Undoubtedly, this is a first question that comes to everyone’s mind when a nurse considers switching to their career to medicine. It’s a question I get often, especially from fellow nurses and nursing students – and to be honest, it’s one I’ve definitely asked myself many times. I want to preface my answer by saying that nursing and medicine are two very different careers, each with its own scope, responsibilities, and challenges.
Much like when I considered medicine, I chose nursing with the hope of helping people in their most vulnerable moments. When I switched into nursing, medicine was in the back of my mind – but I genuinely loved the idea of doing nursing as a career if medicine didn’t work out. If you are curious, I get into more detail about why I chose nursing in My Journey blog post, but let me answer this question for now. I knew I wanted to do medicine for the want for helping people, increased scope and knowledge, but I couldn’t exactly explain why I felt the need to leave nursing until my last year of nursing.
It was during one of my night shifts as a student nurse in the emergency department. Without going into too much detail out of respect for patient confidentiality, the situation involved a morally distressing and ethically complex scenario. While the entire care team was visibly distressed, only the doctors were in a position to take action as the situation directly involved the patient’s treatment plan and decisions. After several discussions, doctors stepped in to advocate for what they and the team believed was in the patient’s best interest. This moment left a lasting impression on me. I saw firsthand how their decisions directly shaped the patient’s outcome, the level of complexity they were able to navigate, and how deeply they were involved in both patient care and advocacy.
This is not to say that nurses cannot engage in patient advocacy or navigate through ethically challenging situations. What I mean is that the scope of practice and responsibilities that follows becoming a doctor is the one that goes beyond the caregiver role as a nurse. Having that autonomy to intervene in such situations – whether it be advocating for patients or helping to navigate through complex life circumstances – is something I felt that I cannot experience as a nurse. I’ll always value and be grateful for the role of nursing in the healthcare system, but I want to be in a position where I can influence patient’s care at that level along with knowledge, responsibility and authority that physicians hold. I believed that is where my ability and desire to advocate for patients can have the greatest impact, which is why I decided to pursue medicine.