I think PNP's are a great career option. They make great money, have reasonable hours without call, and have a lot of responsibility. You dont have the excessive debt of doctors, and most hospitals where you work as a nurse will pay for you to get your Master's degree to become a PNP. You can still specialize in a number of different fields, and more and more hospitals are using PNP's across several different primary care, medical, intensive care, and surgical fields. I think if you did the math, most PNP's actually get paid more per hour than a lot of pediatricians if you include the debt that most physicians carry.
I think PNP's are especially good for those who want to be a surgeon without dealing with all the really bad stuff that the surgeon needs to deal with. I worked with a PNP in medical school who worked along side the peds cardiac surgeon. She was first assist in every single case and did a good deal of the work in the OR as first assist, worked 3-4 12-hour days a week, was never on call, always had the surgeon there in the OR who was respnsible dealing with things went they went horribly wrong, and it wasn't her fault if kids had bad outcomes. So she still was able to operate without having the responsibility and lifestyle, which to me is great. And if she had to stay late, she got paid by the hour! Can you imagine if we as doctors got an extra couple hundred dollars on our paycheck because we had to stay late in the ICU sometimes?
