@jabrown0407
My first degree was statistics with an interest in human medicine. I was "disenchanted" with statistics because I thought numbers contained the answer to every question.

After I got my statistics degree it occurred to me that I didn't know anything about human medicine. A nursing degree helped me gain some knowledge about the medical world. Nursing also provided me with "job security" because I didn't know what good I could do in the statistical world.

My career was one of going back and forth between the analytical side of medical research and the "real world" side of bedside nursing. Some people said I was conflicted about the analytical world of medical research and the real world of nursing. I described myself as analytical with a compassionate streak. I gravitated more to nursing which was where I learned the most.

It was difficult and nearly impossible to apply research data to the complexity of individual patient situations.