Students interested in entering the health field may be wrestling with whether to pursue a career in nursing or attend medical school.
Caring for patients is the primary focus of both professions and it’s a team effort: Doctors and nurses work together to help sick patients heal. But there are differences.
Doctors tend to focus on diagnosing and treating medical conditions, while nurses are concerned with caring for patients holistically. Doctors diagnose and prescribe treatments. Nurses normally carry out treatments and procedures a doctor has ordered. Nurses also act as a liaison between doctors and patients.
The key to making a well-informed decision about whether to become a nurse or medical doctor comes down to deciding which aspects of the two fields most align with your interests and abilities, experts say.
Learn the Job Differences
Spending more time with patients and getting to know them is often cited as a factor motivating some students to go into nursing.
“I love, love, love the human body,” says longtime nurse Alma Allen, who works in Washington, D.C. “But I got to know my patients, the people behind the bodies that I was caring for, and that was meaningful for me,” she says, adding that she chose nursing after trying accounting and finding it boring.
Physicians are more involved in decision-making about patient care. They spend less time bedside and more time coming up with treatment plans and monitoring patient progress. Both aspects are extremely important to the health care system.
[Read: Is Medical School Right for You?]
Dr. Consuela Hunt, who practices telehealth in Indianapolis, Indiana, decided around middle school the path she wanted to take in medicine.
“I wanted to diagnose and treat. I wanted to be the doctor,” says Hunt, who graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
Early medical school training boils down to studying biomedical sciences, such as physiology and pharmacology, while later years are spent learning clinical medical science — the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
A career as either a doctor or a nurse can be highly rewarding. The choice boils down to what you’re interested in, says Dr. Mark Burns, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky.
A visit to a doctor at age 5 after a dog bite cemented his decision to become a physician. “I wanted to help people feel better, the way my doctor helped me,” he says.
Immerse Yourself in Both Fields
The best way to determine which career is a better fit for you is to immerse yourself in each one, experts say. Observe the roles of both types of providers and talk to nurses and doctors to learn about the pro and cons of their careers.
Look for opportunities, such as summer programs and shadowing programs, that allow you to explore aspects of each of the career paths early.
There are many elements to consider when deciding whether to study nursing or medicine, such as the time it takes to get a degree, education costs, curriculums and the career payoff.
Time to Degree
Medical school takes four years of undergraduate studies, four years of medical school, up to seven years of residency and a few more years for a fellowship.
“It takes a lot of time, but if it’s your calling, it won’t matter how much time it takes,” says Burns, who has practiced for 37 years.
[Read: What You Need to Know About Becoming a Nursing Major]
For the nurse path, high school graduates can obtain an associate degree in nursing or attend a four-year bachelor of science in nursing program. Either degree will qualify them to sit for their licensure exam and become a registered nurse.
Someone who wishes to become a nurse practitioner can further train at the master’s or doctoral level.
Curriculum Considerations
If you’re most interested in the individual patient and their needs, the nursing education model may be the path for you.
Allen found the nursing program at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., to be intense and rigorous. She recalls starting with about 100 students in her class, but fewer than 30 of them graduated with her.
“Many people were interested in patient care, but did not like science,” she says.
The education model for doctors tends to emphasize general science and physiology and has a more rigorous core curriculum. Nearly 160 accredited U.S. medical schools train students in allopathic medicine, which is also known as conventional, modern or Western medicine.
Cost Factors
Medical school is more expensive than nursing school and more competitive to get into, with overall fewer than half of med school applicants getting accepted.
The average yearly cost of medical school is $59,605, according to the Education Data Initiative. The average yearly cost for a bachelor’s in nursing degree is $30,884, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Some nurses obtain doctoral degrees and teach or do research at academic institutions. Others take on high-level leadership roles at hospitals. Allen is involved in case management at her hospital and is pursuing a doctorate degree with a focus on the need for clinicians to prioritize self-care.
[Read: How to Become a Doctor: A Step-by-Step Guide]
Career Payoff
Allen has found her nursing career “diverse and flexible.”
After graduating from Catholic University’s nursing program, she worked at a trauma center in Washington, D.C. Then she spent eight years as a travel nurse, working in the areas of neurosurgery, transplants and cardiology. She now works in case management.
“The ability to bounce from one specialty to another is a lot more tangible as a nurse than in medicine,” she says.
And nurses are finding jobs. About 194,500 registered nursing jobs are projected to be open each year in the U.S. through 2033, and the median annual pay for them in the U.S. in May 2023 was around $86,070, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, the average annual salary for family medicine physicians, for example, was around $240,790, per the BLS.
And there is an urgent need for more doctors in general. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians in the U.S. by 2036.
Burns has had a career as a physician and teacher, having worked in internal medicine and as a doctor at a Veterans Administration hospital. He now focuses on the treatment of infectious diseases.
“If you want to be a physician,” he says, “follow that path and don’t be dissuaded.”
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How to Decide Between Medical and Nursing School originally appeared on usnews.com
