A Bit Conflicted.

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Aaco

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Hey everyone,
So this is the first time I've posted on SDN, but I have read countless threads here and have found everyone to be extremely helpful. I thought I would share my thoughts, and if you are taking the time to read this and respond I really appreciate it.

I'm 25 years old. I had previously been a pre-med student and completed most of the science courses except for O-chem. I had done the shadowing, volunteering, etc. and was working on my research involvement. The reason I had switched was because I was married at the time and thought that medicine did not have the work/family life balance I wanted. So I switched to nursing, got into the program, and I am now just about finished with my second semester in LPN year. Life happened and I am now divorced. Now I'm left here wondering if I made the right choice with my career.

It's not that nursing isn't a great career (and I'm not saying that I'm above it in anyway), but I am extremely bored with it currently. The courses are not interesting to me. When we discuss disease processes and medical management it is just an short overview, and the rest is about the holistic perspective, nursing diagnoses, etc. It's a nursing course, It makes sense that the content is centered around nursing care, but it is sometimes difficult for me to pay attention and be interested. The exam questions feel so subjective to me (drives me insane). In clinicals I find myself more interested in what the physicians and surgeons are doing rather than nursing tasks. I'm not struggling. I still have a 3.9 GPA. I still get involved in clinicals and do what I need to do as a student nurse, but I have this constant "itch" in the back of my mind.

I'm constantly thinking that I should have gone to med school. Something is screaming at me inside that nursing might not be for me. I have this fascination with orthopedics. I've shadowed a few orthopedic surgeons, and I find myself sometimes watching procedures on YouTube. I know that getting into med school is no easy feat, let alone matching into ortho. However, I'm a strong believer that you can make things happen if you put in the time and work. On the other hand, I have met a program director for an acute dialysis company who has referred me to apply for a position once I graduate with my RN. She said her nurses make "well over 100k/yr". So my conflict is this: stay in nursing where I will graduate with no debt and the possibility of a job making 6 figures, even if it is not as interesting to me as medicine. OR take the steps to get back to pursuing med school. With an RN, I will start making money at 26 vs. maybe starting a surgical residency at at around 34 ( assuming I finish pre-reqs and got accepted in decent time).

If you took the time to read all of that, thank you. Sorry if It turned into a bit of a rant. I'm just looking for some perspective from people that may have been in a similar crossroad, or anyone that might do things differently if they could go back. Am I being naive and glamorizing the profession? Is it more wise to just be an adult, take the good paying job within my reach and move on with life? I understand there are other options for working in the OR (surgical PA, CRNA) after nursing school. I am taking those into consideration as well. Thanks again!
 
I am a nurse. I worked for a bit after graduation, and now I want to pursue medicine. For me, I never knew exactly how I wanted to serve in healthcare. I knew I liked people and science, but I didn't solidify what role I wanted to play until after working.

If you feel like there is a desire for being a doctor that no other profession can satisfy, you have no other choice but to pursue it. But you have to want it with everything you are. Just being unsatisfied in a few nursing classes is not enough to tell anyone why you want to be a doctor. There is a difference in a nursing mind and a medical mind. Medicine is much more focused, less holistic, especially if you specialize. However, it does depend on the job. You also have the option of doing the NP route later on if you want more leadership.

Personally, if I were you, I would finish nursing school and work for a year to see what you truly want. Continue making good grades. You already have the pre-reqs. If you can make 100K a year, even better. Work and save money for 1-2 years and see if you are truly bored with it. If you still have that itch that nothing will scratch except med school, take the mcat and apply. Only when you apply then, you will have loads of clinical experience with good grades and a sound explanation for why you want to switch.
 
pele808 said:
Yes, nursing school was not my favorite. I was quite bored myself, so I took all my pre-reqs for med school while i was in nursing school many moons ago (phys, calc, biochem, genetics).

But nursing as a career? I have to be honest, it's awesome... you make of it what you make of it.
As a nurse, you will have the honor to care for some of the sickest patients in the ICU, or a 35yo in rehab with a TBI, or a psych patient in the clinic..etc. My take home per year in my current role is almost the exact same as my hospitalist physician friends. But it's never about the money. You can make all the money in the world and not be satisfied with where you are in life.

But if you're still itching to pursue medicine, make sure it's for the right reason(s) and not just simply because you're bored with nursing school or you need more money. From experience I can tell you, like in any other profession, there are many physicians and nurses who pursued this field for the wrong reasons and regret it. You hear it from them everyday: even if they have the nicest patients or the easiest patient load... they're always miserable.

Good luck 🙂
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Regarding your take home being on par with hospitalist physicians, is that really the case? Nurses can make $200,000 a year doing clinical work in a hospital?
 
I think it really depends on how much time you're willing to invest in this process and what your ultimate practice goals are. If you want to be the end all be all buck stops with you or the primary surgeon in a case, then yes, medical school would probably be the way to go.

If your pre-reqs are there and still within the proper time frame for application, you'd just have to take organic chemistry and maybe a couple other courses, buff/continue your ECs, and then take the MCAT. All obviously easier said than done, but you could be in med school in a few years. Then 4-5 years of med school (if you end up deciding on orthopedics, you may end up taking a research year), and then 5 years of residency and possibly 1-2 years of fellowship. That gives you a range of 12-16 years until you end up being an attending orthopedic surgeon, at which point you will be nearly 40. That's just an estimation to make sure you know what you're getting into, not meant as a discouragement. There are plenty of people who go to medical school in their late 20s or early 30s and pursue a surgical career.

On the other hand, if you decide that you want to practice medicine to a certain extent and are okay with not being the top dog, then you have a couple of routes available to you. There are hospitals/groups that have an RN first assist where an RN is performing surgery as the first assistant (so obviously always with a physician also operating) and usually only more routine cases, but you get to do surgery and don't need any further training (other than learning the relevant anatomy and operating procedure from the surgeon). However, I would caution that this is rare (in my very limited experience) and not something that you should bank on unless you can seek out this opportunity and you can find an opening.

Another option is to become an NP which opens up many options for you. It's a lot more common to have an NP first assist (same deal as the above) and this could be a very workable career (though you'd also likely be responsible for floor work and taking care of patients and such, though from a medicine perspective rather than a nursing perspective). There are a lot of places where NPs operate essentially as a junior resident practicing medicine. You'd be able to become in NP before you were 30 and go ahead and start working pretty much immediately after that.

My recommendation (which doesn't come from that much experience, so take with a grain of salt) is that you should finish your nursing degree (since it's almost done) and work for a little while and try to shadow some NPs (in the OR, in this ICU, on the floor, and in the clinic) and see if that's something you can see yourself doing and being happy with. If you do that and still decide that you want to invest 1-1.5 decades into becoming a physician, then there's your answer and you'll be as certain as you can be in your decision.
 
Aaco said:
Hey everyone,
So this is the first time I've posted on SDN, but I have read countless threads here and have found everyone to be extremely helpful. I thought I would share my thoughts, and if you are taking the time to read this and respond I really appreciate it.

I'm 25 years old. I had previously been a pre-med student and completed most of the science courses except for O-chem. I had done the shadowing, volunteering, etc. and was working on my research involvement. The reason I had switched was because I was married at the time and thought that medicine did not have the work/family life balance I wanted. So I switched to nursing, got into the program, and I am now just about finished with my second semester in LPN year. Life happened and I am now divorced. Now I'm left here wondering if I made the right choice with my career.

It's not that nursing isn't a great career (and I'm not saying that I'm above it in anyway), but I am extremely bored with it currently. The courses are not interesting to me. When we discuss disease processes and medical management it is just an short overview, and the rest is about the holistic perspective, nursing diagnoses, etc. It's a nursing course, It makes sense that the content is centered around nursing care, but it is sometimes difficult for me to pay attention and be interested. The exam questions feel so subjective to me (drives me insane). In clinicals I find myself more interested in what the physicians and surgeons are doing rather than nursing tasks. I'm not struggling. I still have a 3.9 GPA. I still get involved in clinicals and do what I need to do as a student nurse, but I have this constant "itch" in the back of my mind.

I'm constantly thinking that I should have gone to med school. Something is screaming at me inside that nursing might not be for me. I have this fascination with orthopedics. I've shadowed a few orthopedic surgeons, and I find myself sometimes watching procedures on YouTube. I know that getting into med school is no easy feat, let alone matching into ortho. However, I'm a strong believer that you can make things happen if you put in the time and work. On the other hand, I have met a program director for an acute dialysis company who has referred me to apply for a position once I graduate with my RN. She said her nurses make "well over 100k/yr". So my conflict is this: stay in nursing where I will graduate with no debt and the possibility of a job making 6 figures, even if it is not as interesting to me as medicine. OR take the steps to get back to pursuing med school. With an RN, I will start making money at 26 vs. maybe starting a surgical residency at at around 34 ( assuming I finish pre-reqs and got accepted in decent time).

If you took the time to read all of that, thank you. Sorry if It turned into a bit of a rant. I'm just looking for some perspective from people that may have been in a similar crossroad, or anyone that might do things differently if they could go back. Am I being naive and glamorizing the profession? Is it more wise to just be an adult, take the good paying job within my reach and move on with life? I understand there are other options for working in the OR (surgical PA, CRNA) after nursing school. I am taking those into consideration as well. Thanks again!
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Nursing isn't nursing school just like medicine isn't medical school. I suggest you at least finish and work a little before making a decision to change. Your options will be more more limited as an LPN but you can at least get a better idea if the work will satisfy you or not.
 
dpmd said:
Nursing isn't nursing school just like medicine isn't medical school. I suggest you at least finish and work a little before making a decision to change. Your options will be more more limited as an LPN but you can at least get a better idea if the work will satisfy you or not.
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This is true. In nursing school you learn about a lot of things more in-depth than you’ll ever use in real life. I’ve never calculated GTTs, diagnosed metabolic/respiratory alkalosis/acidosis, or done 90% of what we were taught in nursing school. It’s mostly basic focused assessments, handing out pills, and more than anything else, administrative records keeping. I have been a nurse for 5 years now, and I am dissatisfied too. I’m considering alternative careers.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
diagnosed metabolic/respiratory alkalosis/acidosis, or done 90% of what we were taught in nursing school.
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That's because your job isn't to make diagnoses. For some reason there are more than a few nursing schools that teach things like that's what you'll be doing, without really teaching the basics that are required for such a skill, and then more than a few nurses come out and are dissatisfied because they thought they were going to be "doctor lite." Not the case. Nursing is a great profession and some love it and those are worth their weight in gold, but if you want to diagnose and think through disease processes on a daily basis then someone needs to pursue medicine or, at minimum, PA.

Edit: to clarify I'm not talking about you directly, more a general comment based on what you said.
 
Oh I understand that it isn't my job, but yes like you said it does give a false understanding of what you'll actually be doing in your job. We had whole tests where youd determine whether someone was alkalotic or acidotic and then have to determine whether it was respiratory or metabolic and whether it was compensated or uncompensated. NEVER going to do that in real life.

When I got to my first step down unit, my manager straight up told me, "you don't need to be able to read an ekg strip. That's what telemetry is for."

In practice, I feel like a glorified CNA
 
Lucid_Dream said:
Oh I understand that it isn't my job, but yes like you said it does give a false understanding of what you'll actually be doing in your job. We had whole tests where youd determine whether someone was alkalotic or acidotic and then have to determine whether it was respiratory or metabolic and whether it was compensated or uncompensated. NEVER going to do that in real life.

When I got to my first step down unit, my manager straight up told me, "you don't need to be able to read an ekg strip. That's what telemetry is for."

In practice, I feel like a glorified CNA
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Lvn or rn. I know I wouldn't have been satisfied as an Lvn but maybe as an RN in the or (perhaps an RN first assist) I might have been happy.
 
I'm currently deciding between Optometry and MD or DO. I have shadowed many doctors, but ODs have never been willing to let me shadow them. They keep citing "Client Privacy" even when I remind them that I am an RN and know about HIPAA very intimately. Its funny, because I have watched surgeries with no issues.
 
Oh I've never worked med surg. Just ICU Step down. I hear that some of them have 7 patients. No thanks, I'll take my two.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
Oh I've never worked med surg. Just ICU Step down. I hear that some of them have 7 patients. No thanks, I'll take my two.
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Oops, been drinking all day so I read step down but it went into my mind as med surg. I was trained as an Lvn in the army and got deployed for 15 months during med school at which time I worked with an expanded scope of practice in the icu which was also the step down unit. I really enjoyed that but maybe it was because I felt like I was learning things that would help me when I went back to med school. Or maybe it was the uniqueness of being somewhere new and doing something different.
 
Its a good profession if you're after money or time off, but knowledge wise its seriously lacking. And not in school either. I learned a LOT in school. I understand more about pharmacology, disease processes, etc than I think many physicians realize. The problem is, it doesn't matter. The job itself doesn't allow me to put the knowledge to use.
 
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@Lucid_Dream You collect 20 hours overtime a week in a step down unit? Also not needing to read into lab orders/ABGs for a DKA pt or reading any tele strips? Let me also guess, no ACLS or additional certification needed? What kind of a step down unit is this. Also, are these all California salaries because I must be working in the wrong area if you guys are able to lock in these hours in step-down and with leadership positions.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
Yep. And with incentive pay and overtime I make 60+ an hour. Every now and then up to around 80.
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This is California right? Our base goes nowhere near $60 an hour even with 5 years of dedicated experience on any unit. You can pick up those hours on med surg without being given a hard time, but it's often a trade off because you lose out on the ability of taking on high acuity patients in ICU/PCU. Right now, it's very hard to get extra hours on either of those units because of low patient census despite it being a Level 1 facility.
 
No I live in the Deep South. My base pay is only 25.15, but my floor calls for 11 nurses and we usually only have 5-6 scheduled. Hiring travel nurses and OT nurses prevents them from having to pull nurses from ICU units. They offer us 20$ an hour extra to bring us to 8 nurses, and 10$ an hour extra after that to bring us to 10.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
No I live in the Deep South. My base pay is only 25.15, but my floor calls for 11 nurses and we usually only have 5-6 scheduled. Hiring travel nurses and OT nurses prevents them from having to pull nurses from ICU units. They offer us 20$ an hour extra to bring us to 8 nurses, and 10$ an hour extra after that to bring us to 10.
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God bless. You found a great opportunity and you're working your tail off to capitalize on it. I don't think a situation like this would ever remotely happen in my hospital. But $60 - $80 is comparative to CRNA salaries in several states.
 
#Nursingshortage

Its good money. We have a travel nurse here from Kentucky. She showed me her paycheck and she makes 9,500 per paycheck. But she has maybe 2 days off per month. But its just grinding. Day in day out same thing. Not much use of brainpower.

If I work the bare minimum of 36 hours per week for full time, I would make about 65,520 a year before taxes.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
#Nursingshortage Its good money. We have a travel nurse here from Kentucky. She showed me her paycheck and she makes 9,500 per paycheck. But she has maybe 2 days off per month. But its just grinding. Day in day out same thing. Not much use of brainpower.
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I'm still young blood so it hasn't kicked in yet. Also, I worked a cubicle job in the past with nursing being a career change. It's honestly been a breath of fresh air. But again, I'm young blood.
 
I'm not hating. I simply said I didn't know how you were pulling that much.

I'm not insecure about my salary. My mother was disabled growing up, and my father retired making 38,000 per year. I can't believe how much money I see in my bank account month after month. I'm unhappy with how simplistic and rote nursing is.
 
PeleHonuaMea said:
My take home is peanuts compared to some of the other nurses. One of my girlfriends make more than $400k/year, she owns her own Case Management company. She just bought her second home, a luxury condo in One Ala Moana, and drives the newest Maserati. I personally know 2 executives locally making more than $350k/yr. They're all super nurses just killing it in their field!

It is really not that hard to believe nurses can earn mad money. You can make whatever money you want to make if you're willing to work hard... and sleep less 😉.
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Dude just stop. What next worlds first billionaire nurse? If you expect anyone to believe a nurse is earning surgeon salary then you have some screws loose. No one here is insecure. You are. Making up stories about your salary is case book insecurity.
 
I’m just another premed but whenever I think about the lost income from quitting working and taking on the debt of medical school I am reminded of that fact that no job and no salary will satisfy me if I’m not doing what I love and know I want to do with my life.

If you know you want more/different go for it! A physician I am close with once told me (I’m non-trad and so was she):
40 years as a fulfilled physician is much better than 50 years of unhappiness in a different profession.
 
Aaco said:
Hey everyone,
So this is the first time I've posted on SDN, but I have read countless threads here and have found everyone to be extremely helpful. I thought I would share my thoughts, and if you are taking the time to read this and respond I really appreciate it.

I'm 25 years old. I had previously been a pre-med student and completed most of the science courses except for O-chem. I had done the shadowing, volunteering, etc. and was working on my research involvement. The reason I had switched was because I was married at the time and thought that medicine did not have the work/family life balance I wanted. So I switched to nursing, got into the program, and I am now just about finished with my second semester in LPN year. Life happened and I am now divorced. Now I'm left here wondering if I made the right choice with my career.

It's not that nursing isn't a great career (and I'm not saying that I'm above it in anyway), but I am extremely bored with it currently. The courses are not interesting to me. When we discuss disease processes and medical management it is just an short overview, and the rest is about the holistic perspective, nursing diagnoses, etc. It's a nursing course, It makes sense that the content is centered around nursing care, but it is sometimes difficult for me to pay attention and be interested. The exam questions feel so subjective to me (drives me insane). In clinicals I find myself more interested in what the physicians and surgeons are doing rather than nursing tasks. I'm not struggling. I still have a 3.9 GPA. I still get involved in clinicals and do what I need to do as a student nurse, but I have this constant "itch" in the back of my mind.

I'm constantly thinking that I should have gone to med school. Something is screaming at me inside that nursing might not be for me. I have this fascination with orthopedics. I've shadowed a few orthopedic surgeons, and I find myself sometimes watching procedures on YouTube. I know that getting into med school is no easy feat, let alone matching into ortho. However, I'm a strong believer that you can make things happen if you put in the time and work. On the other hand, I have met a program director for an acute dialysis company who has referred me to apply for a position once I graduate with my RN. She said her nurses make "well over 100k/yr". So my conflict is this: stay in nursing where I will graduate with no debt and the possibility of a job making 6 figures, even if it is not as interesting to me as medicine. OR take the steps to get back to pursuing med school. With an RN, I will start making money at 26 vs. maybe starting a surgical residency at at around 34 ( assuming I finish pre-reqs and got accepted in decent time).

If you took the time to read all of that, thank you. Sorry if It turned into a bit of a rant. I'm just looking for some perspective from people that may have been in a similar crossroad, or anyone that might do things differently if they could go back. Am I being naive and glamorizing the profession? Is it more wise to just be an adult, take the good paying job within my reach and move on with life? I understand there are other options for working in the OR (surgical PA, CRNA) after nursing school. I am taking those into consideration as well. Thanks again!
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At my undergrad there's a set of intro science courses designed for students who want to go into nursing. These courses do NOT satisfy premedical prerequisites at my school.

Premeds have to take a separate set of intro science courses.

Just make sure all your intro science courses are of the premed variety.
 
Get more shadowing experience as you continue school. Ensure that you'll be content in the more common specialties of medicine (IM, EM, FM etc..) and don't base your decision on one niche of medicine. If you find that medicine really is your calling (and not just the idea of being an orthopod), make the switch. I don't regret the decision of going to medical school and family members of mine don't regret becoming nurses. Just make sure you're in one of those two camps.

Edit: What I mean by shadow while you're in school is try to shadow a physician while you're in nursing school. Don't upend your current path until you know for sure it's the right decision made for the right reasons.
 
Lucid_Dream said:
Wow. Okay now I see why people think nurses are annoying
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Oh I know! These pesky facts can be annoying sometimes, especially when they go against everything someone believes whole heartedly. Damn nurses! They should stay put in their income class huh? :meh:
 
It isn't wrong to say that MD's make more than RNs on average. Telling pre-RNs that they are going to make a half million dollars a year is dis-ingenious. The reason that those RNs are killing it in your stories is because they have good business owners, not because of their nursing skills. (PS, go them).

Almost any MD has the ability to make a couple hundred grand a year. The vast majority of RN's don't.

PS the median salary for hospitalist is around $280k-$290k.
 
NITRAS said:
It isn't wrong to say that MD's make more than RNs on average. Telling pre-RNs that they are going to make a half million dollars a year is dis-ingenious. The reason that those RNs are killing it in your stories is because they have good business owners, not because of their nursing skills. (PS, go them).

Almost any MD has the ability to make a couple hundred grand a year. The vast majority of RN's don't.

PS the median salary for hospitalist is around $280k-$290k.
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Exactly. When people say “nurses” they don’t mean nurse business owners. They mean people working a nursing job. Anyone could pull that same logic. “Oh I make millions a year as a handyman. Well... and I own a handyman business in 5 states...”

No, I’m saying you’re coming off as pretentious. And you already said yourself it’s in Hawaii where the cost of living is insanely high.

I’m all for nurses doing well. I mean I AM a nurse, but your need to prove yourself is showing. Just like many nurses. Biggest thing I hated about nursing school. “Fight the doctor patriarchy!”.
 
NITRAS said:
It isn't wrong to say that MD's make more than RNs on average. Telling pre-RNs that they are going to make a half million dollars a year is dis-ingenious. The reason that those RNs are killing it in your stories is because they have good business owners, not because of their nursing skills.

Almost any MD has the ability to make a couple hundred grand a year. The vast majority of RN's don't.

PS the median salary for hospitalist is around $280k-$290k.
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I completely agree. The vast majority of RNs make less than MDs, but that wasnt the point. Apparently this guy thinks it's completely impossible!
Maybe I know too many over achieving RNs or maybe I dont believe that anyone should judge the income potential of anyone they dont know based on the initials behind their name.

Most importantly, my point for him and OP: you shouldn't be a doctor simply for the money... you will never be happy.

By the way, Hawaii hospitalists on average make $230k per year.
 
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Lucid_Dream said:
Exactly. When people say “nurses” they don’t mean nurse business owners. They mean people working a nursing job. Anyone could pull that same logic. “Oh I make millions a year as a handyman. Well... and I own a handyman business in 5 states...”

No, I’m saying you’re coming off as pretentious. And you already said yourself it’s in Hawaii where the cost of living is insanely high.

I’m all for nurses doing well. I mean I AM a nurse, but your need to prove yourself is showing. Just like many nurses. Biggest thing I hated about nursing school. “Fight the doctor patriarchy!”.
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I have to admit, it is a little annoying to keep hearing that "nurses cant make more than surgeons"... i mean, really?! Anyone can make more than anyone, this is America after all!

And that specific nurse is a really good friend of mine, so ofcourse I will have to defend her.

But I do find it interesting you responded to my post and not his post.
 
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Noones attacking her. We’re scratching our heads at YOU. No one said it was impossible. We simply said we didn’t know how, figuring you meant as a clinical nurse. Business owner is an outlier.


And I don’t think anyone who knows anything about how the world works will be a doctor for the money.. considering lost wages and student loans, med school is a poor choice financially speaking...
 
My apologies 🙂 @gyngyn

@Lucid_Dream you will be surprised at the number of pre-meds and med students I've come across going into this field for all the wrong reasons. I hope OP will find a reason beyond her boredom in nursing school and income potential. That's exactly the reason why I gave her examples of nurses who are killing it in this field. Nurses are not limited to bed pans and medication administration. They can do much much more than that!
 
yogidoc19 said:
I’m just another premed but whenever I think about the lost income from quitting working and taking on the debt of medical school I am reminded of that fact that no job and no salary will satisfy me if I’m not doing what I love and know I want to do with my life.

If you know you want more/different go for it! A physician I am close with once told me (I’m non-trad and so was she):
40 years as a fulfilled physician is much better than 50 years of unhappiness in a different profession.
Click to expand...

My sentiments exactly. If being a physician is what you want to do, then by all means go for it. I’ve just always been told, don’t hahe tunnel ion and just focus solely on being a physician, because it’s really competitive. Don’t waste years constantly trying to get into med school, but always try to improve your app.
 
PeleHonuaMea said:
My apologies 🙂 @gyngyn

@Lucid_Dream you will be surprised at the number of pre-meds and med students I've come across going into this field for all the wrong reasons. I hope OP will find a reason beyond her boredom in nursing school and income potential. That's exactly the reason why I gave her examples of nurses who are killing it in this field. Nurses are not limited to bed pans and medication administration. They can do much much more than that!
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Eh the lack of knowledge required to do the job is a big reason I’m leaving the field. It’s touted in school as scientifically deep, but it really isn’t. You don’t use most of what you learn in school once you get out. Much of it has a diagnosing and not in your scope. By the time you’re going to see it, a doctor is already addressing it.

Educationally, nursing in large part is simply trying to be respected like physicians. Instead of trying to be something they aren’t, they just should kill what they ARE good at, bedside care. Not pushing to be midlevels and trying to compete with physicians. Many parts of my textbooks were “historically physicians were seen as the leaders of healthcare, but no more” or “fortunately the patriarchal norms of healthcare is changing” etc. Its pathetic. Doctors never have to tell people how important they are. They just do.

Work wise, it is a great field allowing for variety, and is good for less ambitious people who enjoy interpersonal type work. It’s a great job, but it’s not for people who love and want to use hard sciences on a daily basis.
 
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Lucid_Dream said:
Eh the lack of knowledge required to do the job is a big reason I’m leaving the field. It’s touted in school as scientifically deep, but it really isn’t. You don’t use most of what you learn in school once you get out. Much of it has a diagnosing and not in your scope. By the time you’re going to see it, a doctor is already addressing it.

Educationally, nursing in large part is simply trying to be respected like physicians. Instead of trying to be something they aren’t, they just should kill what they ARE good at, bedside care. Not pushing to be midlevels and trying to compete with physicians. Many parts of my textbooks were “historically physicians were seen as the leaders of healthcare, but no more” or “fortunately the patriarchal norms of healthcare is changing” etc. Its pathetic. Doctors never have to tell people how important they are. They just do.

Work wise, it is a great field allowing for variety, and is good for less ambitious people who enjoy interpersonal type work. It’s a great job, but it’s not for people who love and want to use hard sciences on a daily basis.
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Now I understand a little bit now about your view of nurses, disdain for the nursing field, and I feel sorry for your not so good experience of being a nurse. But it is great that you will continue to pursue medicine so you can use your hard sciences and perhaps be happier.
I do wish you good luck!
 
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PeleHonuaMea said:
Now I understand a little bit now about your view of nurses, disdain for the nursing field, and I feel sorry for your not so good experience of being a nurse. But it is great that you will continue to pursue medicine so you can use your hard sciences and perhaps be happier.
I do wish you good luck!
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It’s not disdain for the field. Just the education. And I’ve had a great experience, but I’m bored with it, and just want a greater field of knowledge.
 
A nurse can make hundreds of thousands if they moonlight as a CEO.

Me? I’m a janitor moonlighting as a nurse moonlighting as a Med student.

Heck, I was a paper boy before I was a janitor.

So am I a paper boy who makes a nurse salary?!
 
RNthenDoc said:
A nurse can make hundreds of thousands if they moonlight as a CEO.

Me? I’m a janitor moonlighting as a nurse moonlighting as a Med student.

Heck, I was a paper boy before I was a janitor.

So am I a paper boy who makes a nurse salary?!
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Lol! The president/VP nurses actually got to their positions and remained there as nurses. Same as the case manager example, she is only a case manager because she's a nurse, you kind of need your nursing skills and license to do that job. Making money owning your own business and being a nurse are not mutually exclusive. Especially if your entire business is dependent on you being a nurse.
 
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Lucid_Dream said:
If you’re so enamored about being a nurse, why are you here?
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Because I'm applying to medical school. Your many comments speak volumes about your hatred of nurses and being a nurse. I personally dont need to hate nursing to move on to another career path. I have much respect for them and what they do.

Friendly advice: you might want to consider an attitude adjustment, make sure it's not shown in your med school applications and interviews. That might be the reason why you hate being a nurse so much, not because of the profession or its education but more of an internal factor.

And I dont think anyone needs to go through the entire nursing school curriculum to realize they dont use much "hard sciences" :laugh::laugh:.
 
PeleHonuaMea said:
Because I'm applying to medical school. Your many comments speak volumes about your hatred of nurses and being a nurse. I personally dont need to hate nursing to move on to another career path. I have much respect for them and what they do.

Friendly advice: you might want to consider an attitude adjustment, make sure it's not shown in your med school applications and interviews. That might be the reason why you hate being a nurse so much, not because of the profession or its education but more of an internal factor.

And I dont think anyone needs to go through the entire nursing school curriculum to realize they dont use much "hard sciences" :laugh::laugh:.
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I don’t hate nursing. I just find the people in charge of it annoying. I love my coworkers, and it’s a great job, if you’re not a major nerd. If nurse practitioner wasn’t so overly saturated I would consider it, but I don’t expect it to be a good field in 20-30 years.

I actually like the job. I work few hours, have plenty of free time, and it’s a pretty easy job, compared to my past work experience. I just want more.

There’s nothing wrong with liking being a nurse, but your comments seem to be defensive. That any criticism of the field is a personal attack.

Anyways, congrats on choosing to continue to move forward. I hope you enjoy the medical side

Edit: maybe my nursing school was different. We focused on diagnosis quite a bit. They would give us symptoms and ask us to make “nursing diagnoses”. We didn’t do super in-depth diagnosing, but even the minor stuff was above what you’ll actually use as a nurse. We went very heavy into pharmacokinetics and dynamics, chem, micro, etc. You never use any of that as a nurse. It’s already figured out usually by the time you get them as a patient. I never expected it to be science heavy as med school but you really don’t have to understand science at all. Some nurses haven’t even taken chemistry, biology, or anatomy.

A coworker was in NP school and excitedly told me “I’m learning so much! Did you know they have different types of antibiotics?! Like betalactams and cephalosporins?” And was trying to explain it to me. I said “didn’t you learn that in medical micro? The PREREQUISITE?” Nothing new. Kind of freaked me out that she had been practicing as an RN not knowing that antibiotics have different mechanisms. I mean did she even think about vanc and gent need a trough but say zosyn does not? Or you can push some antibiotics but not others? Do people even think about what they’re doing? Or do they just go through the motions for easy money? I don’t know
 
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