My man Shagnasty was looking into nursing school recently. I chimed in to act as devil’s advocate. Here’s my take from some correspondence between us.
[QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension]
Here’s all the reasons you should not do it -I’m going with the full negative answer here, because it’s very easy to find reasons you should do it - Lots of people say things like “Dude, you’re such a smart and decent person, you’d be great at it”. I’ll take that as a given, and just address why you should think twice about it. Here’s my experience.
I switched to an MD program. The first two years were schoolwork, and remarkably like high school. I was, on average 12 years older than the standard track students, although there were a few other older students. I spent 2 years on the outside, as the class coalesced into age appropriate best-years-of-our-lives 20 something groups, not unlike ‘Friends’. In other words, the cool experience of working at something in a pack, that nobody will understand unless they were there and making friends you’ll have forever - the experience I had in grad school - did not happen in medical school, largely because I was an outlier. Plus, it was a lot of book learning, just like high school, and NOT like college, or grad school, where there is value on thinking, or figuring out. Medicine is concerned with having the right answer, not with ‘interesting questions’ and ‘lets see what happens when we do this’. It is very much not like ‘House’.
When I was on the wards - clinical years and internship - I found it to be amazingly stressful. Lots to do, mostly wrong all the time, and exhausted. Nursing students may have an easier time of it, but I doubt it. Most of the time nurses are treated by doctors as though they aren’t quite bright, and many, many doctors are asses, particularly to nurses.
Similarly, patients, whom I expected to be subjects of some compassion, rapidly came to be regarded as problems, and little else. Again, some exceptions exist, but remaining compassionate in a medical context - something I’ve tried hard to work at - is damned difficult. It is far too easy to view them as problems. ER medicine is particularly difficult for remaining compassionate. I remember one early morning in the ER talking to some patient who had a nasty personality, no personal skills and who was responsible for his own condition, and realizing that I was faking being the compassionate caring person I used to be, in order to get the job done.
Other down sides: If you make a mistake people can die - that is hard to get used to. For every nice decent person you meet, there are a herd of jerks, and the decent person is having a horrible time in the hospital, so it’s not like you’re going to get to know them. Don’t forget that you are giving up a lot of knowledge and expertise and becoming a rookie again. As a doper, I suspect you’re used to being considered knowledgeable and competent. That’s gone for years, as you climb you way up the ladder again. Also, the hours suck.
On the plus side, you get great stories.
Suggestions: Investigate it - spend time on the wards, in ER, know what you’re getting yourself into.
Consider finding an outlet for your positive, proactive, decent impulses that don’t require leaving your current career.
If you do switch, consider leaving a way back to your old career. I knew an engineer who wanted to be an EMT. He took a leave of absence from his engineering job, trained as an EMT, and…hated it…and went back to his old job. He was very glad he hadn’t quit. Corporate America may suck, but there are worse things. Also, keep in mind the significant hit to the wallet you’ll likely be taking.
If you do decide to switch, consider MD versus nursing. Takes longer, but at least your on the order-giving track, not the order-taking track.
Again, sorry if it sounds negative, but it is a hard go, and I wouldn’t want you to make such a move unless you know what you’re getting into. I was lucky, and found my way into an interesting and intellectual field, but I’m aware that it could have been even tougher than it was.
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You may find Shagnasty has some insight, as he’s investigated this issue. Maybe he can be the good cop.
