I Need Career Help! Regarding Medicine, Nursing & Midwifery

jessticles36

Hi all, I've become pretty desperate for insight so I thought maybe I could get opinions, especially those who have insight into the medical sector in Ireland.


I did my leaving cert in 2012, hoping to do medicine. I did an average leaving cert and started psychiatric nursing then dropped out, knowing that a career in mental health wasn't for me. So I went back to school this year and am about to repeat it. However, I'm certain that medicine is out of my reach this year, and I'm strongly considering repeating a second time externally.


The problem is, I'm starting to doubt what career path to take. I'm passionate about working in pregnancy, so naturally I'm leaning toward Midwifery or do my degree in Medicine, and -assuming I don't change my mind - specialise in Obstetrics. But there's just no way of knowing which one I would prefer, I know OBs do specialised cases in pregnancy and midwives are there to do all the regular births and be there emotionally, which sounds appealing to me as I'm a compassionate person.

The point I'm making is, I'm in the dark about Obstetricians in Ireland- Im aware there's a huge amount of hours and paperwork etc in Medicine, but pregnancy and birth is something I'm passionate about, and Midwifery is very underpaid, which is only a small aspect of the big picture but off-putting nonetheless.



Another problem is that many student midwives I met last year had said they regretted not getting a general degree first. I'd be happy to do general nursing because I'm interested in more than just pregnancy- if I was to go straight into Midwifery, I'd probably never want to switch to anything else, but for the sake of experience and not limiting myself I'm considering doing general nursing first.

If there's anyone who knows someone in the medical field and can see what sort of work/career that Obstetrics entails, I'd really really appreciate some insight. I want to choose the right career, and I want to be confident that I won't be dreading going into work everyday. I know that each profession has its horror stories & its rewards.

verz

Unfortunately I can't provide you with any information about most of what you're looking for. But what I can say is that if you're worried about not getting the points for medicine there is always the post graduate route, which I hope to start in September. I didn't get the points for medicine, but I didn't want to repeat either so I decided to give up on the idea of medicine and do science instead. Then I found out about post grad medicine when I was in college and set my sights on that. Just remember there's always more than one way to get to where you want

randylonghorn

Moved from LC Careers Discussion, the good people here may be better able to help!