I just don't know...?

Question

i really want to go into a career in the medical field. i was sure that i wanted to be a doctor, but now i'm worried that as a doctor, i would not get as much contact with patients as compared to being a nurse practitioner. i am truly interested in medicine, and want to diagnose, and figure out treatment plans and what is wrong with a patient. but i also want to be able to perform procedures, and have contact with patients. i don't want to spend 2 minutes with patients and then just tell others what the treatment plan is but not have any hands on participation in it. but i feel if i was a nurse practitioner i wouldn't get to do as much as i want to in diagnosing and such.

i'm a rising junior in high school, so i know i don't have to know yet, but if i was to be a doctor, then i would need to know that i was going to be pre med in college, so i do want to decide at some point. i'm just really confused on which i'd rather be. personal experiences from doctors and nurses/med and nursing students and how they decided what career path to take would be great.

thanks so much!

Answer 1

it takes time to figure that stuff out, take general classes,talk to your counselor or rake a career test! It changes all the time, on what people want to be!

Answer 2

There's no need to worry about patient contact, as a doctor you will have tonnes of contact, and you will be performing procedures, especially when you are still a junior doctor.

Answer 3

Medical terminology is NOT a pre-req for med school. The pre-reqs for most med schools are: one year gen chem, one year organic chemistry, one year physics, one year biology then take the MCAT. Some med schools also require calculus, and almost all require you to actually have a bachelor's degree (in whatever field you desire). Taking courses like medical terminology probably won't benefit you much. I'd focus on the sciences you'd need to do well on the MCAT (gen chem, ochem, physics, bio, also biochem might be helpful, and upper level biology courses such as genetics, etc).

You can be a doctor and also have a lot of patient contact. It just depends on what you do your residency in. I think you should shadow some doctors in different fields right now in high school. Not only would that help build your application for med school, but it would actual expose you do what the doctors do in different fields and how much contact they have. Contact your local teaching hospital and see what type of shadowing program they have. This experience is even more valuable than volunteering since it gives you a close up look at exactly what a doctor does. You could also inquire about shadowing nurses and other health care workers if you want to compare the fields, but if you have a desire and passion to be a doctor usually nothing else will satisfy that.  

Answer 4

actually a physician assistant sounds alot like what you are looking for. They generally go 6 years. Unless you want to go to school for half your life, then surgeons have alot of patient contact. Specialists like orthopedic surgeons, set broken legs, read x-rays, apply casts (sometimes the assistants do to). Many of your pre- courses will be the same for whatever medical field you choose. algebra, medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, and of course, composition, computer apps., and so on. So, you really do have alot of time to decide. I changed my mind every semester for the first three semesters and finally decided on Nursing. I'm 40 and don't have 10 years to spend in college. I did NOT want to be a nurse passing meds. all day like the nurses I worked with in the hospitals but I realized there are alot of different areas of nursing that pertain to much more than just passing meds and changing bandages! I'm sure you'll get alot of advise here. The deans are always a good source of info. because they know so much about all of the fields of med. They talked me out of med. surg. based on what I told them although I thought it was my calling. Once I found out from them (and from the people here an yahoo) I realized it was not for me.