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?

Tell your friends there are many very clever nurses; you could aim at becoming a specialist nurse practitioner within the field of paediatric nursing.

<https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=specialist+paediatric+nurse+practitioner&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiomI7uk9X_AhUKJ8AKHaRWA7MQkd0GegQIEBAB#fpstate=tldetail&htivrt=jobs&htiq=specialist+paediatric+nurse+practitioner&htidocid=rwLpMiLEGwcAAAAAAAAAAA%3D%3D>

"Community Paediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
Barts Health NHS Trust
London

£51,488–£57,802 a year

It’s just a totally different job to being a doctor. Good on you if that’s what you want to do, nursing is a great career and there’s a lot of opportunities with it that are rewarding and you can earn a decent salary with it.

all the people saying ‘oh but maybe you could be a physician associate’ etc, maybe the OP doesn’t want to. Nursing is very valuable. We need clever and interested nurses.

In the kindest possible way I think you may be taking yourself a bit too seriously here...

My friend has a 2:1 in philosophy from a Russell group and works on the dior counter at Boots.

You aren't too clever for anything. Stack shelves at lidl if it makes you happy. The sun will probably continue to rise each morning either way.

They are spread around a number of different hospitals and know each other from way back when they were studying.

It’s really sad listening to them, they don’t rate HCAs at all or medical admin either.

My DC has medical issues which involve hospital stays. Most of the assistants are great as are most of the nurses.

You have to get through a very tough 3 year degree to become a nurse these days!

And pass a maths exam with complicated medicine calculations with a 100% pass rate and no calculator!

That being said, those who say it's about the pecking order is right. Depending on where you work.

I'm a paediatric nurse. I qualified 5 years ago and went straight into a level 3 surgical neonatal intensive care unit with 38 beds.

The doctors look to US nurses for the answers most of the time.

For example, a conversation I had with one of the top Nicu consultants in the country yesterday, whilst I was taking care of a ex 25 weeker with T21 who's now 6 weeks old, was about what I thought was causing his requirement of oxygen to go up and what did I think was the best resolution and plan, I came up with the plan. Because of course I am with that baby for 13 hours a day,

I love my job,

However, nursing atm, is very stressful, we are very short staffed and depending on the role you do, the work life balance is crap 😂

Well I have an IQ of 128 and my Mum is way, way smarter than me. She nursed from the age of 18 and adored it. Go for it OP. Best of luck x

I'm a nurse. OP, if nursing is what you want to do, then go for it. I have a similar academic background to you and retrained as a nurse just over a decade ago. I've never regretted it. I absolutely love what I do and who I work with. My team is amazing (all of them, no matter what their role is: whether B1 or B8, Doctor, Physio/OT/SALT/Dietician, Cleaner, Porter, catering staff). I work in quite a specialist area and we look after critically ill patients - so tell the naysayers that you do have to be "clever". We often teach the new doctors how to manage vents, trachies, central lines, drains etc. What I love is that I spend more time (all my time) with patients, and the role is so varied.

It's bloody hard work. You'll laugh, cry etc. But find a ward/speciality that you love and it makes it wonderful.

Since when was being especially clever amongst your occupational peers a bad thing anyway? Assuming we even accept the premise. You could really build on that dual background and do very well.

You say that you don't think you'd get into graduate entry medicine, but with a first in Biomedical Science I think you're being very negative, as a pp has said you sound like a perfect candidate - you sound as if you think that there's no point in applying, which does make it seem that you might be going for nursing as you think it's the only option for a health care career.

Re nursing, while there are positives re mobility etc, the pay and conditions seem to be poor, unless you do further study, and in a hospital context, a lack of autonomy in decision making. I think this is why people would wonder why you don't go for medicine instead, as it sounds like you could easily get in, it's not a criticism of nursing.

How rude and awful. You can be a specialist nurse and a complete expert in your field. It’s a different job than being a doctor

Good luck to any nurse trying to do their job properly without hcas or admin staff. Every role should be valued and respected. As a student nurse , I learned a lot from the highly experienced hcas. Similarly, the newly qualified drs learned a lot from me as an experienced nurse. There’s always knowledge to be gained from others, irrespective of their seniority or job status.

I think a lot of people think nursing is what it used to be. Changing sheets and bed pans. Nursing nowadays reaches into the role of a doctor. There areas so many career paths for nurses. So many opportunities. Don't be put off.

I think there are different questions here that are getting mixed up.

Are there clever nurses?

Yes! Absolutely tons of very smart people becomes nurses and use their intelligence to provide incredible care.

Do you have to be clever to be a nurse?

No, not necessarily in the conventional academic sense.

I know of several people who have gone into nursing who have worked very, very hard to qualify - but having either worked closely alongside them previously, or gone to school/college with them, I can say categorically that they're not the most gifted intellectually. That doesn't mean they aren't great nurses.

But you could say that about lots of fields. My brother has a PhD in Physics which makes him sound like a huge brain box. He isn't. He barely scraped through GCSEs, didn't do A-levels, failed his professional qualifications when he joined a telecoms firm and then when he returned to education later, he had to work extremely hard to scrape a 2:2 degree. The structure, time and set-up of a PhD really suited him and although - again! - he only just squeaked through, he got his doctorate.

What my brother can do extremely well is research thoroughly, analyse a situation, sift through facts, and consider all elements before reaching a decision. I really value his opinion and consider him to be intelligent, even though he's not conventionally "clever".

There are lots of career paths in nursing nowadays. But equally, there's nothing wrong with not progressing. Doctors and nurses are different careers and require different skillsets, quite aside from any academic "cleverness". Choose the path that appeals to you. The cleverness - or lack of it in some cases - in your nursing colleagues isn't relevant.

All my GCSEs and A levels are As and I’m a retired now nurse. I retired on a band 7. Go for it, it’s a brilliant career with so many opportunities.

I'm a band 7 clinical nurse specialist and I love my job. I qualified later in life though (late 30s) and I sometimes wistfully wonder what medicine would have been like. If I could do it all again I might pick the latter - but they are both very different jobs that need people at the top of their game. All these very dated outmoded perceptions of what nurses do is largely down to media and ignorance (not in a rude way, just not having the knowledge of the roles .. the days of bedpans are firmly in the past. I'm a prescriber, hold my own clinics and make my own decisions.

If you took GCSES you can't be older than 50ish, can I be nosey and ask why you retired early?

Exactly! Go for nursing!

I'm a student nurse. It definitely helps to be clever, the degree isn't actually easy although there are more academic ones.
Always irritates me that people think nursing is a substandard thing to do if you can't do medicine - it's a completely different career!

As a student nurse , I learned a lot from the highly experienced hcas.

My elderly mum has been in hospital twice recently and long hours in A&E triage and assessment has given me lots of (more than I wanted) opportunities to observe the staff. Honestly, to me, the ones dressed in white and pale blue are the workhorses. I watched 3 sisters (dark blues) and 6 doctors in different colours, watch as a lady in a cubicle asked for a nurse, threw up and started to wet herself and then they turned away. Only one doctor, the consultant, made a move to help her. Then a white coat came along and pointed out the mess and the sister in charge just shrugged. Nice.

It's been an informative time. The hca on the ward were fantastic, particularly one called Emma. I hope she recognises herself! She was cheerful, bright, and just made everyone laugh and happy. I hope all of them felt they were valued by the sisters and doctors, because they were certainly valued by the patients and relatives.

God it's nurses like your sibling that make it horrible sometimes! I've meet some brilliant, intelligent HCAs without whom the whole ward would fall apart. They are the proper hands on care, they intimately know this patients and they can make or break quality of care. I have nothing but respect for the job they do, and when I'm on placement they are the first people I try and get to know!

Did you apply to medicine as a teenager and not get in so you did Biomedical Sciences? I'm wondering if you fear rejection, for possibly a second time, if you apply for graduate medicine. I don't think you should apply for it if it's not want you want to do, but I wonder why you are being so negative saying you don't stand a chance anyway. I think you would have a very good chance if that is what you wanted to do.

However, if you don't want to be a doctor and you feel nursing is a better fit for you, then do it and to hell with what anyone else says. There's no such thing as being too clever to be a nurse. The only thing I would say is if you are very academically inclined and less of a people person, then it wouldn't be suitable. You need to have the right skill set and personal attributes for nursing. If you happen to be clever/academic on top - so much the better.
There are plenty of opportunities to progress if you want or to take a more academic path, such as research and even lecturing later on when you have built up experience.

This. As with many jobs, you would survive if you weren’t smart, but you will thrive if you are.

Tbh I would hesitate in advising anyone in becoming a PA right now, there's more opportunities for a nurse or an AHP. As an example, to request X-rays or scans, you have to be a state registered healthcare professional, which a nurse or AHP is. A physician assistant is not state registered and therefore legally cannot request X-rays or scans.

I suggest becoming a nurse or an AHP and then further training to be a ENP in A&E depts or advanced practitioner training- some of which is multidisciplinary training.

Thanks all. I agree that nursing provides lots of opportunities.

For those who asked, no I've never applied for medicine before. It has been a dream of mine, but I feel like I don't have the ability for it so have never seriously considered it. During my master's, quite a few of my cohort applied for graduate entry medicine and none of them were successful despite all having first class degrees and being on track for distinctions which put me off.

Do you want to do medicine? Are you not applying for medicine because you don't think you stand a chance? I don't necessarily think one has to be clever to do medicine. I had a friend who had a 3 C offer to do medicine a top university. He got 4 As but they were keen on him and even if he didnt get the predicted grades he would still have got in. Don't let fear of rejection stop you from applying if that is what you are interested in. However if paediatric nursing is in fact your calling go for that instead.