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by NancyRN

Updated Jan 11, 2004 at 01:54 PM by NancyRN

My daughter (a teacher) recently told me about a nurse friend who works in a nearby hospital. I asked her what her friend's specialty is, and she said, "I honestly don't know. To the general public, a nurse is a nurse is a nurse, Mom!"

This caused me to think about the rivalry that exists throughout nursing: the OR nurse vs the PACU nurse vs the ICU nurse vs the Stepdown nurse, ad infinitum. It's no wonder we can't get anywhere with administrators. We're too busy one-upping each other to really stand together. What causes this kind of attitude, and why does it happen?

Nurses are generally respected by the public. The caste system is something we've created ourselves; maybe because we feel powerless in the workplace? I'll admit that as a Stepdown nurse in a hopsital, I felt superior to a Long Term Care nurse; that us, until I tried it myself. I RAN back to that hospital, where I only had 5 patients instead of 25!

[Agnus]

Good point.

[Dayray]

I don't think its right to look down on each other. I've worked in allot of different areas for short amounts of time. I've mostly worked postpartum and L&D but spent a little time in one capacity or another in Cardiac, ICU, ER, med surge, and LTC. I don't think one is less then the other. They all require very specific skills an knowledge along with some that are universal among nurses. I think it all about equals out and all are hard work at the end of the day

So we are all equal in that respect but at the same time we are all very different. I think that is to blame for the rivalry, I mean even though we are all nurses we don't understand what the other goes threw or what the specific challenges of the department are. this makes it easy to say oh nurses on xx unit have it easy and next thing you know your looking down on them because your a real nurse and they are just a lolly xx nurse.

I think its the same with any rivalry or division among people. As human beings we are capable of so many good things and so many bad things. One of the bad things is that we have this tendency to dislike other people that are different from us and then we try to elevate ourselves above them.

I love the title of this post because it is so fitting "Us vs them", Doc vs nurse, nurse vs management, ICU vs ER, L&D vs PP, Army vs Navy, gender vs gender, race vs race, culture vs culture.

[sanakruz]

I'm with Agnus.

[MidMissouriRN]

Us vs Them

Everyday I wonder who them is. I finally realized it; them is the administration, MD's and the Medical supply companies. Every day I see the administrators, Doctors and Sales Reps getting to gether to figure out how they can work the system. I see MD's using overpriced medical equipment that administrators approve. In the end they both get some type of rebate. While we RN's sit there and watch. We should not stand for it anymore, we deserve to be paid our fair share and at the same time not have to work in such hostile enviroments.
Please lets join in Unity.

[Hellllllo Nurse]

I'd love for all nurses to join together, be united, stand up for each other and have each other's back.
How do we do it?

[MidMissouriRN]

You ask "how can we stand up for each other?". The answer is in Unity and in Unity I mean contacting your states Nursing Association. Ask them who's in charge of Labor organization. The uannurse.org site has some great information on previouse success stories.

[sharann]

Sometimes I find myself thinking that all human beings just crave conflict. We could get along, but we just don't want to. We enjoy the backbiting and complaining. I am far from perfect but I see this all to often and it isn't just US. It's everyone...Docs, RT, CNA's,Admin, Clerks, Dietary etc.

It is so pointless. People need to learn how to behave themselves and be civil. Just my 2 cents.