How many non-doctors work currently in the healthcare field?

Looks like former Nurses are running things! I wonder if most nontrads to MD’s are Nurses? It certainly seems that way!

Hi!


I probaly won’t start until 2012 or 2013. I still have quite a few science courses such as org chem etc to take and since I work full time am doing one course a semester. Thanks for the welcome, glad to be here!

Hi, there. I am an Occupational Therapist currently searching my certification in wound care (non-traditional even in OT). I have been an OT for 12 years - soon to be 13… Oh, boy! time goes fast! Anyway, getting to pre-med as a post-baccalaureate. Hopefully I will start school this summer.

I’m an RRT currently doing full-time nights in a Pedi ICU. I usually bounce around between Pedi ER, Pedi ICU, and Pedi intermediate care.


At the moment, I’m still kicking around the various ‘What Next’ ideas. Probably getting locked into a bit of analysis paralysis, hah. (But, but… the CONTINGENCIES!)

Great thread! It’s good to see some current and former EMS personnel here.


I’m 31 (married with twins on the way) and into my third semester as a non-traditional pre-med undergrad. I’m currently PRN as a paramedic. I previously worked as a ground paramedic, flight paramedic, and firefighter. Like so many others here, I’m all-or-nothing!


~Brian

It is amazing to see so many with such a deep desire to fulfill their dreams. I am a 36 y.o chiropractor and educator split between teaching and private practice. I teach at both a chiropractic college and a local medical institution. I plan to return to school and pursue EM or PM&R which I feel will be a much better fit to my interests. Hello and good luck to everyone!

I graduated with my BS in Emergency Medicine in 2007. I worked at a paramedic for a year and now I am in PA school. The more time I spend here the more frustrated I am with the fact that I am not learning the full depth of medicine that I am interested in. It also bothers me that in 20 years I will still be subservient to a doctor. My entire life I wanted to be a doctor and got derailed by two bad Orgo and Physics grades along with a true dread of the MCATs.


My new plan is to work as a PA for a few years and gain absolutely invaluable experience. While working I will finish my pre-reqs and MCAT and then apply to DO school. DO seems to be the perfect path for me since they value clinical experience and being nontraditional.


Any advice from those already in the process is welcome. It is literally going to be about 5 years before I enter school, but it is well worth the wait.

I graduated with a BS in nursing in 2007 and am currently finishing up an 18 month NP program. I’ll be starting a post-bacc pre-med program this summer that will have me ready to take the MCAT by next spring.


I can totally relate to those who feel that they are just not being challenged enough academically or professionally as RNs or NPs. I want to go back for the full knowledge that I feel I have crammed into 18 months. I did the NP route because I wanted an “easy” way to practice medicine, however the more I do, the more I’m unsatisfied. I’m going to go back and do things the way I should have the first time around. Good luck to everyone.

As an NP, and a new one, why are you jumping to med school so soon after completing your NP? I get that you don’t feel challenged, but the money and time you spent completing this is amazing to me. But if money is not an issue go for it! You should be proud none the less for your accomplishment! Congrats and welcome to the community!!


Either way welcome to the site, this you will find is a tremendous wealth of support and information…!!

This is my first post to OPM forum. I am so happy to read the posts from nurses who want to become doctors. I’m fresh out of LPN school and I’ve always been interested in science. I was a CNA for two years before I got sick and tired of hearing ‘You’re so smart. You should be a nurse’ over and over so now I’m nurse. Now I heard OMG you’re always explaining things and reading and so smart you should be a doctor. I don’t want to waste time with RN school that’s three years long to find out I should have gone back to school in the first place!

Well, I’m currently working as a unit secretary in a NICU and before that I worked as a cardiac monitor tech.


Becoming a doctor was something I wanted to do before I finished high school, but I didn’t really have the support of family and was pretty much pushed towards nursing. But it is not the nursing care model that challenges me. So finally, I’m listening to me and not those who “think” they know me.