Little background on myself,

   I have always wanted to be in the Healthcare field, it was always nursing or becoming a doctor. I was leaning more towards becoming an MD earlier on, and after my mother had a sub arachnoid hemmorage and was saved by a Neurosurgeon, I knew I had to become an MD, work my butt off, and earn a spot in the NS residency....

Fast forward to now, I have done a lot of research on Nursing as I have friends and family in the field, and I must say nursing practitioner looks like a competitor for a multitude of reasons, potential more time with the patient, ability to move to where I am needed, ability to be a 'mini doc' where I can go where I am needed. etc  It is almost like a pulling of sorts, something in my gut telling me I need to do nursing...

Anywhoo, it all comes down to this, I LOVE helping others, if I make one persons life that much better, that makes me that much more happier; however; my ego comes into check where I want to be the best at what I do, so I can provide the best possible help. I am not saying NP is less that a physician, what I mean is, I want to know it all, and I am afraid that if I do not go the MD route, that I will regret it later, but at the same time, and I can't explain it, it's almost like I am getting 'called' into nursing. In the end, I think I am just afraid that if I became an NP, that the profession just stops there, I guess I want to be able to always continue to push my knowledge to better SERVE OTHERS.

Simply put, I am stuck, and after tons of soul searching, I need some objective advice. I know the responsibilities of an NP have GREATLY increased over the years, do you in the profession see it as something that will continue to grow, being able to gain the knowledge, to gain more responsibilites?

Appreciate it.

HerbalNurse says ...

The NP role has greatly increased with responsibility. You can even get your doctorate. So, what I am hearing you say is that you believe you may enjoy more hands on care like nursing provides? Finding your passion and following your heart is where it's at. Whether that be an MD, or NP.  OK, what is your answer to the question: If money were no object, and I could do anything I wanted to do, and be anyone I wanted to be, what would that look like?

Forget what other people think or try to sway you into being. What are YOU drawn to? And why? What does that look like for you?

I would love to get my BSN, work as RN for a couple years, and work as a nurse on the emergency helicopters, like I said before I LOVE to help others, and make an impact in their lives, which is why I felt RN previded that because of all the different specialities, trauma nurse etc.

I would love the ability to move, especially to rural towns (I love the outdoors) and help those people that don't access to family physicians, which is one of the reasons I would pursue becoming an NP, being that well trained so I can operate as a mini doc so to speak, so I can diagnose and help the smaller issues, allowing the md's to focus on the bigger stuff.

It is all up in the air, but I am really leaning to the RN route.