Thanks for the feedback. I will keep all your comments in mind; but first of all, i did nursing intentionally to get more medical exposure, and also, a RN degree, brings some decent income, to pay loans, and also get through med school. I know there's a shortage, but i got that aspect of it taken care of; im just curious about what i can do to ace the MCAT's and be a holistic applicant. Thank you.
I hear and much respect to what everyone has contributed here; but this whole "shortage" thing is a pet peeve of many nurses. Perhaps a few areas have genuine shortages, but otherwise, no there is NO nursing shortage. I mean, there is saturation in many areas, and it is what it is. While it may well come back, but it may not be what it once was. One reason is that, as I said, the shift has been towards moving many services out of the hospital. So the time will come when only the absolutely sickest of the sick will be in the hospitals. (Some of that is true already, but it will only get tighter--at least until the baby boomers start popping in record numbers.)
As far as hiring now is concerned for other related avenues, well, even outpt services are down right now in this economy.
Hospitals in many places are mandating nurses to take PTO, whether they want to or not. OT, well, generally it's not there, and isn't anything near what it used to be. There are many things going on that contribute to this situation. As far as newer nurses getting positions outside the hospital, well, often they require acute or critical care experience, though not always.
As far as working your way through medical school as a nurse, well, I am by no means saying it's impossible. But it will be extremely limited. Depending on what kind of nursing you do--for me it is critical care. Honestly, to do it right, it's physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding enough. Many places require at least some degree of 12 hour shifts. So you can see where that will seriously cut into med. school study--that is, if you aren't too darn exhausted to study anything at all. And, I think 1-2 hours per night in med school won't cut it--at least not for 99% of those in med. school.
I know darn well that I will have to cut work severely as compared to now or what's I've worked in the past. And in many places, even on night shift, things can be rocking and rolling and the patients' are sick, the demands and documentation and juggling is a lot many times--and there are less available supportive resources. So working nights isn't necessarily an easier ride, unless you do something like alcohol and drug rehab on night shift, and even then there's some wild admission or some other bizarre exchanges--all requiring intensive documentation and check, double, and triple, etc. If you get a strike against your professional license as an RN, don't think it won't affect things for medical school or even thereafter--not to mention the fact that nurses can get sued also, though not as much as physicians--although there has been a swing up in this in more recent year I believe.
Personally, in retrospect, I don't think nursing is a great undergrad major for those that seek to do pre-med. I mean, it's not necessarily bad, but I think other degrees may help a person more. I've been a RN for a long time, and I never thought of it as a stepping stool. It was more after working in critical care that I starting evolving into more of a medical perspective on things. I mean I have learned and experienced many things, clinically speaking. I just think there is a more straightforward approach, although the clinical experiences, depending on where, how much, and how long you work in the areas, can be great.
Good luck with whatever you decide. You can do whatever you are determined to do, if the right things are in place. It's just that nursing is a very tough field in many ways--not that medicine is less tough--if anything it is a heck of heck of a lot tougher.
About the nurse with 3.9 and an MCAT of 19, well, you can say the same thing for other majors, although I am wondering what area/s of nursing that nurse worked in. That's pretty sad. But then again, I have worked with really bright nurses, and um then, well. . .
In general in critical care, depending on where you are talking about, the nurses have to think more critically and know a lot more information if they are to do the job even decently. Believe it or not, there are some critical care nurses in units that don 't have a clue about the mechanism of action for some of the vasoactive substances they are frequently titrating. That's scary to me. I say if you don't know what it does, and how it does it and other things to look for, you are operating in some dangerous ignorance. These kind of nurses are troubling to me. . .kind of like the one (in charge mind you) that tried to tell me years ago in an open heart recovery unit that Levodopa was the same thing as Levophed - norepinephrine. She actually insisted about this, while I shook my head and proceeded to tell pharmacy I was sending them an order for norepinephrine. The pharmacist probably thought she was whack too. God, she is a NP today speaking about how physicians lack in certain areas of practice. Oy.
