PA and MD can be very time consuming. Most PAs I’ve met love their job, but they do feel they’re worked extensively. So there’s a cost. You should take a good inventory of what you want. Is it flexibility or income. The two don’t usually match UNLESS you choose a specialty that allows for it. RN offers a work schedule that allows you to be off during the week. But he money is not what advance care practs(NP/PA)/MDs earn. My psych and derm friends have had jobs where they can have some 4-day weeks. But in my research and experience it seems I’m finding that (nursing -to-) nurse practitioner may offer a lot of opportunities to complement clinical care with the flexibility to switch from clinical to non clinical. There’s clinic nurse educator, clinical nurse specialists, community health care, etc. I haven’t decided myself whether or not I will purse advanced care practice as a NP vs. PA. But I do know there are more flexible education options with NP. Right now there’s only full time, exclusive 8-5 programs with PA. MD programs have packed class schedules but students aren’t always mandated to attend classes in med school like they are in nearly all PA programs. Sometimes we just haven’t discovered the ideal path. The only problem I see with nursing so far is, they’re knowledge level is very high and they make recommendations, which physicians most often agree with and direct the RN, PA, or NP to implement. So if you can’t handle being perceived as less knowledgeable by those outside of healthcare then I say MD Is the way to go. By the time you go back to school, which you will most likely do either for a doctorate or another master’s degree, you could easily finish med school.
Overall healthcare still functions as a tiered system because everyone has to stay within their scope of practice. Nurses can not give medical diagnoses, BUT they can treat many of the symptoms.. Also, In schools, PAs/NPs get taught more medical science than nurses, nurses get taught a lot of human response to conditions and physician-prescribed care (they can do many things independently but for many things they can also simply request an order from the doctors. Doctors get taught more extensive medical science and application than PA’s/NP’s. What you actually learn and teach yourself in practice that will make your career satisfying is going to be up to you. I agree with the blogger. Most are happy with what they choose. Any one of these careers can require a great deal of knowledge, time, and energy. Just pick the one that gives you the flexibility you want, specificay planning on the time you will want it most. If you don’t want huge flexibility until 8 years down the road-then do what you chose. Dont worry about the rest. You will have more options to choose from when that time comes (even if it means slightly less pay). I met a lady the other day who completed all her med school recently, but just as soon decided she wanted to be a stay at home mom.