The "Why don't you go to Med School" Question

Assailants · Jan 5, 2012

If I had a dime for every time I've heard this question, from individuals in and out of the healthcare field. Just because I'm male and a minority doesn't mean I cannot be a nurse. I do not care whether or not I'll be "taking orders" from doctors, at the end of the day its the patient that matters most otherwise I wouldn't be pursuing Nursing. To answer all those questions to " why don't you be a doctor?", my answer is no! I want to be a nurse, not an optometrist, OT, but a Nurse! And yes I've considered the M.D. pathway before and always came back to Nursing. Nursing is my calling, my passion, it runs through my veins..one day I hope and pray that I'll make an excellent nurse.

Cool dude. Most people never ask that to me and the people who do are usually in a non-medical field. FYI, its OD for optometry and they don't go to med school, they go grad school for optometry, like pharmacy, OTD, etc.

:)

coonkine · Jan 5, 2012

my clinical instructor actually asked me that... of all the people who have asked, that was the most surprising

hrsthecna · Jan 5, 2012

I don't know you, but I have complete faith that you will make an excellent nurse. I'm a CNA working to become a COTA. Maybe someday I'll be an OT, maybe I'll get back into tap dancing and take it on the road but that is my decision and I'm the one who will live it and being a nurse is your honorable decision.

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Jan 5, 2012

I think by OT he meant Occupational Therapist.

Jasel, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2012

Ugh I've been asked that a few times and it's always very annoying. What's even more annoying is lately I kind of wish I HAD gone to med school. Oh well.

Living4Peace · Jan 5, 2012

"The inevitable question", haha. I think it is largely due to the obvious fact that nursing is predominantly a female occupied industry. Many people can not wrap their heads around men beings nurses. The nurse/doctor dichotomy in many people's minds is a female/male dichotomy. It is all ignorance. Men bring something unique to the profession. I am glad that more men are entering into nursing schools and are kicking ass! I am soon to be one of those men.

On a more personal note, I have never been asked that question. When I was in college during my undergrad I wanted to become a doctor but then reality settled upon me that all the years of schooling coupled with the stress would have been more than I could have handled. Furthermore, I am going to be honest and say that I don't have the kind of intelligence to be a doctor (Now don't jump on me for making this statement, I in no way am saying that nurses are intellectually inferior to doctors. What I am saying is that it takes a certain kind of intelligence and cognitive functioning. Some doctors don't have the cognitive abilities to think as nurses). In the beginning I was resistant to the idea of being a nurse due to how I thought people would perceive me, but then I grew a pair and realized that I am an individual and don't have to comply with social, or in this case professional, norms.

When I tell people I am becoming a nurse they always give me a positive response, both men and women.

AshleelRenee · Jan 8, 2012

I have only worked with a handful of male nurses, but seriously it's so refreshing! The few I have worked with are knowledgeable, friendly, willing to help, and the best part is they are drama free!

bigboi · Jan 14, 2012

My A&PII teacher asked why I wanted to become a nurse, since I was so intrigued by disecting and learning about the organs of a mink in great detail. She thought I was too inquisitive to be a nurse. She urged me to change my career path to medicine. Yesterday, while getting a pt off the commode, he asked what a muscular guy was doing working with a bunch of women in a hospital. "*******it son, shouldn't you be playing for the bears!" LOL!

puravidaLV · Jan 16, 2012

I am the product of two doctors and I get that question more than most and I have concluded the multiple reasons to why I wouldn't go in to medicine right now, yet dentistry....maaayybeeee

1) I hate health insurance companies why would I want to fight to charge someone 250$ and get paid 6$.

2) I would hate having the inability to move...sorry, but going through credentialing especially at a hospital level and taking over six months really doesn't tell me it worth it

3) Even janitors wear white coats.

4) I can make just as much with less over head, insurance risk, or hours worked as a NP...work smart not hard

5) Politics is fun, yet when it messes with my money I go to the mattresses

6) 27 years of school

7) 270,000 loans

8) 27 was six years ago for me

9) Having a new nurse wake me up for a potassium level of 3.4999999999999 at 2 am and Im not on call (i used to answer these calls when I was a kid because I HAD to have a phone in my room, ripped the ringer out by junior year).

10) sorry its not easy to just one day say "hey I want to go from Internal medicine to Oncology" as it is in Nursing

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Jan 18, 2012

I hear this all the time, and it drives me insane. I don't want to sound cocky or stuck up, but I will admit that I am intelligent person. I made a 97 A in my first semester of nursing school, and I had no problems with clinical, skills labs, or class. Now I am in my second semester, and I love every minute of it. I pretty much have a photographic memory when it comes to nursing and medical information, so I hardly have to read the textbooks or the drug books. Because of this, I get the, "you should have gone to medical school" thing all the time. I hate hearing it because nursing is my passion, and it has been for as long as I can remember. I don't want to be a doctor, and I didn't want to spend eight years getting my MD (then another four to six years doing a residency and fellowship). I love nursing, I love the thought process behind it, and I can't wait to graduate and begin my career as an ICU RN.

I think it's ridiculous that people encourage intelligent males (or females for that matter) in nursing programs to leave nursing school and go to medical school. At my program it seems that any students who are intelligent, quick to catch on, or who do well hear the bit about medical school at least once. It's almost as if the students, instructors, and hospital staff think that we are too smart to be nurses. I find the idea that someone is too smart to be a nurse absolutely absurd. We need intelligent nurses at the bedside monitoring patients, delivering compassionate and competent care, and ensuring that nothing goes wrong. Nurses have a lot of input on issues of patient care, they are always at the bedside, and they are often the first to notice changes in patient condition. It's up to us as nurses to alert the physician to a change in condition, and ensure that something is done to resolve the issue. With all this responsibility, you can't possibly tell me that anyone is too smart for nursing.

I don't want to sound rude, or like I'm calling anyone stupid, because I'm not. But when people see a star student who loves nursing, does exceptionally well, and finds nursing school easy, they shouldn't discourage them. These students will make excellent nurses, and they will provide excellent care for their patients. I'm not saying that other students won't be just as good, but we shouldn't try to convince all of our high intelligence students that they are in a field that is too, "dumb" for them. Nothing about nursing is easy, and it requires a good deal of intelligence. Simply getting into nursing school is hard, and surviving is even harder. It's obvious that each nursing student is intelligent, but it is also obvious that there are those who are smarter than others. I feel that nursing programs should do their best to equip each student to be the best nurse he/she can be. However, I also feel that the more intelligent students shouldn't be discouraged from nursing.

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Jan 18, 2012

"The inevitable question", haha. I think it is largely due to the obvious fact that nursing is predominantly a female occupied industry. Many people can not wrap their heads around men beings nurses. The nurse/doctor dichotomy in many people's minds is a female/male dichotomy. It is all ignorance. Men bring something unique to the profession. I am glad that more men are entering into nursing schools and are kicking ass! I am soon to be one of those men.
On a more personal note, I have never been asked that question. When I was in college during my undergrad I wanted to become a doctor but then reality settled upon me that all the years of schooling coupled with the stress would have been more than I could have handled. Furthermore, I am going to be honest and say that I don't have the kind of intelligence to be a doctor (Now don't jump on me for making this statement, I in no way am saying that nurses are intellectually inferior to doctors. What I am saying is that it takes a certain kind of intelligence and cognitive functioning. Some doctors don't have the cognitive abilities to think as nurses). In the beginning I was resistant to the idea of being a nurse due to how I thought people would perceive me, but then I grew a pair and realized that I am an individual and don't have to comply with social, or in this case professional, norms.
When I tell people I am becoming a nurse they always give me a positive response, both men and women.

You will soon find out that, in some areas of medical knowledge, the nurse must know more than the doctor. What are you going to do when the MD writes for three times the recommended dose of Cardiazem, and you give it because pharmacology was your weakest area while in nursing school? You will also find that nursing is, in many ways, more stressful than medical school. I am in the nursing program with many people who have bachelors and masters degrees in other fields (and I even have a chiropractor in my class) and all of them say this is the most stressful thing they have ever done. In medical school, you may be allowed to squeak by with a 70, but in nursing school, you will be required to average much higher. If we fall below an 85 in my program we are out the door. Our grades consist of four exams and a final. You can imagine the stress there. I don't mean to sound rude, but don't think that you have chosen a stress-free education, or a program that is an intellectual walk in the park. Many people in my program made that mistake, thinking nursing would be easy, and that there was nothing to being a nurse; needless to say, these people quickly realized how wrong they were.