"Too smart" to be a nurse

[may8755]

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?

[future L&Dnurse]

I hate that. Truly hate it. I've gotten that question a couple of times, too, and usually when someone asks "why are you 'settling' for nursing, you should be a doctor!" or something similar my answer is "If all the smart people were doctors, who'd catch the doctors' mistakes? Besides, nurses get to do all the fun stuff, doctors do all the paperwork." The bottom line is that nurses are a fairly clever group of people and I'm sure the majority of nurses could easily do the work of a doctor. I, personally, just plain don't want to.

[future L&Dnurse]

If someone is a respiratory therapist, I don't say "you have so much potential-- you should be a dietician!"

Okay, best comeback ever. I'm filing this away for future use, thanks!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

... my answer is "If all the smart people were doctors, who'd catch the doctors' mistakes?..."

And I'M filing THIS one away! Bravo! :yelclap::bowingpur

[happydays352]

If someone is a respiratory therapist, I don't say "you have so much potential-- you should be a dietician!"

That actually made me laugh outloud