Another Nursing student pondering going to medical school

[hopebsntomd]

I am 21 and currently about halfway done with a BSN program. Before applying to nursing school I volunteered in a Urology outpatient office and I shadowed the nurses. That was when I kinda started to question if I wanted to be a nurse or an MD. I didn't like how they were just kinda following orders but I kinda brushed it off and said "its a doctors office, its going to be different in the hospital and in critical care situations" and I also set my sites on the NPs in the office who were doing more and seeing their own patients. I started the program and I really liked it but I kept just wanting more out of my pathophysiology and pharmacology classes, but again I brushed it off. I like the hospital more, but again I still keep wanting to know the reasons behind the orders and I want to be the one making the plan for the patients. Recently, an old friend got into med school and its been bringing these thoughts up and now I've just been questioning it so much. I've just realized that I want more and I honestly cannot get it out of my head. I keep thinking about going the NP route but there's not really a set standard curriculum for NP schools and I keep seeing things from NPs that say they don't know that much and wish they knew more. And I don't think I'll like having to double check everything with an MD/DO as an NP. The bottom line is I want the autonomy and I want to know more and be more educated about whats actually going on with my patients and do more with them.

I currently have a 3.87 GPA, volunteer work, and some work as an assistant in a microbio lab. I would obviously have to take the pre-med prerequisites. I know I can do well in them as long as I put the time in. I'm close to graduating so I'm not going to quit nursing school, I figure Ill continue and graduate and get experience on the floor while I'm getting my classes done and MCAT done. I need to work and pay off at least some of my student loans before going to med school, too.

My biggest dilemma is the fact that I really like how much nurses spend time with their patients. I see the doctors kinda zip in and out of the room and I don't like this. Is there any way around this? Is this different in different specialties? I'm really interested in ICU or cardiology.

Any advice or opinions are appreciated!

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[twospadz]

Stay as a nurse. You can make close to the salary of doctors in some fields

 

[mw18]

It's not really different in any field. You don't get to spend nearly as much time with patients as nurses do in the hospital setting. In primary care you spend more time with patients than anyone else but it's often 15 minutes every few minutes or once a year. You make a profound impact, but in a short amount of interaction.

 

[Talkbirthytome]

NPs are also pushed by production standards so longer appointments in outpatient settings are dwindling. Inpatient is busy, as you know, so there's little time there as well. Nurses spend the most time with patients.

Medicine will dive deeper into the sciences and your scope will be the widest of the advanced practice professions.

Go with your gut.

 

[atomi]

You’re young enough you can do Med school, so do it. Some specialties get to spend more time with the patients.

If you want to do primary care, consider just doing NP though. Anything else, Med school hands down. If you’re going into the country’s worst industry, healthcare, and it really is a circus, you should at least rather be in the positions that make the high level decisions in that industry. If you’re a nurse, you’ll be performing repetitive tasks vs. high level decision making.

 

[XannyBarz]

go to med school if you can get in

 

[Mike Bagwell]

It seems you haven't figured out 100% why you want to be a doctor or what medicine actually entails.

If you enjoy spending time with patients, stick with nursing and build on that.

Anybody can pursue a career in medicine if they wish as long as they have the academic qualifications and test scores. Taking the prereqs is the first step. You are jumping the gun talking about cardiology.

The prereqs, at a four year institution, are very different than what you are currently accustomed to in your nursing program.

Take it a step at a time and you may even say that medicine is not something that you want to pursue.

There are still plenty of doctors that spend plenty of time with their patients. There are lots of regulations in medicine but the career is really what you make of it. If you're motivated by money, I feel those are the doctors that end up spending the least amount of time with their patients.

 

[deleted709753]

Do you want to make the decisions or are you good at following orders and seeing them through? That should be the main deciding factor IMO.

 

[futuremdforme]

In outpatient settings, physicians spend more time with patients than the nurses. I didn't do nursing, but I felt a lot like you when I chose not to do medicine initially -- the feeling nagged at me for ages, and I always felt bittersweet happiness for friends doing medical school/graduating, etc. You're 21 -- it's very reasonable to pursue.

 

[shaosoldier]

I would dabble a bit into the pre-med courses if you can, especially at least a semester of full time university pre med. This will show you if you’ll be able to compete with those kids. Pre-Medicine is a different ballgame than nursing school, more malignant and difficult but there are caring people in there too just have to alliance yourself with the right friends.

Shadow a physician too and ask them about pro and cons of this career and path. Medical school including residency is at earliest 7 years total. That’s without MCAT or premed.

Like they said above, go with your gut but dabble a bit before fully committing.

 

[1uhbedoc]

Just going to put my $.02 in here, since this is clearly what it's for. I began a BSN program in 2012 and changed my major a semester before graduating to biology to pursue medical school. Not to delve into my entire story, but many of the same feelings are what initially raised the question of medicine. I'm currently a practicing nurse (have been for ~4 years) and am awaiting an acceptance currently this cycle. As far as the other posters on here commenting that pre-med is a whole different ballgame over nursing school, it is but I'd say it can definitely be easier. The students themselves can be "cut-throat" but as far as the difficulty of material or time management, I'd say it's about the same. Nursing school = ton of busy work with a lot of info but not many details, pre-med sciences = little more detail but not as broad. Having been in a similar situation as you, I'd definitely recommend finishing that degree and making some money to help pay for those courses, plus you'll obtain hands on patient care (clearly nursing does not equal medicine but I'd go out on a limb and say my bedside care and communication with patients is 10x of that of other students coming through the door due to my experience). Once you delve into organic/biochem, that will give you a better idea of whether you can handle that type of scientific thinking, much, MUCH different than nursing (thank the lord haha). Best of luck to you OP!

Also, just to add about time with patients, this will obviously vary. I have ~ 30 patients by myself in a rehab setting so I spent ~ 3-5 minutes with each patient at a time. Nursing does not always allow there to be much time with patients either.

 

[la flame]

I feel the same way you do OP. I felt like Premed route was for me a little more than halfway during my BSN program. I'm in my last semester right now, and I signed up to take Gen Chem 2, and I have an A in it so far. With BSN, usually your last semester is just a bunch of BS classes like leadership/community (80% no joke of my cohort browses Netflix/does busy work in our classes this semester), so you may have time to take 1 premed class.

I loved my first semesters of nursing school because it was about patho, pharm, critical care, etc. But now, I realized it' mostly fluff afterwards. I'm doing my Capstone right now, and I feel like nurses just take orders and give meds ( I'm on a Telemetry unit). I feel like there is something more out there for me.


However, after I graduate w my BSN this semester, I don't think I will have time to work at a hospital. Most new grad "residencies" require us to work 40+ hours a week for at least 1-2 years. I won't have any time to schedule the rest of my premed classes. So hopefully, I can find a small part time PRN job at a clinic or maybe even do Home Health where I can set my own hours. Let me know what you end up doing homie, I'm 22 years old.

 

[1uhbedoc]

I feel the same way you do OP. I felt like Premed route was for me a little more than halfway during my BSN program. I'm in my last semester right now, and I signed up to take Gen Chem 2, and I have an A in it so far. With BSN, usually your last semester is just a bunch of BS classes like leadership/community (80% no joke of my cohort browses Netflix/does busy work in our classes this semester), so you may have time to take 1 premed class.

I loved my first semesters of nursing school because it was about patho, pharm, critical care, etc. But now, I realized it' mostly fluff afterwards. I'm doing my Capstone right now, and I feel like nurses just take orders and give meds ( I'm on a Telemetry unit). I feel like there is something more out there for me.


However, after I graduate w my BSN this semester, I don't think I will have time to work at a hospital. Most new grad "residencies" require us to work 40+ hours a week for at least 1-2 years. I won't have any time to schedule the rest of my premed classes. So hopefully, I can find a small part time PRN job at a clinic or maybe even do Home Health where I can set my own hours. Let me know what you end up doing homie, I'm 22 years old.

I'm not sure what state you're in but you might want to look into doing weekend option. That's what I did when I went back for the entirety of my bacc in biology. I did two 16 hour shifts on the weekend and got paid for 40 hours. Hospitals typically do 12s but just look around. There's shortages of nurses everywhere so you can generally get someone to work with your schedule. I've even done a job where I worked two 12s on the weekends and picked up 8 hour PRN shifts when my school schedule allowed during the week. Or you can do full time 0700-1500 Mon-Fri and do night classes. There are tons of options.

I agree about the classes though. That was one of my biggest disappointments with nursing school is that the science taught is subpar at best and the understanding I had about the body was nill in comparison to the education I received when doing my biology degree. Nursing to me is more of a caregiver role than a scientist and I wish I had known that prior to going down that road.

 

[la flame]

I'm not sure what state you're in but you might want to look into doing weekend option. That's what I did when I went back for the entirety of my bacc in biology. I did two 16 hour shifts on the weekend and got paid for 40 hours. Hospitals typically do 12s but just look around. There's shortages of nurses everywhere so you can generally get someone to work with your schedule. I've even done a job where I worked two 12s on the weekends and picked up 8 hour PRN shifts when my school schedule allowed during the week. Or you can do full time 0700-1500 Mon-Fri and do night classes. There are tons of options.

I agree about the classes though. That was one of my biggest disappointments with nursing school is that the science taught is subpar at best and the understanding I had about the body was nill in comparison to the education I received when doing my biology degree. Nursing to me is more of a caregiver role than a scientist and I wish I had known that prior to going down that road.

Was your weekend shifts after you had experience as an RN?

As far as I know, when you are a "new grad" with your RN license, you are required to go through an "orientation" that lasts about 1 year where you have to go to classes a couple of times a month as well as work with your preceptor whenever they work ( you follow their schedule), and attend weekly seminars ( evidence based practice, etc.) And this is 40/hours a week too. With a wobbly/crazy schedule like that, I'm afraid that will interfere with my classes. That's my dilemna with trying to find a hospital job as a "new grad".

 

[Talkbirthytome]

Was your weekend shifts after you had experience as an RN?

As far as I know, when you are a "new grad" with your RN license, you are required to go through an "orientation" that lasts about 1 year where you have to go to classes a couple of times a month as well as work with your preceptor whenever they work ( you follow their schedule), and attend weekly seminars ( evidence based practice, etc.) And this is 40/hours a week too. With a wobbly/crazy schedule like that, I'm afraid that will interfere with my classes. That's my dilemna with trying to find a hospital job as a "new grad".

I worked in reproductive endocrinology on the weekends as a new grad, including OR. Maybe you can find an outpatient/ambulatory job? Eight hour shifts though. Home health can be a great option if you need 12 hour shifts and can't do orientation.