RN to MD or CRNA Advice

[crystalag01]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post and after reading through so many threads I have learned so much from you all! My hope is to have some insight on your experiences and/or what would you do in my circumstance? I am a 28 year old soon to be 29 PICU RN since 2011 and am completing all my medical school pre-requisites this semester. The plan is to take MCAT or GRE depending on what route I choose. I am married to an RN and he is supportive of either decision I make; however, he is slightly concerned of time commitment for medical school and its possible effect on us having a family. I am attempting to build a pro/con list and feel so torn. There is obviously the difference in nursing vs. medical education, salary, scope of practice, and length of time in education. Would you all be willing to share your thoughts on over all quality of life? Job satisfaction? Work-life balance? These are all so personable but I think hearing from some of you all can provide some insight or wisdom to help me reach a final decision. I greatly appreciate any feedback you may have.

Kind regards,
Crystal

**If this is not allowed or is going to cause some sort of tension/negativity please delete or do not respond**

Thanks again!

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[Promethean]

Hi!

I was a pediatric OR RN who went to med school. CRNA is, from what I can see, better preparation than FNP to actually practice, but I would still have been mightily disappointed if I had not chosen medicine.

You gotta figure out what matters most to you. If it isn't medicine, then don't pick that. If you are looking for a job that will earn you a nice income and let you have a life, CRNA is going to do that for you. But, if you want something more, a wider scope, more options about your future practice, and you are willing to make some sacrifices to get it, then med school it is. No one here can tell you what your values are. That is your own soul searching to do.

One thing about medicine. You said "family" as in having babies, yes? And you are 29. Do think hard about when you'd want those babies to happen. The thing about the medical track is that it is not very forgiving of needing time off. There are certainly women in medicine who have children. And if you truly have a support system that is really going to be robust when you need it to be... and if your spouse understands that you have to pick up and move to whatever place you get accepted at, even if it is on the other side of the country... and that you may have to uproot everyone again for residency... and then maybe again for a fellowship or job.

Medicine isn't a route that allows people to have the same kind of a la carte life choices that other people get. You can't just start and stop, go and drop out and then go back in later, take semesters off whenever, choose which school you'll be attending, choose which residency you want, etc. Every step of the process for medicine involves some degree of accepting a relative lack of control and need to live by an external schedule that isn't especially kind to those who fall off of it. I just had to explain to my husband that, since I didn't match at any of the places near our home, I was very lucky to get into a residency only 5 hours away from it. He gets to decide whether to live apart from me for another 3 years, or whether to sell our home and come join me, or rent it out to someone, or what. And I don't get to have any say in what he chooses to do, because I've put so much on him already, that we are at a place where literally anything he chooses to do for the next 3 years is fine with me. Fully supported.

Anything is possible if you want it bad enough and have enough people willing to help you. I know a single mom of two young boys who goes to my school and does very well. I know another mom whose children live with her husband and she gets to see them every two weeks for a day or two... as if she were a noncustodial parent, even though she and her husband are still very married and wish they were together. My own mentor laments always that he is getting to see his children grow up via text message, watching videos of them dancing and playing that his wife is kind enough to send him while he works... but he did have those kids while he was a resident. I know several male medical students / residents with kids, and most of them have wives that are full time moms, or else have nearby family who pitch in. Lots of med students and residents do have kids. And, by making it a top priority for themselves, they have managed to find ways to give those kids meaningful quality time as a family... but like, not one of the med students or residents or physicians I know feel like they have as much time with their families as they might like. Certainly, not like "normal" people, who aren't in this field.

Nursing is more forgiving. It just is. The school is shorter, and there is no extended residency after. CRNAs might have to do call in some places, but usually, when your shift is done, you go home. In many medical specialties, you go home from clinic and work on charts or whatever there, too.

I want to talk you out of medicine, if it can be done. Because if it can't, then that is your clue that you should go for it. It took me until I was in my late 30s to stop waffling and finally pull the trigger on going to med school. But absolutely nothing else was going to do me. If you go the "shorter" route and do CRNA, and still end up wanting to be a physician, then you were just spinning your wheels that much longer. If you do decide that family and lifestyle are more important to you than whatever it is that is drawing you to medicine, then you need to embrace the path that you do choose and don't look back. Whichever you do, don't waste a single thought on "what ifs" or "should I have done that..." Make your decision, stand by it, pour yourself into it, and get the best outcome that path can give you.

Good luck, and if I can help with anything more specific, hit me up any time.

 

[RNthenDoc]

CRNA if you are content with gas, basically!

You have to weigh out which career you want.

If time/delay of gratification is a concern, I’d run far away from medicine.

If you’re just looking for a great salary and work/life balance, CRNA is great.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

Here’s how I decided: If you went to med school, would you want to become an anesthesiologist?
If yes, consider crna
If no, go to med school so you can choose a different specialty.

While NPs can become very knowledgeable and highly skilled, the actual schooling just isn’t as thorough, in-depth, or scientific as MD. The accreditation and licensing are also not as standardized. So this question is irrelevant for deciding NP vs. MD.

Good luck!

 

[crystalag01]

I am so grateful for your responses and for being willing to share. I am in total agreement with you all and can say you have shed some light on some aspects of this decision that I was avoiding. This will definitely take some soul searching as mentioned.