Educational journey from nursing to medical school: a medical practitioner’s vantage point

The transitions along the nursing-medical education continuum have stimulated the interest of many nurses and nursing students nowadays, notwithstanding the challenges. This study aimed to explore the medical practitioners' educational experiences as they journey from nursing to medical school and highlight the salient features of nursing education as for pursuing a degree in medicine. The data was collected using a phenomenological approach, utilizing semi-structured in-depth interviews. The study included twelve medical practitioners aging from 29 to 36 years old. All participants were licensed nurses and doctors, with six having worked before attending medical school and six did not. Through thematic analysis, four primary themes emerged in this study: The distinction between nursing and medical school journey; the hallmark of nursing as pre-medical course; compassionate agent of healing; and the practical lessons learned. The study findings revealed that nursing and medicine are two divergent paths, with medical school being more challenging. Nursing education helped medical practitioners succeed in medical school due to the firsthand and extensive clinical experience, the existence of fundamental science subjects offered as an academic head start, the therapeutic patient interaction, and the professional virtues learned. Nursing education influenced medical practitioners to become compassionate agents of healing as they blend care and cure in their medical practice and build better interpersonal dynamics with nurses and other healthcare team members. The practical lesson participants learned and wanted to convey to those who desire to advance in their career from nursing to medicine is to strengthen the suggested basic science courses, build on the recommended values and behaviors and take nursing as a pre-medical course seriously. The researcher developed a nursing-medical education continuum model that will guide nursing students in their journey when they choose to become the compassionate agent of healing-medical practitioners.