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

Published

Last night, I was approached by a gentleman, and after a few minutes of small chat, he asked what I was in school for. Proudly, I said "nursing", and he gave me a not so nice look, and replied with "Why don't you be a doctor?". I was immediately thrown off, and very annoyed that this man viewed nurses as not being "good enough". Has anyone else ever been in this situation? Can you please tell me what you said back? I said "I admire the job of a nurse more than a doctor, and can't imagine doing anything else." I can't help but be annoyed by people that have NO idea what kind of work it is to be a nurse! :uhoh3:

Cheaper, quicker, easier route to a well paying, stable career. Graduate opportunities available (the multitude of NP routes) which can lead to potentially higher incomes, while still being cheaper, quicker, and easier than the medical school route.

I do not need to degrade the medical profession to have pride in my own. I do not need to take the most difficult path to enjoy my successes.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in accident and emergency nursing, general.

what a stupid question.i was in a situation like this were a friend of mine

told me, i settled for less by not studing medicine ....SO I TOLD SINCE HE IS SO SMART WHY DID YOU NOT STUDY MEDICINE..(he is a peanut teacher)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
what a stupid question.i was in a situation like this were a friend of mine

told me, i settled for less by not studing medicine ....SO I TOLD SINCE HE IS SO SMART WHY DID YOU NOT STUDY MEDICINE..(he is a peanut teacher)

This is the BEST...ANSWER...EVER...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I think I was mistaken for an MD as an aide ironically as it may be!

For you're with the patient quite a lot: I worked a step down unit, only four patients. I took it as a compliment, but was too proud to be a CNA to affirm their suspicion of my being an MD! You know there really is something quite special about being an aide. How you can really observe everything about your patient and instinctively pay heed to the needs of the patient.

Oh, man, I admire nursing assistants. Aides have a job I know I could NEVER do.

And I APPRECIATE them. I'm always thanking the med techs (I'm Air Force now) on my unit for their help and their expertise!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I know so many people that think only intelligent people go to med school or are currently doctors. This is not true I know so many nurses,architects,engineers, professors who are smart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I wanted to be a doctor ever since a was little, I think I was influenced by my relatives. Looking at my family tree everybody was/is either a doctor or dentist. I was a pre medicine student for three years, I wanted to be a doctor because in most parts of Europe doctors do (EVERYTHING) injections, bed baths, vital signs, and they spend a lot of their time with patients. After doing a research study with a NP, I changed my major to nursing. I do not want to write just prescriptions and just diagnose patients and only see them when the nurses do not know what to do, I want to be there for patients (of course If I have some extra time). I noticed that here in US that nurses have a big heart, they spend time with their patients as if they are part of the family; Doctors here are so cold, during my clinicals I do not remember seeing a cheerful doctor, they were so cold with patients. I thought I was the only one seeing that in doctors but no my friends and nursing professors had noticed that too.

They're not all cold (but I know what you're talking about when you say that). Most of them just truly have no TIME.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I know so many people that think only intelligent people go to med school or are currently doctors. This is not true I know so many nurses,architects,engineers, professors who are smart.

Man, engineers are smart....if they left structural engineering to me, we'd all be in tents....

We're ALL smart - we're just smart in different ways! My DH can do calculus in his head and complex finance calculations without picking up a pen. But he couldn't nurse his way out of a paper bag. Does that make him smarter than me, or I than him? NO - WE'RE JUST DIFFERENT KINDS OF SMART.

AND GRANDMA SAID IT TAKES ALL KINDS, right? :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care (CEN, CCRN).

I've gotten this question from lots of people, but it's most astonishing when it comes from fellow nurses. "Oh, but you're smart enough to be a doctor!" is something I've heard from instructors, staff nurses, students, you name it - in other words, people who know perfectly well what nurses do on a daily basis and what intellectual rigors are involved in nursing, and who really ought to know better than to buy into the old "doctors are inherently better than nurses" cliche. For my own part, nursing is what I've wanted since I was very young, and I know that I have every bit as much, if not more opportunity for professional growth and advancement as an RN than I ever would as an MD.

My favorite response, which I learned from one of my old clinical instructors, is: "Would you ever tell someone that they were dumb enough to be a nurse?"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psychiatric, perioperative, fundamentals.

i can imagine a hospital without doctors present... you can call, page or text them and do the rest what the patient needs... but a hospital without a nurse? i just cant imagine.

if you're watching house md, sometime in season 4 before its finale, there was this episode where nurses went on strike ans the whole princeton plainsboro teaching hospital is a mess

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in orto/neuro; LTC, rehab-inpt. med/surg.

Hi all! Just remembering back when I was in my first year as an Rn on a busy ortho-neuro med-surg floor, where I learned almost everything I ever needed to know!) I called a doc once in the middle of the night and told him this lady "just didn't look right". I might have had a few v/s or something to back me up, but that was my main concern. He was flaberghasted that I even said that-What?? She doesn't LOOK RIGHT?!?!!! Well, after he gave me orders to titrate her ms, and make her comfortable, she died before my shift was over, Don't ever lose that feeling you have inside that tells you-she just doesn't look right! Because you are probably right, and something is going to happen!! It's called intuition, and as nurses, we get to use it alot! Make it become your friend, at least well enough that you will go searching for more answers. I still can't believe I had the guts to do that! Maybe it was the newby in me, or i just didn't know any better!!! :clown:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am an LPN and I am always asked why am I not an RN.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Tele.
Last night, I was approached by a gentleman, and after a few minutes of small chat, he asked what I was in school for. Proudly, I said "nursing", and he gave me a not so nice look, and replied with "Why don't you be a doctor?". I was immediately thrown off, and very annoyed that this man viewed nurses as not being "good enough". Has anyone else ever been in this situation? Can you please tell me what you said back? I said "I admire the job of a nurse more than a doctor, and can't imagine doing anything else." I can't help but be annoyed by people that have NO idea what kind of work it is to be a nurse! :uhoh3:

I wouldn't take it the wrong way.

I would take it as a compliment that he sees me as a professional person who is very knowlegable, like a Dr. :lol2: but don't get annoyed! you know what you do, and you know that you love it, that is what it's most important.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion