I am proud and happy to announce that I was accepted into the UK
second-degree BSN program after all.
Apparently the US postal service is not to be relied on, because the
letter never arrived. Thankfully I
called the admissions office and a surprised advisor told me that yes, I was
accepted, and why the heck hadn’t I sent in my deposit and started my criminal
background check yet?
In the spirit of this news, I am making an entry about my
decision to enter nursing over going to medical school. One of my very first blogs, titled “All About Me: The Bid for Medical School” sort of
describes the pre-med process in more of a narrative, but this blog is aimed
more at what happened after that
story.
I have decided not to make this an All About Me blog per se,
mainly because it’s not nearly as entertaining, and I’m sort of cheating and
reposting what was originally a Facebook note.
So if it takes on a more informal tone, that’s why. Feel free to skip this one if you haven’t
really been following my medical school blogs or just plain aren’t interested. A regular blog will be up soon.
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Okay, so the purpose of this note will be to answer your
questions about what I plan to do with my life now. I have more or less
waited to publish this until I was sure of my plans but I think now is an
appropriate time to make the announcements. Just for funsies, I have
decided to put it in a Q&A format, so if you’re really lazy about reading
notes you can just find your questions and read the answers.
Q: How was graduation?
A: I graduated with honors with a Bachelors of Science in
psychology and a minor in neuroscience, magna cum laude. It was pretty
awesome, because I spent the last 5 years of hard work earning that thing.
Q: Did you get accepted to medical school?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you going?
A: No. After a lot of thought, I have decided not to
pursue a medical degree. Instead I have opted to take a similar route and
get my Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP).
Q: What’s a DNP? Is that the same thing as a nurse
practitioner?
A: Yes and no. Most nurse practitioners you think of
got their BSN (Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing) and then got their masters and
became NPs. By 2015, however, there will no longer be a masters-level NP
and they will all require getting the doctorate. This means more
training, more responsibilities, and more money.
Q: What exactly is the difference between a doctor and a
DNP then?
A: For primary care, their actual duties aren’t that
different. An MD would have more responsibility for running an actual
practice. Once you get into specialties and sub-specialties, the
differences become more pronounced and it becomes much more advantageous to
have an MD. In terms of schooling, an MD does 4 years of medical school
and then usually 2 – 7 years of residency. A DNP does 3 years of DNP
school, which includes clinical residency. Lastly, the model of care is a
little different between the medical and nursing realm. The medical model
is more pathology-centered while the nursing model is more patient-centered.
Q: Why are you doing the DNP over the MD?
A: A lot of reasons. In terms of length in school, I
will take 2.5 years to get my BSN (normally a 4 year program, but since I
already have a B.S. it knocks out a lot of the schooling) and then another 3
years for the DNP, making a total of 5.5 years. It’s true my MD friends
will already be out of school and through 2 years of residency by the time I
graduate, but as a resident you work an enormous number of hours per week for a
wage that amounts to $10 per hour—less than what I make now. As a medical
resident, you are always under an attending so you have slightly less autonomy.
I will be in school longer, yes, but I will be practicing as a working
professional as soon as I’m done. In addition, I will have mostly the
same capabilities as a GP, which was what I was most strongly considering as a
pre-med anyway. Because of the state of health in this country, the
demand for GPs as well as DNPs will only go up, so I feel that I am making a
sound economical choice. Also, you can often get a workplace to pay for
the DNP so I will be graduating with well over $150,000 less debt than my MD
counterparts. Lastly, after working in the nursing field for the last 4
years and knowing what I do about the medical field, I personally agree with
the nursing model of care more.
Q: So why not do the Physician’s Assistant? That
would only take you 2 years.
A: As I mentioned above, I agree more with the nursing
model of care—PAs are trained more or less as doctors without the two years of
basic sciences. Also, a PA must always work under a doctor while DNPs are
stand-alone, and I like that autonomy. Yes, it will be a lot more school,
but I think my future is worth investing that time in.
Q: So are you saying so-long to your pre-med and
med-school friends in favor of your new career choice?
A: Absolutely not. I support their decisions and we
most certainly still need doctors and always will. Just because I have
chosen a different path doesn’t mean I am forsaking them. I realize that
there is some animosity between nurses and doctors from time to time, but that
is really only a minority of the cases. 98% of the time, doctors and
nurses work together beautifully to deliver the best health care possible.
Q: Gotcha. So why go all the way to Lexington KY for
your schooling? Why not just stay in Columbus and go to OSU?
A: With the timeline involved and OSU’s transitions to
semesters, it would be a year before I could start my BSN at OSU. In
addition, OSU does not offer a BSN-entry option to their DNP program. I
could apply to the direct-entry Masters-level NP program, but I haven’t taken
the GRE and it would be hard to do that in time, and it would all be for a
degree that will soon be obsolete anyway. I figure I can achieve my goals
best at UK. Lastly, UK’s nursing program is actually ranked higher than
OSU’s, so it is yet another reason to go down there.
Q: I heard that you were moving to Lexington to be with
your significant other, Kyle. Is this true?
A: No. While his presence is a huge bonus to moving
down here, it is not the reason for my move. Those of you who know me
well understand that I would not change my life’s plans just because of a
relationship that hasn’t even been 6 months long yet. We will not be
living together in the same apartment in Lexington, at least for the first
year. That being said, I do look forward to being closer to Kyle.
Q: Are you still going to visit your friends in Columbus?
A: For sure! It may not exactly be possible to make
the 3-hour drive every weekend, but I’ll definitely be up once in a
while. I will announce it when I make the trip. For example, I
wouldn’t mind working a few football games with Red Cross this coming fall as I
did last year.
Q: So what are you doing this summer? When are you
moving?
A: This summer is definitely going to be one of
transition. My new lease in Lexington starts August 13, but I may be
moving a bit sooner. I am starting an STNA class as a requirement for the
BSN program on June 20th and that will be all done on July 6th, so I will be in
Columbus for at least that long. After I have my STNA certification, I
will apply to PCA/PCT jobs in Lexington, so as soon as I have one I will
probably move down and just stay with a friend until my lease starts. So
basically I will be moving anytime between July 6th and August 13th. I
will announce it when I know for sure.
Q: Any other big changes I should know about?
A: None I can think of right now. I will announce
anything else as necessary.
I personally applaud your patience if you read all of
that. You get a cookie. No, really. I plan on having a
going-away party and I will seriously give you a cookie if you ask!
Anyway, that’s all for now, and I want to thank all of you for being my friends
and for all the great times we have had at OSU and Columbus for the last few
years. You’re the best.
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Sadly, I have no cookies left to offer, as this was from a while
ago. But reading this far is it’s own
reward, right? And if that isn’t incentive
enough, I’ll let you in on a little secret:
Next blog will feature CK!
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