyone else been told the same thing?

:o I feel the same way...mine is a little different of a scenario..one of my family members is constantly on me about wanting to be a nurse and making rude comments like " All nurses are good for is cleaning up pee...etc" and then when her puppy pees on the floor, they're like "hey why don't you clean it up, you're in nursing school, you gotta get used to it". Thats not all I'm good for :angryfire and thats not the only thing a nurse is capable of doing. I mean yea, sometimes you're cleaning bodily fluids, but they're there to help and take care of people...I don't get why some people look down on nursing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

The smart mouth in me would have one of two replys. If I was close to them "well everyone knows I'm smarter than you so maybe that's why you don't understand why I want to be a nurse." In general "fine I'll be a MD but only if you'll pay for med school and I want to specialize to be a neuro surgeon."

I hear the same thing and in my case it came down to money. I wanted to be a MD but the debt from going to school to what you make (like the pp said it's not a lot when you factor everything the MD has to pay out) nursing was a way to be in the medical field and to get to see interesting things and care for patients (just in a more personal way). I do have plans on becoming an ARNP so I'll eventually be more MD like but still have less debt.

Your going to school to do what you want to do with you life. If they think that being a MD is the way to go then they can go to college get a BS, take the MCAT, apply to med school and hope their MCAT scores high enough so they don't have to retake and reapply, and spend at least the next 8 years of their life with little/no sleep. Don't let it bother you too much, just prove them wrong and use all that extra smartness that your "wasting" on nursing school to get excellent grades.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.
:o I feel the same way...mine is a little different of a scenario..one of my family members is constantly on me about wanting to be a nurse and making rude comments like " All nurses are good for is cleaning up pee...etc" and then when her puppy pees on the floor, they're like "hey why don't you clean it up, you're in nursing school, you gotta get used to it". Thats not all I'm good for :angryfire and thats not the only thing a nurse is capable of doing. I mean yea, sometimes you're cleaning bodily fluids, but they're there to help and take care of people...I don't get why some people look down on nursing.

You should correct them all nurses do is clean up poop. :bugeyes: I just don't understand why people always have the need to put down what other people want to do with their life.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

I always say 3 pat replies....

A. I like taking care of people and actually spending time with them....

B. I didn't really want to go to school for 8 years to be on call for 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, and have to see 344 patients in the hospital when I'd really just like to leave my clinic and not think about it til I punch back in.

C. Ok, but can I be your doc when you come back in 10 years?....that one really makes em think!!!1 (which I think might be a bad sign.....LOL)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just tell them that if they think you are so smart, they should know you are smart enough to know what you want to do with the rest of your life....but you appreciate the compliment!;):twocents:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion