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Hello, Im currently an RN who is about to start a post bacc program this summer. I've read various threads on this forum from people who are considering using nursing as a stepping stone to med school, and I just wanted to give my general thoughts about this since it comes up so much.
The following reasons for taking this path (RN to MD) I've come across are as follows:
1. I can get a nursing degree and then work as a nurse while I do my pre-reqs.
Yes, you certainly can do this, but nursing is mentally and physically exhausting. After I work a 12 hour shift at the hospital, I come home and am so tired, I almost immediately fall asleep. Nursing is very task based. Of course there is a lot of thinking involved, but you are constantly doing tasks that the MD orders (passing medications, charting, cleaning patients, transporting patients, blood sugars, vitals.) I know there are people who work full time as a nurse and take classes but it is very tiring and either work or school will probably suffer as a consequence.
2. Working as a nurse will get me valuable clinical experience that will help me in med school.
This is partly true, from what I've heard from doctors I've talked to, the experience will help the most during your 3rd and 4th of med school when you begin interacting with patients. As far as the material you learn during your 1st and 2nd year, the information is so in depth and so detailed, that we barely touched on it in nursing school.
If you want to be a nurse and enjoy what nurses do then I would go that route. But before you take that path, please try to get some good shadowing experience and truly understand what you will be doing as an RN and what the job entails. I know a lot of RN's that have been nurses for 25 years that are absolutely brilliant and love what they do. I, on the other hand, realized very quickly that nursing is not for me. I simply want to take care of patients in a different capacity that what nursing offers.
If you want to be a doctor then major in a science and just go for it! You are going to go into debt, but most med students do. And having a nursing job during your pre-reqs isn't going to help too much and is just going to delay the process. Good luck with whatever decision you choose!
The following reasons for taking this path (RN to MD) I've come across are as follows:
1. I can get a nursing degree and then work as a nurse while I do my pre-reqs.
Yes, you certainly can do this, but nursing is mentally and physically exhausting. After I work a 12 hour shift at the hospital, I come home and am so tired, I almost immediately fall asleep. Nursing is very task based. Of course there is a lot of thinking involved, but you are constantly doing tasks that the MD orders (passing medications, charting, cleaning patients, transporting patients, blood sugars, vitals.) I know there are people who work full time as a nurse and take classes but it is very tiring and either work or school will probably suffer as a consequence.
2. Working as a nurse will get me valuable clinical experience that will help me in med school.
This is partly true, from what I've heard from doctors I've talked to, the experience will help the most during your 3rd and 4th of med school when you begin interacting with patients. As far as the material you learn during your 1st and 2nd year, the information is so in depth and so detailed, that we barely touched on it in nursing school.
If you want to be a nurse and enjoy what nurses do then I would go that route. But before you take that path, please try to get some good shadowing experience and truly understand what you will be doing as an RN and what the job entails. I know a lot of RN's that have been nurses for 25 years that are absolutely brilliant and love what they do. I, on the other hand, realized very quickly that nursing is not for me. I simply want to take care of patients in a different capacity that what nursing offers.
If you want to be a doctor then major in a science and just go for it! You are going to go into debt, but most med students do. And having a nursing job during your pre-reqs isn't going to help too much and is just going to delay the process. Good luck with whatever decision you choose!
