[CCU NRS]

Originally Posted by NeuroICURN

I don't think it was harsh at all....as I said, I have found that to be my experience. I don't think that even if someone works all the time, that that should be their "life". In order to have a healthy existence, one must have a life outside of their work. I personally, do not feel the need to get wrapped up in....or even a little involved in, my patients' lives.

Nursing is a career to me...NOT a calling! I do it because it allows me the flexibility to work and still have a life outside of work and extra time with MY family and friends (the ones that ACTUALLY mean something to me). Truth be told....once I walk out those unit doors at the end of the day, I couldn't care less what happens. I know I've done everything in my power for those patients and everything I was educated to do, while I was PAID to be there. I do it because the human body fascinates me...not because I feel this great need to be a "healer" . Give me a break!

So, is all this making me sound a little "hard"? It probably does, but guess what, that's ok with me. I put my "game face" on when I go to work. I'm paid to care for 12 hours and that's it! Once I'm done, I'm done.

It's a job, not a calling, not a lifestyle.

I couldn't agree more, this is how you feel, so others are allowed to feel how they feel right? So you mentioned you find the human organism interesting, does that mean you think it was created by design or was it a fluke? if designed then by who? I do feel it was a calling but i also do my job clock out and go home to be with my family which is the most important thing in my life.

[Trauma-tizedRN]

Originally Posted by CCU NRS

When nurses are referred to as angels, as sometimes happens in popular and professional literature, on television, and in advertising, it doesn’t make me proud. When writers in nursing journals state that it takes compassion to be a nurse, that nursing is the sacrifice of oneself for others, and that nursing is a noble profession, I disagree. But I seem to be alone in this. Was I really the only one offended by the subtitle of the professional seminar I attended last summer—“The Magic and Wisdom of Nursing”? Nursing, in my experience, isn’t magic.

When nurses see stereotyped media portrayals unbecoming to us, many write letters and sign petitions. But the angelic, noble, or magical nurse is also a stereotype. We sent letters when ER showed doctors firing nurses, but how many letters were sent in response to the JAG episode that focused on World War II nurses, entitled “Each of Us Angels”? Not many, which says to me that nurses prefer not to talk about who we really are.

And who are we, really? Nursing pays us to place the needs of others before our own. Over time, putting others first can lead to self-pity and resentment. But nurses don’t talk about that, nor have I seen it written about in any nursing journal. Nurses’ silence on this issue perpetuates not only the false image of the angelic nurse, but also our own dysfunction. Self-sacrifice as the road to nobility has never been good for nurses. It causes burnout and compassion fatigue. We don’t talk about the cost of that self-sacrifice; nursing requires its members to keep its secrets.


http://gateway.ut.ovid.com/gw1/ovid...cFFU1%7cF%7cjpg
FIGURE. I don’t exist on a higher plane because I work at the bedside. I learned about being a nurse from the “Cherry Ames” books I read as a child. In the 1943 book, Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, author Helen Wells wrote: “Cherry wanted a profession of her own. More than that, she wanted to do vital work, work that the world urgently needs. She honest-to-goodness cared about people and she wanted to help them on a grand and practical scale. But did she have all it takes to be a nurse?” Nursing schools, hospital administrators, physicians, and patients all expect us to help “on a grand and practical scale.” We expect it of ourselves. That so many nurses see nursing as a calling is a longstanding tradition that has nothing to do with the work we do. What is truly noble and beneficial is to put oneself first—to eat when hungry, rest when tired. But so many nurses don’t even go to the bathroom when they need to.

I am a nurse. It is my job. I put on a uniform and comfortable shoes and punch a time clock. I have the education and experience to do for others what they cannot do for themselves. But it’s the intimacy of the work that feeds the angel myth. I listen to patients, touch them, reassure them, help them eat and drink, assist them with bodily functions. They are often ashamed of their need for help, and they’re grateful to be treated with respect. What patients don’t understand is that to me theirs are just a bowel movement to document and emesis to measure, a routine part of my day. I don’t exist on a higher plane because I work at the bedside. The work and the flexibility suit me. I meet interesting people from all over the world, and I learn something new every day. Sometimes it’s clinical information critical to my work. Sometimes it’s about what movie I should see.

But to call nursing a job rather than a calling isn’t to diminish it. I will not stop touching lives if I refuse to call the work magic. I will not be a failure if I give up self-sacrifice for self-care. Nurses have not learned this lesson well. If we indeed were to put ourselves first, perhaps there wouldn’t be a nursing shortage.

For many reasons, women and men choose nursing. What a radical notion: nurses claiming the human choice of a profession rather than giving angels the credit for our good works. Try this: take a look in the mirror, and repeat after me. “I am a nurse. I do a good job. That is enough.”


Ok If I am wrong I apologize but here it seems to me she is saying nurses do not need compassion and that it is not a noble profession.

Here she is saying we are basically unimportant. I do not put the needs of other before my own. As mentioned I am paid, is this not the need I am fulfilling by performing my duties and didn't I only agree to perform these duties for pay?

After admitting she does not feel a calling she denegrates all nurses that do feel a calling by saying it has nothing to do with the work we do.

Then she continues to put presumably nurses who feel a calling down by accusing them of ignoring their own needs. I empty my bladder when it is full and take my lunch break full 30/min off the unit.

This sounds like a burnout nurse manifesto.






The overall tone is that she would like to derive self esteem from her profession but as long as a fraction of the population feels that "Angelic Stereotype" she can only be self loathing.

Burnout nurse manifesto......yeah, that's it. Interesting fellow you are. I am trying to respect your opinions, I really am.

[CCU NRS]

Originally Posted by Trauma-tizedRN

Burnout nurse manifesto......yeah, that's it. Interesting fellow you are. I am trying to respect your opinions, I really am.

Well thank you, I just calls em as I sees em! Thanks for a thought provoking thread and I have had a great time debating it, aftermidnight and I worked 7a-7p today so I gues I will rack out, L8tr

[hoolahan]

Originally Posted by SmilingBluEyes

OK kids can we play nice in the sandbox?
There *is* room for us all at the table.....

Yes, some consider nursing a " calling" and I respect that. I believe many feel called to professions such as police work, military service, and nursing, as well as other professions that serve the public. Those who consider nursing a noble calling are often some of the best nurses around. I don't dispute that.

As for myself, I consider nursing a career, for which I deserve proper compensation as a professional, not just in pay--- but also in respect. Respect from doctors, administrators, nurse managers and yes, my patients/families; this respect should be a given for nursing as in any profession--- but often it is not. Therefore, on some level, I consider the "nurse as angel" stereotype threatening to my concept of nursing as a profession. But hey, that is just me.

I used to feel it was a calling, but now, this more acurately reflects my belief. Well said!

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by NeuroICURN

I don't think it was harsh at all....as I said, I have found that to be my experience. I don't think that even if someone works all the time, that that should be their "life". In order to have a healthy existence, one must have a life outside of their work. I personally, do not feel the need to get wrapped up in....or even a little involved in, my patients' lives.

Nursing is a career to me...NOT a calling! I do it because it allows me the flexibility to work and still have a life outside of work and extra time with MY family and friends (the ones that ACTUALLY mean something to me). Truth be told....once I walk out those unit doors at the end of the day, I couldn't care less what happens. I know I've done everything in my power for those patients and everything I was educated to do, while I was PAID to be there. I do it because the human body fascinates me...not because I feel this great need to be a "healer" . Give me a break!

So, is all this making me sound a little "hard"? It probably does, but guess what, that's ok with me. I put my "game face" on when I go to work. I'm paid to care for 12 hours and that's it! Once I'm done, I'm done.

It's a job, not a calling, not a lifestyle.

I'm there for 12 hours as well, and when I'm done, I'm done. I work with trauama patients. People like you and me who are minding our business one second and the next in a hospital all broken up. During those 12 hours, I manage your pain, I see you naked, help you poop, I talk to you, I care about you, I hear about your life, I'm interested. I work very hard. Sometimes I'm the hardest working person there. I want no reward or recognition or anyone to call me an "angel of mercy". It's just me.

You don't sound harsh, but for me personally I want to "bond" with my patients. Not just put in 12 hours and recieve a paycheck. Call me silly, while I have a very rich life, I want my work life to be the most fulfulling that it possibly can be. I did take some work home yesterday. I went through my personal book collection and shared them with one of my patients, who was bored and oh so greatful. He said everyone said they would bring him books, but I'm the one who remembered. Small rewards every day.

Can I have it all please?? A happy life outside of work and a happy life at work and not just counting down the hours and collecting a paycheck.

I'm no angel my no means.

[CCU NRS]

Originally Posted by 3rdShiftGuy

I'm there for 12 hours as well, and when I'm done, I'm done. I work with trauama patients. People like you and me who are minding our business one second and the next in a hospital all broken up. During those 12 hours, I manage your pain, I see you naked, help you poop, I talk to you, I care about you, I hear about your life, I'm interested. I work very hard. Sometimes I'm the hardest working person there. I want no reward or recognition or anyone to call me an "angel of mercy". It's just me.

You don't sound harsh, but for me personally I want to "bond" with my patients. Not just put in 12 hours and recieve a paycheck. Call me silly, while I have a very rich life, I want my work life to be the most fulfulling that it possibly can be. I did take some work home yesterday. I went through my personal book collection and shared them with one of my patients, who was bored and oh so greatful. He said everyone said they would bring him books, but I'm the one who remembered. Small rewards every day.

Can I have it all please?? A happy life outside of work and a happy life at work and not just counting down the hours and collecting a paycheck.

I'm no angel my no means.

Very nice post. You know I think being an Angel might be like being crazy, if you really are you probably don't know it. To the person who recieved the book you promised, you are a wonderful person and have made his/her life more tolerable, believe me coming from a bibliophile, this would gain you almost Saint status.

I also agree that we are able to have the best of both worlds, great working life and wonderful fulfilling home life.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I do love to "bond" with my patients, even the difficult ones. They are my supreme challenge, and most of the time I can "break through" on some level to them. However, I don't equate with providing superior, compassionate, tender care with being an Angel, and never will. All humans should be capable of compassion, anyhow. That I am living up to a code I set for myself LONG ago, does not make me an angel. Far from it.

[CCU NRS]

http://www.nursingcenter.com/library...icle_ID=529284


I guess they only posted a few responses but it would seem that I am not alone in my feelings

[SmilingBluEyes]

welp we can go round and round on this....let us agree to disagree. I am not one who has to have the last word, myself, so I leave the floor open. Have a great day everyone!

[mattsmom81]

There are some truly nice people out there (specialy here in the south) that call me honey sweetie, etc and don't mean a thing negative by it...I catch myself doing it too and have gotten accustomed to it. BUT when they start overdoing....gushing 'angel' stuff its usually for manipulation's sake in my experience. And that goes right along with the self sacrificing nun theory of nursing IMO. Bleghh.

Whenever management starts this kind of talk (which is why I avoid Nurses Week like the plague) I know there's always a hook to it. We are a profession, treat us like professionals...that is really all I ask.

Our chaplain at my last facility was always sending nurses religious emails...referencing us to nuns, giving, self sacrifice, 'angels of mercy', etc the whole shebang. ALWAYS I caught the real message: which was meant to spur us on to be more: we were not quite angelic enough, we weren't 'good' or caring enough, specially if we asked for respect, set limits with patients, etc. I object to this type of manipulative stuff as well.