Nurse Outlook in 10 years

[smileyriles]

Hey everyone!

I'm a 16 year old male interested in the nursing profession. I love the diversity nursing has and the option it gives to go onto med or dent school later in life. I was just wondering what the nursing outlook will look like in 10 years? Will there still be a strong demand, especially for male nurses? Thanks everyone! Give me a shout!

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[ether_screen]

While there will always be cycles in the job market for any role in health care, there is currently a huge demand for nurses which should persist for many years to come. As a 16 yo male, I applaud you for your open interest in nursing, as I caught a lot of crap from my friends in my early 20s. But seriously, it’s a wonderful profession and I say go for it! The starting salary is about 40k, but this will vary geographically. Also, advanced practice (nurse anesthetist, practitioner, ect.) opens up lots of doors. Best of luck!

 

[smileyriles]

thanks ether!

 

[phleebie]

Hey everyone!

I'm a 16 year old male interested in the nursing profession. I love the diversity nursing has and the option it gives to go onto med or dent school later in life. I was just wondering what the nursing outlook will look like in 10 years? Will there still be a strong demand, especially for male nurses? Thanks everyone! Give me a shout!

i wouldnt necessarily say that nursing is a good spring-board for med school. nursing school and med school are both very time consuming and expensive--if you are considering becoming a physician, you could save yourself a lot of grief by making this your primary goal early. otherwise, making this career switch later in life will be much more complicated

however, if nursing is truly what you want to do, then go for it. there is (and will be) a high demand for nurses now and in the foreseeable future. good luck.

 

[hospPA]

I agree with the above poster that nursing is not a spring board to medical school. It is a springboard in terms of medical/nursing experience that will likely be helpful during you schooling and rotations. It will not be helpful in that most of the nursing science courses are not the ones that are required as prerequisites for medical school. They are "dumbed" down versions in most cases. I speak from experience on this and am not flaming. I am sure that every program is not the same.
For instance, physics for health professions 101 is not a full year, maximum strength physics class and will not meet the prereq's for med school. A & P I & II do not substitute for the zoology or biology classes often required for admission.
If you are going to do this nursing school to med school thing, make sure you take the "full version" classes instead of the nursing track ones. The people I know who have done this have had to go back and take all the "real" science classes again. Good luck.
Pat

 

[lawguil]

Hey everyone!

I'm a 16 year old male interested in the nursing profession. I love the diversity nursing has and the option it gives to go onto med or dent school later in life. I was just wondering what the nursing outlook will look like in 10 years? Will there still be a strong demand, especially for male nurses? Thanks everyone! Give me a shout!

First, I am not aware of any relationship between nursing and medical school. As an outsider, you might think that they are both medical professions and one simply builds off the other - they require very different coursework and training. If your interested in medical school, make sure you take the pre-req.'s for medical school. However, if you were anything like me at 16, what your thinking about now will change, well, it's still changing.
As far as demand 10 years from today. I don't know the answer to this question. Yes, they are in demand today, however, I have noticed an interesting trend in the northeast. A good number of colleges have developed and started a nursing program including the one that I work at. The shortage were I live is now gone because of the graduates from the last two years out of new programs. However, they are still producing graduates, lets hope they relocate to underserved areas. L

 

[50960]

While all these folks are out spaking their monkey, trying to get called doctor and the like while offering you poor advice......keep in mind nursing in Ca is in such a high need that people are getting offered 60-80K right out of school (ASN...not BSN). I see 15 ads in every Sunday paper. It is a good field...go for it...

 

[djquick83]

Demand for PA is increasing as well. AT a recent conference I went to, they said the increases would be from now until 2010 as follows all throughout the US:

Physicians-13% increase
Nurses-25% increase
PA's-51% increase <=========

 

[MWLucky13]

Hey everyone!

I'm a 16 year old male interested in the nursing profession. I love the diversity nursing has and the option it gives to go onto med or dent school later in life. I was just wondering what the nursing outlook will look like in 10 years? Will there still be a strong demand, especially for male nurses? Thanks everyone! Give me a shout!

I definitely agree that nursing school does NOT offer a spring board to go onto med or dent school. I was in your same position. I always wanted to go into medicine but did not want to be a Pre-Med major. I decided to major in Nursing because it offered me the ability to get in the hospitals and clinical experience & to have something to fall back on if med school didnt pan-out. I figure it would be easier than a pre-med track, and that it would give me the pre-reqs for med-school...WRONG. I was silly and naive in my youth. Now I am a 7th semester (BS) Nursing student graduating May 2005. Another girl in my class did Nursing as a Pre-Med thing the RIGHT way. She took her organic chems, physics, calcs, honors work, research...the whole 9 yards...THROUGHOUT nursing school (She's headed to med school next year)...thing is, there is little to no flexibility to take those courses in the curriculum...Meaning if you want to do (NURSING/Pre-Med) and graduate in 4 years you have to take your med school pre-reqs in the summer (Not an easy task when your taking FULL course-loads) EVERY semester. Nursing School is NOT easy...Once clinicals start you are getting AMAZING experience in the hospital...BUT, your up wayyyyy EARLY (5-5:30AM) several days during the week...I personally got wrapped up in my Nursing curriculum, even thought about sticking with nursing (Master's, PhD)...The reality is the cliche' "I have always wanted to be a Doctor from the time I was a little boy(girl)". I have always wanted to be a Doctor, but I need those heavy science Pre-reqs that I am going to have to take AFTER I graduate. I would not trade my clinical experiences, for ANYTHING in the world. Not many 20-year old college students can come in from the end of the day, and have the EXPERIENCE of holding someone's hand as they die...They don't get the EXPERIENCE the Miracle of Life (childbirth)...They don't get the experience of helping a sick child (who may/may not) realize they are sick, and just want to PLAY and be a child...THAT is an undergraduate education that you can only get in NURSING...My point that I am getting to: If you want to do Nursing as a spring-board to Med-School...DO IT (but, do your homework, information regarding pre-reqs and the such will not be handed to you...YOU need to go out and get it...and that is VERY difficult)...I would suggest that if you want to really want to go into Medicine, go Pre-Med, you can volunteer at hospitals and get wonderful, enriching experiences being a volunteer (and hospitals and patients will ALWAYS need support from volunteers...but you won't get the experience of being a part of the Healthcare Delivery Team)...It's all about what YOU want. You already have a good start thinking about exploring what you career/education options, and many 16-years olds can't say that...Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[phleebie]

While all these folks are out spaking their monkey, trying to get called doctor and the like while offering you poor advice......keep in mind nursing in Ca is in such a high need that people are getting offered 60-80K right out of school (ASN...not BSN). I see 15 ads in every Sunday paper. It is a good field...go for it...

what are you talking about? the op explicitly stated that he is interested in nursing because it would give him the option of going to medical school later in life. as the above posters have pointed out, this is not an easy (nor common) thing to do.

nobody has deterred him from choosing nursing as a profession. he is still young and has plenty of time to decide on what he wants to do. i think everyone is just informing him on how these two career paths differ.

 

[smileyriles]

WOW, thanks everyone for the awesome replies...I appreciate the great detail and time you all put into your responses.

Thanks again!


Smileyriles

 

[maia]

I decided to major in Nursing because it offered me the ability to get in the hospitals and clinical experience Nursing School is NOT easy...Once clinicals start you are getting AMAZING experience in the hospital...BUT, your up wayyyyy EARLY (5-5:30AM) several days during the week
I would not trade my clinical experiences, for ANYTHING in the world. Not many 20-year old college students can come in from the end of the day, and have the EXPERIENCE of holding someone's hand as they die...They don't get the EXPERIENCE the Miracle of Life (childbirth)...They don't get the experience of helping a sick child (who may/may not) realize they are sick, and just want to PLAY and be a child...THAT is an undergraduate education that you can only get in NURSING...
but you won't get the experience of being a part of the Healthcare Delivery Team)...It's all about what YOU want. You already have a good start thinking about exploring what you career/education options, and many 16-years olds can't say that...Hope this helps, good luck.

absolutely right! nursing is best for experience!

 

[jetskiters]

oh well. here's this topic about nursing as premed that I've been looking all over the site for. I found it at last!

Right now, I'm a 1st yr BSN stude planning to proceed to med school, perhaps with the same reasons as MWLucky13 when he posted: "I decided to major in Nursing to have something to fall back on if med school didnt pan-out.". But I have to say that right now, I'm not that convinced about my course because I know that it won't prepare me best for med school (in terms of the prereqs), and that I still have to take other subjects before med school, which will take longer.

Even right now, I'm pretty curious already about medicine to the extent that I'd check out licensure exam reviewers, med subjects, med schools, etc. MWLucky13 was right, you'll have to make up for what you'll miss (like take some prereqs for med school while taking up nursing) so that you'll be ready by the time you graduate. But this isn't so easy, considering that nursing studes go on duty for long hours, plus, attend to some more lectures altogether.

I know some people my age who also wanna be doctors and are taking up nursing first. but it all depends on which path you wanna take. If you're really serious about med school, it's good to take up good premed courses like Med Tech (some subjects in junior year of medtech are also taken up in medschool, that's why medtech grads are quite prepared).

smileyriles, i'm just curious. could you, by any chance, be residing in the Philippines?

 

[Skialta]

Two words...Gaylord Focker