"Why don't you just be a doctor?"

TDCHIM · May 3, 2010

What a pig! Seriously, let's see you go to a hospital staffed by all doctors and no nurses, buddy - then you can report back on the experience!! I'm not even a nurse and I find that horrifically offensive.

HealthShepherd · May 3, 2010

Suggested comeback: "If all the smart people became doctors, who'd take care of the sick people?"

RelloydRN · May 3, 2010

I told the patient that I am proud of what I am doing and if I were to be a doctor, it would be a PhD in Nursing. I respect what the physician is doing and we all do our key roles in taking care of him (the patient).

mammac5 · May 3, 2010

Honestly, I think most people are ignorant of what nurses do, know, and are capable of. They don't know how involved our education is, they don't know that we are the ones who actually make the decisions about how patients are cared for in the hospital, they don't know that we will be there with them when they need to make some of the most serious decisions of their lives, they don't know that we will advocate for their optimum care.

I think I would just reply to someone who asked such a question, "Nursing is what I love and it's what I choose to pursue. Besides, I'm too smart to spend years and years in school when I want to be caring for patients and also having a life."

Intern67 · May 3, 2010

Proudly, I said "nursing", and he gave me a not so nice look, and replied with "Why don't you be a doctor?".

Because I like working with people.

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · May 3, 2010

I actually started out premedical in college - and a doctor talked me out of it. I worked as an orderly (I'm dating myself a bit with that term) in the hospital where my mother worked during the summer break between my freshman and sophomore years. I was in a nursing station one evening and a doctor struck up a conversation with me. He was one of the most successful orthopedic surgeons in the area. When he found out I was pre-med, he said that he made a lot of money but he never had time to enjoy it. He said that he always felt guilty whenever he took time off and that as a doctor "your life is never your own." After that discussion with a man who at least on the surface appeared to have it made, I reassessed my career path.

jzkfel · May 3, 2010

Easy answer - because I like being a nurse. It's funny, hospital patients don't tend to make comments like that, do they?

allnurses Guide · May 3, 2010

When people ask why didn't I do medicine, I always say "Because then I'd be a doctor...!" and shudder. Generally works well.

lemidora · May 3, 2010

I get that same response from almost everybody when I say that I'm going into nursing. At one point somebody said "but you're too smart to be a nurse! Go be a doctor." People are just ignorant, so I let it roll off my back and say that I don't want to go to school for 10 years just to be stuck working in one field for the rest of my career because I'm the kind of person that needs a lot of variety. (Not to say that being a doctor you don't get variety- it's just not a career for me.) One of the comebacks my mom uses whenever her friends question my career choice is "I'd rather her be an excellent nurse who loves her job than a good doctor who despises it".

RNYC · May 3, 2010

if your a guy nurse this is almost a daily occurence...I usually just laugh it off.

fiveofpeep · May 3, 2010

I am told this a lot because of how young I am and my GPA and its so insulting. They usually say "you're so smart! why dont you become an md?!" to which I reply "if all the smart people went to med school, there would be no smart nurses," then I go on to explain how we are the ones at the bedside cluing in the mds, and all that paperwork with little interaction sounds like no fun!