’Why not nursing?’ is a commonly asked question during interviews and can be difficult to answer as many of the common reasons why people choose to study medicine (such as loving science and wanting to help people) are equally applicable to nursing.
In this guide, we’ll explore this question, including the differences between nurses and doctors and how you can effectively explain your choices.
Written by Emma Francis-Gregory
Why Not Nursing?
This is certainly a loaded question. While applicants will have a multitude of reasons as to why they want to study medicine rather than nursing, interviewers are looking out for applicants who can offer more noble or personal reasons than just money or status.
Being able to articulate why you have chosen one over the other demonstrates a deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the different members of the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and shows that you have realistic expectations for life as a doctor.
To be able to explain why you have chosen medicine over nursing, you must understand the similarities and differences between the role of a nurse and the role of a doctor.
It is really important to ensure that you address the question based on these differences, and do so without being negative about nurses or the job they do – nurses are highly trained, intelligent and skilled individuals, and are an integral part of both the MDT and wider NHS.
Talking negatively about nurses reflects poorly on you as an individual and will also raise concerns about your ability to work well and respectfully with other professions within the MDT as a medical student and as a doctor.
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Nurse vs Doctor
Since understanding the differences between these two roles is so important, let’s analyse what makes each one unique and why you may choose one over the other:
Training & education
Doctors
Medicine degrees take 5 years as standard (6-year degrees including a foundation year and 4-year accelerated degrees for graduates are also available).
Nurses
Nursing degrees take 3 years as standard (4-year degrees including a foundation year and 2-year accelerated degrees for graduates are also available).
Day-to-day responsibilities
Doctors
Responsibilities can involve prescribing medications, clerking/triaging new patients, breaking bad news, requesting and reviewing blood tests and investigations, performing clinical skills (such as arterial blood gases – a bit like taking blood from a vein but taking it from an artery instead!) and writing discharge summaries for patients.
The exact responsibilities will vary based on the experience/seniority of the doctor, the specialty/setting they are working in (i.e. working surgical versus medical specialities or working in primary care at a GP surgery versus working in secondary/tertiary care on the wards).
Nurses
Responsibilities can involve wound care, administering medications, admitting new patients, taking bloods, monitoring patients and escalating where appropriate, attending MDT meetings and talking to patients’ families.
As with doctors, the exact responsibilities will vary based on the experience/seniority of the nurse, whether they are working on a day or night shift, and the setting (i.e. working in primary care at a GP surgery versus working in secondary/tertiary care on the wards).
Prescribing responsibilities
Doctors
Yes – all newly qualified doctors can prescribe, and are also required to pass the Prescribing Safety Assessment prior to completing their first year as a doctor.
Nurses
Variable – nurses who have undertaken relevant additional training recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council can prescribe independently on a par with doctors.
Specialisation options
Doctors
Large range of options including surgical specialities.
Nurses
Large range of options but not able to perform surgery.
Patient interactions
Doctors
As a doctor, you tend to spend less time interacting with patients and more time completing administrative tasks.
Nurses
As a nurse, you tend to spend more time interacting with patients.
Regulatory body
Doctors
General Medical Council
Nurses
Nursing and Midwifery Council
It is important to be aware that some responsibilities previously held only by doctors, such as prescribing and making management plans, are now also performed by senior nurses who have undertaken additional training (as above). This can make justifying your decision for one path over the other even more challenging due to the overlap in scope of the different roles.
How To Answer ‘Why Not Nursing?’
So now that we’ve seen the differences between the two roles, how can you address the question during an interview? Here are some of the key steps you’ll need to take to provide an effective answer:
Roles
Acknowledge the importance of the role performed by nurses and demonstrate that you understand the differences between the scope of the different roles.
Education
Highlight the differences in university education. Whilst nurses are also highly educated, the longer degree pathway for medicine (5 years is the standard for medicine versus 3 years as the standard for nursing) allows students to study a greater volume of in-depth scientific knowledge and can facilitate an easier route into research and academic medicine if this interests you (although research is by no means a doctor-specific activity!).
Many universities also offer the opportunity to intercalate during a medical degree in which students take a year out from their medical education to complete a BSc or Masters in a related discipline. This opportunity is not offered to nursing students.
Responsibilities
Discuss the additional responsibilities associated with medicine – as a doctor, you will often bear the responsibility of making decisions regarding patient care and will take on a leadership role within the MDT.
Specialisation
Acknowledge that nurses can also specialise in a chosen area of medicine, but highlight that there are options available to doctors, such as performing surgery, that aren’t accessible via nursing. Training as a doctor keeps these options open to you.
Justification
As always, ensure that you are justifying your reasoning with examples from your work experience and reflect on these as you go using the STARR structure (situation, task, action, result, reflection) or similar – just remember that the reflection is the most important part, so don’t get too caught up in explaining scenarios in unnecessary depth!
Work Experience
Having work experience with different members of the MDT rather than exclusively shadowing doctors can also be a great way to demonstrate that you’ve considered multiple different healthcare roles, and can provide relevant examples that can be contrasted to highlight differences in the scope of each role.
That concludes my guide to ‘Why not nursing?’. This is an important one to remember as the question will certainly appear in at least one of your interviews. The important thing is that you remain respectful, justify your choice and be express your understanding of both roles. If you have other, more personal reasons for choosing medicine over nursing, be sure to mention those too.
This is a common question for interviews, but it’s not the only one you’ll encounter. Our collection of free interview guides features even more common questions, technique guides and ethical topics that you should be aware of.
While these guides are extremely helpful for starting your preparation, I’d also recommend more in-depth support from expert medicine tutors like myself. To access one-to-one sessions and tonnes of helpful materials and courses for your interviews, check out 6med’s Interview Tutoring Bundles, as well as our Medicine Mastery Bundles if you want support with the whole process. You can speak with our friendly team today by booking a free consultation.
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