RN to MD?

[mal16]

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Hello everyone, I stumbled upon this forum and I am looking to get some advice on the transition from nursing to medicine. I'm in my second year of an ADN program, and I graduate in December (at 21 y/o). I've been contemplating medical school for so long. I even thought about leaving the program entirely during my first year to pursue medicine. It's not that I don't like nursing, it's just that I want/need more. I am so much more interested in the physicians during my clinicals, and I hate the fact that we only scratch the surface of some of the most important topics/diseases in health care. I want to have more autonomy.. So i guess my decision now is between becoming an NP and continuing with the nursing, or getting my BSN and going back to start my pre-reqs for nursing school and the MCAT. Are my reasons for wanting to pursue medicine good enough?

 

[Eccesignum]

Whether you should do NP or MD is not something we can answer. I'd suggest spending some time looking up the similarities and differences and figuring out which is better suited to you. I'd strongly suggest going and having a conversation with some NPs and MDs both, and getting an understanding of their roles. Spend some time shadowing both, as that's the best way to be able to see what their days are like.

Either way, you'll need to be thinking ahead to a bachelor's degree. Which is not altogether a bad thing, as it'll give you time to work as a nurse and get exposure to the healthcare environment before becoming a clinician of any kind. I can say, as an ADN-prepared nurse myself, that my years spent working in the hospital came up a lot in interviews. My opinion of a nurse's role compared to a doctor's. What kind of team player I am. What lessons I'd learned about the team and what I thought would carry over from my time as a nurse, etc.

Where MD is concerned, a BSN, while it'll prepare you to continue in nursing, doesn't contain medical school pre-requisities (in general). You should be aware of that. If you do a BSN, in all likelihood you'll be going back (or doubling down) to take extra classes. Versus a degree like biology or chemistry where many medical pre-reqs are built in. In my area, ADNs are very employable and I had no trouble working while I went back for a biology degree. For some people this won't work. In many areas it's tough for ADNs to find jobs, and you'll all but need that BSN just to break into the market as a spankin' new nurse...something to consider.