The Career Choice Toss-Up

[Febrifuge]

Hi, all. I tend to bounce around the premed forums mostly, but I wanted to get some reactions from y'all as well. It's always smart to look at all the options, and since I know I don't know everything, I never know when someone will point out something brilliant that I didn't see about my own situation.

I'm changing careers and getting into healthcare. I just am. I've been working in offices, in one helping profession or another, for 10 years. Enough with the cubicles.

I've volunteered at the triage desk of my local ED for 7 or 8 months now. I know most of the nurses there, and respect nearly all of them. I recently earned EMT certification, and in between the two I fell in love with emergency medicine. I've now been hired to work in that same ED as an assistant.

So... here's my choice: what's next? Time spent working with patients and colleagues will help. I'm considering med school, PA school, Paramedic, and it would be stupid to overlook nursing.

Maybe some of you have been through the same decision point. Tell me anything you think I should know, either about *how* to figure this out, or about *why* you chose what you chose, and how it's going for ya. I really appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks!

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[Hayduke]

Feb-
I am most jazzed you are taking the time and effort to look around.
My career(s) includes time as an EMT, paramedic/firefighter, RN, and about 3 months as a medical school student.

EMS was about the most fun you can have off a beach and within your matrimonial vows. I recall going from one David Lynch scene to the next, always excited and frequently giggling like a schoolgirl. I also watched partners burn through multiple marriages and swan dive into substance abuse. One 100 hour week brought me home to the wife and I didn't recognize her. She had gotten a new hairstyle 10 days prior.
Nursing saved my marriage.

I love being a nurse. I traveled for 4 years making good money and feeling great about my role. Bedside time is an amazing piece of existence. As a traveler, I always felt appreciated. I was also freed from much of the nursey-nurse ****e that devours our sisters.
However, I always wanted to know more. I can work a person through a MI, or get an airway on an infant. I can support an elder in their last minute or help a disabled person with hygenic care. But, IMO that isn't the role for which I was built.

Any case that stumped me led me wading into books on Internal Medicine or Pathology. I really wanted to be that sleuth. I also desired the responsibility that only comes with doctorhood.

Med school is a lot more than I bargained for. I grossly underestimated the time I would need for study. The grades are coming well, but the investment for each one is huge.
I still can't imagine being anywhere else.

Good luck on your search. I hope this helps. Ask the folks with whom you work how they got where they did, and would they be there now had they been gifted with foresight ten years ago.

H

 

[Febrifuge]

Duke,

Awesome post. Thank you for that. I think I see myself in some parts, too (the compulsive researching, the need to study a ton for a good grade, even the drunken love of barely-controlled chaos).

I'm unmarried and have no kids, so for me one consideration is that it would be nice to build a life sometime in the next, say, 10 years. At any rate, the next thing is to become an excellent tech, and talk to everyone. We see about 100,000 patients in a year, so being busy should not be a problem. I'll pick up as much as they'll let me do.

Hopefully by next Spring I'll be working on prereqs for one kind of school or another... or else going back for Paramedic, and planning on a career full of the glorious insanity of the streets.

 

[Febrifuge]

Bump!

I did a search, and lo and behold, this thread o' mine is the only one in the last six months on the topic.

So, for any who maybe didn't see it before... I'd like to hear from Nurses who considered other routes on the way to where they are now, as well as anyone with an opinion about how to sort out which of the roles on the team a person picks, as they get into healthcare.

I met a guy in "my" ED who's a Paramedic and an RN. Fascinating combination, and I'll be talking to him more. Has anyone here made that sort of combination work for them? I'm in Emergency now, and it's the vareity that appeals to me, but of course it's not the only area where I could be happy.

Considering the critical shortage of nurses, RN is too good an option not to consider seriously. And at this early point in my career (I'm an ED Tech by title, an EMT by training) there is a LOT that I just plain don't know. Help out a newbie?

 

[hospPA]

Many RN's, including myself, go on to further their training. There are a variety of reasons for this. My reason was that I always liked medicine. RN's are not really trained in medicine. They do it in a round about way, with nursing diagnosis, pathophysiology, and other subjects. NP's, in my opinion, are not trained in medicine. They are however, expected to practice medicine when they get out of school. Sounds funny, huh? I thought so too, and that is why I am a RN, PA and not an RN, NP.
The other reason I did what I did is because I wanted to do more. I realized that with more training, I could offer patients much more. I felt like I was held back by being an RN. You can only do so much. As a PA, I can do just about anything a doctor can. In defense of NP's, so can they. So, it comes down to what an 80's hair band video said, "So, what do you want to do with your life?" If you are too young for this, I apologize. The answer is, "I wanna rock!" Good luck in your decision.

Pat, EMT, RN, PA-C, MPAS

 

[Febrifuge]

Ha! Too young? I'm 33 now, and I'll be 35 or 36 by the time I finish pre-reqs for any school I would go to.

Yes, I'm already getting the sense that a really excellent RN provides quasi-medical help that the medical team can't do without, and doesn't mind that their thing as a nurse really isn't medicine. Nursing is a distinct and awesome thing, it's just different.

And I'm afraid I'm a medical type. Since the prereqs for PA school are not lesser or easier, far as I can tell, I think I'll be following the advice of my MD/DO friends, and going for the medical degree.

Class of 2010, here I come! Woo-hoo!

 

[deleted6669]

don't assume that generic premed requirements will also meet all the prereqs for pa school. several programs require anatomy, microbio,psychology, etc that are not med school requirements. if there is a particular pa program that is on your list try to meet all their prereqs at the same time as you do those for md/do just to keep your options open. good luck-e
....and don't write off emt-p without seriously considering it. it is a great stepping stone to pa or md/do.
emedpa
pa-c, ms, emt-p

 

[Febrifuge]

Yes, when I realized that the prereqs for PA school and med school are different, I realized that while it would be approximately the same length of time before I was ready for either, I would have to make the call sooner, so that I would be doing the right prereqs for my career of choice.

EMT-P is an option, for sure, but I guess I'm feeling the pressure of age right now. Many medics my age have been doing it 10 years, and they are excellent candidates for med school. If med schools don't want me, or don't want me yet, 'the medicine of the streets' would be a fine option. I could spend a year or so getting EMT-P, then apply to med school every year until I get in.

(Then there's the matter of all my undergrad debt, and the need for some earning power to make that go away...) I'll be doing some ride-alongs, hopefully soon, with my County system. And I know that as a seasoned medic, I'd have much more flexibility with schedules, I could write and teach on the side, etc. It's totally still in the mix.

 

[agent]

I would go to PA school, but its up to you.

 

[Febrifuge]

Agent, how come PA school? Say more if you care to; I think it helps everybody sort stuff out, to see how other people did the same.