Thursday, May 25, 2006

The first entry

Hello
I am Anna, a 32 year specialist nurse practitioner. I qualified as a nurse in 1995, as a product of "Project 2000" nurse training (Which was so wonderful that it was promply dropped when they realised that a student could be 18months into their training without having seen a single patient)

I am an avid reader of blogs - and always planned to do my own, so here I am.

Ten minutes into my nursing course, I realised that I wanted to do medicine. I can't put my finger on why I wanted to do this, it was just a strong feeling that came to me as soon as I began nurse training. At school, I was pretty ropey and excelled in drama and home economics - hardly an ideal route into medicine. No-one really aimed as high as medicine in my social group, and we weren't encouraged to look at this option.

Although I realised that i wanted to do medicine in 1995, it has taken me 11 years to get to the point that I am at today. Here I am after all this time with my degree in specialist nursing and three years of chemistry (A complete slog) behind me. I have an unconditional offer to go on a GEP in the Midlands. How fanstastic!

I am going to use this blog to explain the transition that I go through, from a nursing sister with ten years experience, through medical school. The course does not start until September, so I am going to use the remaining time to describe how I am going to get to medical school as a mature student!

7 comments:

Nurse To Doc said...

Thanks for leaving a comment. Good luck in your new direction too!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Anna. I'm a year on and my wife and I are still wondering, "Where's the money going to come from!"

Anonymous said...

Good luck Anna! I am also an ex Nurse and qualified from Leicester in 2002. No regrets at all. Your sentiments seem very similar to mine. Enjoy your time there. It is an excellent med school.

cindy said...

hi!
my name is cindy and i'm from the states...New York to be exact. I am in my third undergraduate year of Nursing school and while I am happy and proud to have made it thus far, I am considering going to med school after college...i just wanted to know what made you want to become a doctor even after training to be a nurse and going so far in your career. i am so stereotypically young and confused and I would be so delighted to hear your opinion!

Thanks!
btw, i heart jay-z too, but i don't think i am on your level, lol

Julie Anne said...

Hi Anna,

I really want to take the route that you took to become a doctor. I was ready to become a nurse first then be a doctor afterwards. However, I'm confused. I dont know if I should go straight to a pre-med course at a university, which will take lesser time to become a doctor or go through 4 years of nursing, 4 years of pre-med, then 4 years of medical school..I'm really confused. I hope you can give me some of your ideas.

Julie

SK said...

Hi Anna!
I am hoping to sit the UMAT this year too and am currently in my last year of nursing degree...
I also realised when I started the degree medicine is where I wanted to be..you are right it is hard to explain where it came from but here I am..haha

Here's hoping for the best...and im sure my nursing knowledge will come in handy for sure.

Any good pointers?

Bruna said...

Can I ask you what did you have to do to get into GME? And if you got some funding, like NHS bursaries or others to support you?

Thank you

About Me

My photo
I knew I wanted to study medicine from 5 minutes into my nurse training in 1992. This didn't go down too well with my peers but it has taken me eleven years to get my life in a place where I could apply to medical school, so I have paid my nursing dues! I was lucky enough to get two offers. I have been married for seven years to an ex footballer who is now a PE teacher. We have no plans for babies but I would love more King Charles Spaniels. I start medicine on September 20th 2006 and am absolutely petrified.