[ThatGuyTom]

Hello Nurses!

I'm a student nurse and I need some input for a class presentation. My topic is The Public Image of Professional Nursing. Reason why I'm posting this here is because I'm sure most of you here have been in the "Nursing World" for quite some time and may know how the image of nursing is viewed.

So far, I'm thinking about starting off with:

1. History of Nursing (e.g. many years ago, it was viewed as witchcraft, etc)

2. Media's View (e.g. from news, T.V. series or movies like Meet the Focker where the main character was a nurse, etc)

3. Views from other health professionals (e.g. how doctors view nurses)

4. Cultural view (including how female/male view nursing and perhaps even other countries in the world.)

5. Solve Problem (e.g. prob: men who nurses are view as "feminine or Gay"; solution: get more men involve..etc)

I'm not telling you guys to do my research, but to merely give any ideas associated with this topic since you guys have more experience in the nursing world than I do. I just started Nursing school last week. YAY!!!!

Thanks to any help in advance! Allnurses.com rules!!

[deeDawntee]

Wow that is pretty darned impressive!! I really like your outline... I would add that we are trained to be patient advocates and educators, I have heard it said often that "you nurses know more than the Doctors" because I think that we are able to convey information more clearly and in an unhurried more patient-friendly way than a lot of Physicians. I don't know if that applies or not, just my first thought by reading your post.

Again, great idea for research and an awesome start to your nursing career!!

Way to go!!!

[evilnightwitch]

I think the number of people that hold the nursing profession in high reguard is very limited. When you have nurses wearing hip hugger pants so that their things hang out, and tops that reveal their breasts clearly by being so thin or low cut the public can't help but lose respect for nurses. Not only are the television shows rampant with nurses screwing around with everyone, but advertisements show this as well. When you go to professional conferences and classes nurses again show up unprofessionaly dressed. I think that some doctors do still hold their nurses in high esteem but only those that work closely with their nurses. I recently worked at an ER where 4 RN's pierced one another with 14 gauge needles and managment turned a blind eye. I worked with these same people that on a regular basis had parties where ETOH flowed freely and naked pictures were shared around the ER on several different occasions, again mangement turned a blind eye. Several of our techs having open affairs in the ER with local police and discusssing this in open areas for patients to hear, again mangement allows this immoral behavior. I think especially today nurses need to rise above and become role models, not perfect but keep your private lives private and not air dirty laundry at work, and become more professional so that we can be respected. If patients had more respect for nurses they would be less likely to complain. When nurses act like bar flies at work and carry on that way at work, patients are more likely to think they are not getting the best care, and are going to launch more compliants and nurses are going to lose their jobs even if they are excellent at what they do. Customer service is what it is all about. The patients complain about the nurses not the doctors whom they perceive to be professional. I bet if you took two hospitals that saw the same kind of patients and one was more professional than the other in behavior you would see a difference in the number of complaints filed. Sorry this is so long.

[deeDawntee]

Originally Posted by evilnightwitch

I think the number of people that hold the nursing profession in high reguard is very limited. When you have nurses wearing hip hugger pants so that their things hang out, and tops that reveal their breasts clearly by being so thin or low cut the public can't help but lose respect for nurses. Not only are the television shows rampant with nurses screwing around with everyone, but advertisements show this as well. When you go to professional conferences and classes nurses again show up unprofessionaly dressed. I think that some doctors do still hold their nurses in high esteem but only those that work closely with their nurses. I recently worked at an ER where 4 RN's pierced one another with 14 gauge needles and managment turned a blind eye. I worked with these same people that on a regular basis had parties where ETOH flowed freely and naked pictures were shared around the ER on several different occasions, again mangement turned a blind eye. Several of our techs having open affairs in the ER with local police and discusssing this in open areas for patients to hear, again mangement allows this immoral behavior. I think especially today nurses need to rise above and become role models, not perfect but keep your private lives private and not air dirty laundry at work, and become more professional so that we can be respected. If patients had more respect for nurses they would be less likely to complain. When nurses act like bar flies at work and carry on that way at work, patients are more likely to think they are not getting the best care, and are going to launch more compliants and nurses are going to lose their jobs even if they are excellent at what they do. Customer service is what it is all about. The patients complain about the nurses not the doctors whom they perceive to be professional. I bet if you took two hospitals that saw the same kind of patients and one was more professional than the other in behavior you would see a difference in the number of complaints filed. Sorry this is so long.

Oh My God!! That is horrendous...can you report this to your BON or JCAHO or something??

It does lend itself to that "porn" image of the 'naughty nurse' which the OP may want to mention in his research, because that image is certainly out there in certain areas or society.

[diapason05]

I hate to admit it, but I was shying away from the profession of nursing because I was under the impression that nurses were not highly educated and lower class. I have changed my mind about the education since researching my schools BSN program, and I will probably end up finding that there are all kinds of nurses. I have had a lot of nice nurses since I left NEPA.

[NRSKarenRN]

See other thread: Public Image of Professional Nursing