To think that I'm not 'too clever to be a nurse'?

[namechangee55]

After wanting to work in healthcare since I was a teenager I decided to finally take the plunge and apply to study paediatric nursing. I've told a few friends and family and whilst some have been supportive, a few have said that I'm 'too clever' to be a nurse and I should pursue medicine instead. It's kind of tarnished the excitement I feel about starting my course... I strongly disagree with them, and think nursing is a better option for me. I don't want to spend years studying medicine, and think nursing will provide a better work-life balance.

I do already have a degree Biomedical Sciences which I got a first in, and I have science a-levels (A*AB). But graduate-entry medicine is so highly competitive I don't think I'd stand a chance anyway.

I think I can still make a difference to patients' lives as a paediatric nurse and can still work my way up and have a fulfilling career.

AIBU to hate the idea that nursing is not as good an option as medicine?

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/medical-associate-professions/roles-medical-associate-professions/physician-associate

As a graduate medical student graduating this summer and starting FY1 I absolutely do not agree with you that you stand no chance of getting into grad medicine. You sound like a great candidate.

That being said, you don't sound as if you want to do medicine and would rather nursing. Both the jobs of a doctor and a nurse are very stressful at times, and to be honest if you don't love what you're doing there's not much point in bothering to preserve. Can you find a nurse and a doctor to shadow (even for a day!) to see what their typical day is like? I still often wonder whether I should have gone into nursing. It is a different career but with some similar aspects, so I understand why both medicine and nursing can appeal to people.

Anyone who thinks someone is "too clever" for nursing is very much misinformed about the role of a nurse and the many nursing career pathways. I have met so many brilliant nurses of equal or even higher intelligence to me and other more senior doctors. It's a different set of skills that are honed and a different role within the MDT, but that does not mean that a nurse is below a doctor.

You should pick whichever path appeals most to you, but please don't base it off the assumption that you won't get into medicine!

Someone I know has a PhD in nursing. I can assure you her brain was never wasted. She never wanted to be a doctor (as her dad or siblings), what she wanted was to be a nurse, they are two very different jobs. Especially n this time an age when the doctor has to see each patient for a maximum of 20 minutes, and the nurse is the one playing the caring and hand holding role.

This is what everyone suggested to me too! It's a great support for Drs although not always welcome.
As it's reactively new there really is no structured career progression for PAs which is something nursing does offer. Many advanced practitioners work in the same capacity as PAs but we also have other career options open to us. PAs are very limited with options right now though that may change in the future.

My sibling is a nurse. The pecking order is very real. My sibling and her peers feel very superior to healthcare assistants, its shocking how they sneer a them for being 'work shy' and 'lazy'. Maybe that is because doctors look at nurses the same way. From what I can see from listening to many friends who are nurses, nursing is a particularly toxic environment to work in.

It's also possible to have an academic career as a nurse, if you are interested in research.

Being a nurse or a doctor are very different jobs though. I think you need to ask yourself whether you are applying to nursing because it is a shorter training period and you don't believe you are good enough to get a place on a graduate medicine course, or because you prefer nursing to medicine?

YANBU, and I would be putting anyone who made such remarks to me in their place. Some people seem to have very old fashioned ideas of what nurses do. I wouldn't dream of becoming one because I know I'm not clever enough!

This reminds me of a friend who always wanted to be a mechanic but his very affluent parents who had paid a lot in private education insisted that if mechanic was what he wanted he should do mechanical engineering degree.

I have no words to tell you how much he hated it. He finally decided to go against his parents on the third year of uni, dropped off and started to study car mechanics in the local college. He has been the proud owner of the most fancy garage in town for decades and I can assure you he is happy and… to the surprise of his critics… loaded.

@Throughalookingglass I definitely don't see nurses as lazy! Nurses are awesome!

I wonder why the (many) nurses I know are so awful about healthcare assistants then. I always assumed it was a pecking order thing.

I have no words to tell you how much he hated it. He finally decided to go against his parents on the third year of uni, dropped off and started to study car mechanics in the local college. He has been the proud owner of the most fancy garage in town for decades and I can assure you he is happy and… to the surprise of his critics… loaded.

How do his parents feel about his career path now?

A friend of mine is from a very wealthy family and went to a top Public school. Her teachers were horrified that she wanted to be a nurse, they kept saying.”don’t you mean a Doctor”?
Shes still a nurse and very happy with her choice

His dad has passed away but his mum has been the receptionist of the garage for years! 🙂

Live and learn, I guess but then, we only live once 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think it depends on the job role you wish to pursue.

I find nurses and HCA get remembered by patients more than doctors. They spend longer with them and interact on a more personal level.

I work in hospital labs so just out of curiosity wondering why you don't go down a registered BMS route? You clearly enjoy the science, have the qualifications and are good at it...

My best friend is a nurse - she can put someone on a ventilator, stick a camera down their throat, put dislocated joints back into place - if you are in the situation that you need her, nobody would say she was 'not clever enough' for anything. Go for it! Good luck OP.

My path was somewhat similar OP. I started a career change into Montessori teaching in my 30s, didn't start work til 40s due to decision to stay at home with kids. After school I studied law and wasn't much good at it, i never apprenticed to be a solicitor or barrister but I did work in legal dept of a fairly ruthless industry. I love what I do now, i think I'm good at it but sometimes people are gobsmacked, especially those from university or older generations. I also work with really good people unlike before. Some of my colleagues were not terribly academic but I can clearly see that there are other forms of intelligence like perceptiveness and social skills and practical organisational skills that I see some of my more academic pals struggle with.

Some nurses are intelligent others not so much same with drs. They are very different types of jobs so it depends what your interested in if you enjoy the more caring side and spending time with patients be a nurse if that stuff doesn't interest and it's purely the science and medical side you enjoy be a dr.

😳 where does your sibling work , so I can make sure I never go there. They sound awful.

I had an extended emergency stay in hospital a couple of years ago. The nurses were like absolute angels. The doctors and consultants whilst obviously did the unbelievably skilled stuff, it was the nurses who came and tucked the sheets and blankets over me again after the doctors uncovered me and then just left me, that I will remember forever.

In the USA a nursing career is so highly regarded. In the U.K. it is somehow seen as being not very desirable.

If caring for people is your passion then I would have loved to have met you in my time in hospital.

I’m a nurse and can prescribe medication. I can prescribe chemotherapy and controlled drugs in my role. I wouldn’t say I provide more value than a HCA, just a different skill set.

Nurses are bloody amazing! If that's what you want to do then do it. I'm hoping to get into nursing when my daughter hits high school in 2 years. I got a place at college then fell pregnant and been a single mum so always struggled with child care. Good luck xx

If you desire to be a nurse then that’s great. I think the people who say you could be a dr are not being unkind, they’re probably just surprised you’re not aiming higher.
You would earn a lot more being a dr but if it’s not want you want or need, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

It does make me laugh to read nurses are great-some may be great, but many are absolutely awful. It’s the same in all professions where caring is involved.

It's a rude and frankly stupid thing to say...and I know this for a fact, because I also said it to someone, years ago now. I still cringe at the thought and I hope whoever has said it to you also cringes when they think about it a bit more.

Im a nurse and I see both sides.

I think perhaps they mean you are too academic for nursing, as opposed to too clever.
Biomedical science is very specific and hardcore.

Nursing has its academic side but the caring role of it is enormous of course, so I can understand their surprise and the change (im not, my first degree was in something entirely different to nursing too).

What they don't realise is how clever some nurses are and how much they can progress.

So here's your chance to show them.

Bloody well done you!
I loved my children's nursing degree!