I’m currently finishing up my first semester of college as a Speech and Hearing Science major, planning on becoming a Speech Pathologist. I know that I don’t want to work in schools, but am very interested in working in a hospital setting, particularly with stroke patients. Recently, I’ve been wondering if I should switch into the medical field. I would like to work more directly with patients in the medical setting and worry that I’m selling myself short as an SLP. I’ve been considering nursing, PA, or even med school. These fields excite and interest me because I know I could choose from different specialties, play a large role in treating patients, and have more responsibilities than an SLP. However, I’m not sure if I’m cut out for it, or whether I should look into becoming a nurse, a PA, or a doctor, considering all the time and discipline it requires. Any ideas/advice? Thanks.
I know several SLPs–none of them work in school settings.
Working with stroke patients would more likely occur in a outpatient setting, in a rehab hospital or other LTC facility rather than a true in-patient hospital setting–just because stroke patients are seldom hospitalized long term any more.
The best way to make an informed decision is to do research. I would suggest you read about the the training paths for all 3 professions (nursing, PA, physician) since they are all very different. I’d also suggest that you shadowing persons in each profession and do informational interviewing to get a feel for the kind of day-to-day experience of each profession. This should help give an idea of what each profession is like.
I’d also suggest you do some soul-searching and think hard about what kind of life goals you have for yourself and your personal strengths & weaknesses. (Is having a normal family life a priority for you? Do you only want regular work hours, 9-5 M-F? What levels of responsibility do you feel most comfortable with? Are you comfortable with making decisions and letting others oversee the carrying out process or do you like to be involved every step of the way?)
You should also go to your college’s career placement office and talk with them about your career options and goals.
Now a personal note–I have 2 daughters who are in medicine. (One is a physician, one is a 3rd year med student) Medicine is a tough gig. Long training period, constant high stakes career-determining standardized testing, brutally long hours with mandatory night shifts, a staggering amount of debt. Plus constant exposure to the very worst side of humanity. It’s not for everyone.
My advice is if you can be happy in any other profession beside medicine–pursue that other profession.
Longterm work yes, but every stroke patient on my neuro rotation got a speech and swallow consult from SLP to determine what kind of diet they got.
If you really want to then of course you can.
Go for it. The good news about medicine is it’s so diverse. You can do so many things with an MD. You gotta get thru the prereqs first: 2 years of Chemistry, 1 of Physicis, 1 of Math/Stats and 1 Bio. Are you game? Nursing is a great profession too. Nurses are always in demand and again, you can do so much with nursing which pays very well also.