My sister is a nurse in a prestigious pediatric hospital, in a very difficult and complicated ward. She has one of the most demanding, heartbreaking, stressful, difficult, elite jobs I can think of. She loves it, she's bloody good at it, and she will never change careers. Nursing is all she's ever wanted to do.
She gets asked if she's working on becoming a doctor probably at least weekly. She answers that she wouldn't get to spend as much time with her patients, or, haha, that doctors work too hard (as if nurses don't).
The question always comes from well meaning people - often grateful parents of very sick children - who, I think, simply don't understand the differences between the two jobs. It's always meant as a compliment (you could do it, you're ever so clever! it's such a respectable job title!); it's just a bit of a misunderstanding, I think.
At least in my sister's hospital, doctors have the "technical" duties of diagnosing, deciding overall treatment, studying innovations, things like that. Their knowledge and education are often highly specialised and needed everywhere all at once. They don't get to spend much time with patients. They are often tired, mentally exhausted, and even a bit lonely. The pressure and responsibility of making dozens of literal life or death decisions daily can be isolating.
Nurses become family to their patients. They spend intimate hours with each patient and their family. They carry out the decisions ordered by the doctors, in most cases administer the treatments prescribed, and they take care of nearly every other patient need.
Nurses are doctors, arsewipers, life savers, social workers, babysitters, therapists, waitresses, torturers, personal shoppers, pharmacists, entertainers, teachers, aunties/uncles, butlers, first responders, friends, deputies, ministers, protectors, and more... all day, every day, to everyone. They know everything about their patients and develop deep bonds with them, and that can only come from spending the time with people which doctors simply cannot do.
Nurses are right there with people, day and night, hour by hour, during the hardest, scariest, worst time of their lives, for the duration. Nurses are there with the patient as they vomit and soil the room in the middle of the night. They are holding the crying mother's hand and maybe crying with her. They are right there beside the chemotherapy patient as they lose their hair and get sick and weak and stop eating, every step of the way. They are the first one in the room when a patient has an emergency, with all of the patient's meds and allergies memorised. They are the one intubating or IVing or injecting a terrified patient as gently as possible. They clean shit off their shoes and blood from their scrubs and piss out of their hair without complaint. They bring in gifts for patients' birthdays, and bring pillows and blankets for family who dare not leave their loved one's bedside. They comfort and cradle the scared little child whose mum had to leave the hospital for the first time; they sing her to sleep. They dress up like Batman or Rapunzel when a patient finally goes home. They soothe the terrified and confused dementia patient when they wake up in the night in an alien place, every night for years. They hold in the body-rocking sobs of sorrow and anger until they get home because they don't want the family to know that their child is the most horrific case of abuse they've ever seen. They go to the funerals.
I think that people who ask nurses (or aspiring) if they plan to become doctors simply don't understand how different the jobs are on a patient by patient, minute by minute basis. I think people may not understand the very different reasons that a person would be drawn to one or the other.
It takes a dedicated, organized, intelligent, analytical, rational person to be a doctor and want to save as many lives as possible in the time they have, and obviously that is one of the most important jobs on earth.
But it takes a very special, kind, strong, tireless, fearless, empathetic, quick witted, composed, selfless, loving, generous person - one with a bottomless heart, iron stomach, and endless brain capacity - to be a nurse, to want to be hands on helping people to survive day by day.
(Sorry! I went on a bit of a rant there! I guess I can't seem to hold back when I think there might be somebody somewhere who doesn't understand that nurses are so incredibly badass!
I do hope there's at least something in there that you can take to your friend to help her understand your DDs decision, @Oddychaj. If not, then maybe some words of encouragement for your aspiring nurse?)