When I decided that I wanted to go to school for nursing, I got a variety of responses. Many people were excited for me, but other people told me that I could've and should've gone to medical school because I'm "smart enough." That backhanded compliment got me thinking about why I chose to pursue nursing and why people have flawed perceptions of the field.

People who tell me that I am smart enough for medical school act like becoming a nurse is some kind of consolation prize. They think that since I "didn't believe" I could make it through medical school, I settled and went to nursing school. That is absolutely false. When people decide to become nurses, they are never settling. Not only are we entering one of the most caring, trusted professions in existence, we are also choosing to put forth an enormous amount of hard work and dedication -- not just throughout school, but for the rest of our career. Also, no one in their right mind would go through all the pain and stress that we deal with in nursing school if we didn't want to be a nurse more than anything. Our hearts are 100 percent in this profession, and if they weren't, there's no way we would make it far. We didn't decide to become nurses because we didn't think we were smart enough for anything else; we chose to do it because we don't want to do anything else.

When people tell me that I'm smart enough to have gone to medical school and should've taken that route, they are indirectly belittling the intelligence of nurses. Some people recognize the intelligence of nurses, but others still believe that all we do is wipe butts and pass meds. Not only are their outdated stereotypes insulting, they're completely false. Nurses have outstanding critical thinking skills and are extremely knowledgeable. They have to be familiar with just about every disease process in order to be able to give the best quality of care. They have to dig deeper into every apparent problem to catch mistakes that are often overlooked. Nurses are the ones who are with patients 24/7, monitoring them, making them feel comfortable, and assisting in their treatment. The things nurses do to help patients are often unrecognized. They constantly assess patients and put interventions in place to help them. They formulate and execute a plan of care, and it goes far beyond giving patients their medications. Nurses are responsible for knowing their patients like the back of their hand and monitoring them diligently in case something goes wrong. If anything goes wrong, the nurse will be there.

This is not meant to insult doctors in any way. Doctors are obviously extremely intelligent, and the healthcare system needs doctors to function normally. Everyone already knows that, but not as many people seem to recognize the importance of nurses. Whether or not people believe I have to be intelligent to become a nurse, I know that my intelligence is partly the reason why I have made it this far. You can't make it through nursing school or have success as nurse if you're not intelligent. Maybe I could've gone to medical school -- I work hard and I've always done pretty well in school. However, I didn't want to go to medical school, and it wasn't because I didn't think I was smart enough to make it through. I chose to become a nurse, and I wouldn't have done so if I didn't believe that I had the drive and intelligence that it takes. Nursing takes a lot more intelligence than people realize, and even though people may question my career choice and think that nursing isn't very difficult, I know they're dead wrong. I know how much hard work it takes to become a nurse, and how much stress I'll go through only to be told that I "could've become a doctor." I also know without a doubt that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing, no matter what anyone thinks I could've or should've done.