Career choice: a fork in the road

[tfurrh]

I am in a position to go back to school full time starting this summer or fall. (wife is graduating & starting work)

I'm only 24, I have an Associates, I've been taking night classes, and all of this has been geared towards a biology major/pre-med, and then going on to medical school. I could have it done by the time I'm 30 or 31 if I pushed.

Here's the dilemma I've recently found myself in after talking with a few doctors & nurses. They've all encouraged me to be CRNA instead of MD. Their argument is: less school, less debt, for relatively the same salary.

Thoughts? opinions?

 

[Sola_Fide]

My sister is an RN and she is making bank. Not only that, she did travel nursing and they put her up for free in a beach front condo in Hawaii while paying her 60 bucks an hour for several years. When she told me this, I realized what a dumb career choice I made.

 

[tod evans]

Do the nurse degree.....Later if you want to "upgrade" you can.

 

[WilliamC]

A medical profession is a calling more than a career, and if you want to be successful as an M.D. you will have to devote your life to medicine for at least 8 years, and potentially much longer if you want to get into a lucrative specialty.

Whereas if you want a good paying job with great benefits and security but you truly aren't feeling called to be a physician then Nursing or some medical tech field is a much better choice and you could complete an equivalent of a Ph.D in nursing in much less time.

If you don't have an overwhelming desire to be an M.D. and work 100+ hours a week for years and years to come then don't do it, you will be miserable.

If you can't imagine doing anything other than practicing medicine and healing the sick and would be willing to do it for free then go for it, because if you take on the typical student loan debt you will have nothing but work for years to pay it off and you had better love it, and succeed.

I went into science, which is much like medicine in that to succeed in a good program you have to devote yourself to the work for a while, but unlike medicine I never had the pressure of dealing with peoples health and life, and I was able to have my education paid for and make enough not to get into student loan debt.

Having an M.D. at 30 would be great, but an M.D. and $120,000 in debt not so much.

 

[specsaregood]

//

 

[tfurrh]

A medical profession is a calling more than a career, and if you want to be successful as an M.D. you will have to devote your life to medicine for at least 8 years, and potentially much longer if you want to get into a lucrative specialty.

Whereas if you want a good paying job with great benefits and security but you truly aren't feeling called to be a physician then Nursing or some medical tech field is a much better choice and you could complete an equivalent of a Ph.D in nursing in much less time.

If you don't have an overwhelming desire to be an M.D. and work 100+ hours a week for years and years to come then don't do it, you will be miserable.

If you can't imagine doing anything other than practicing medicine and healing the sick and would be willing to do it for free then go for it, because if you take on the typical student loan debt you will have nothing but work for years to pay it off and you had better love it, and succeed.

I went into science, which is much like medicine in that to succeed in a good program you have to devote yourself to the work for a while, but unlike medicine I never had the pressure of dealing with peoples health and life, and I was able to have my education paid for and make enough not to get into student loan debt.

Having an M.D. at 30 would be great, but an M.D. and $120,000 in debt not so much.

Thanks for the advice. I would say that primarily, my motivation is the realization that, for me, no career is going to be the 'perfect career,' because the only thing I feel 'called' to do is be financially secure. I've spent over 4 years in a job that I felt trapped in. I don't ever want that feeling again, and if it takes 2 or 4 or 8 years of education to get to achieve that, I'm willing to put the time in.

 

[specsaregood]

//

 

[tfurrh]

I might venture to say that if you spent all that money and time becoming a doctor...you might feel trapped into it as well. If being financially secure is your only real goal, I don't think the MD is the correct choice.

That's what a few doctors have told me.....got me thinking.

 

[specsaregood]

//

 

[tfurrh]

If your wife is going to be earning enough to support the family (at least for a while)....and you have the drive.... have you considered a self-employment option? own your own business? Its extra tough to start as the primary breadwinner; but if that isn't as much of an issue it might be worth thinking about as well.

I'm sort of self-employed now. I hate it, it's not for me.

edit: self employed in Transportation & Logistics is not for me. Now, regarding a NP clinic......might be a different story.

 

[specsaregood]

//

 

[realtonygoodwin]

What about a Physician's Assistant (PA)?

 

[donnay]

One suggestion; whatever you decide to do, always keep an open mind and don't dismiss alternative remedies to heal people. The problem I have with the medical community is the attitude of one-size-fits-all and the pushing of prescription drugs.

Nevertheless, I would take on the nursing part. I know a lot of NP's who consider alternative remedies rather than the conventional methods and treatments.

My father had a bed sore so bad that the conventional methods (antibiotics and salve) were not healing it, and actually making the sore worse. I did some research on one remedy using Manuka honey. Applying Manuka honey to the bandage after cleaning the wound with a saline solution (Himalayan salt) had proven (in many cases) to heal bed sores faster--I passed the information along to my father's NP. She applied the Manuka remedy and it healed inside three months (he had the sore nearly a year prior to going with Manuka honey). There are many good alternative remedies out there. Just treat each patient as an individual since not all remedies work for all people.

That's my $0.02 worth.

Best wishes!

 

[specsaregood]

//

 

[tfurrh]

One suggestion; whatever you decide to do, always keep an open mind and don't dismiss alternative remedies to heal people. The problem I have with the medical community is the attitude of one-size-fits-all and the pushing of prescription drugs.

Nevertheless, I would take on the nursing part. I know a lot of NP's who consider alternative remedies rather than the conventional methods and treatments.

My father had a bed sore so bad that the conventional methods (antibiotics and salve) were not healing it, and actually making the sore worse. I did some research on one remedy using Manuka honey. Applying Manuka honey to the bandage after cleaning the wound with a saline solution (Himalayan salt) had proven (in many cases) to heal bed sores faster--I passed the information along to my father's NP. She applied the Manuka remedy and it healed inside three months (he had the sore nearly a year prior to going with Manuka honey). There are many good alternative remedies out there. Just treat each patient as an individual since not all remedies work for all people.

That's my $0.02 worth.

Best wishes!

I have a similar story regarding my mother, who had seen every doctor in TX.

 

[donnay]

I have a similar story regarding my mother, who had seen every doctor in TX.

What a coincidence...my father is in Texas too.

 

[tfurrh]

Registered for summer classes today. I start classes May 12th. I should be done with BSN by May 2015. Here goes nothing.

 

[Acala]

I have a couple suggestions:

1. pretty good chance that the health care system we have today is not going to last. It is unsustainable in its current form. So I would not make any long-term decisions based on what the currrent system looks like. An RN might be a well-paid, secure position now only because they occupy a special niche in the existing system that will not exist ten years from now.

2. Take the path that leads to the skills most likely to be marketable under a variety of circumstances. I don't know enough about the various medical specialties to opine on which would qualify, but I would suggest going for the skills that will be in demand in a black market health care economy.

3. If you have the time and resources to go to med school now, you might want to take that opportunity. You might not see it again.

 

[TheTexan]

Don't do any profession for the money. Love what you do, and you'll be great at what you do, and the money will come.