I recently took a friend to a medical clinic for treatment. We were surprised by the lack of professionalism we received from the nursing staff. While my friend was waiting to be treated, we listened to a group of nurses complain that they were underpaid, should be paid as much as the doctors, and that $45 an hour was a low wage. One nurse was even leaning back in her chair with her feet up on the desk and flipping through a magazine and kept talking about going on strike.
All of this was disconcerting to view and made me wonder what happened to the emphasis on "caring" in health care versus the attitude of "I'm worth a million bucks". Several of the other patients in the waiting room didn't seem too pleased either. One lady with two kids leaned over to me and commented that she would be thankful to even have a job that paid $10 an hour because she had been unemployed for 8 months.
As a professional educator, I was distressed to see this selfish behavior. Our teacher's union voted to take a pay cut and have a cost of living freeze over the next 2 years in order to keep the schools open and to serve the public. None of us make anywhere near $45 an hour, but we didn't complain to the public about our situation. We saw it as our duty to sacrifice and serve the community because we care.
Over the past month I have asked friends, family and colleagues about their experiences with nurses and health care. Many have commented that a lot of nurses seem to put more emphasis on what they are worth than caring about their patients. One of my friends is an RN and she said the profession has changed over the past few years. She claims nurses weren't highly paid in the past and that most entered the profession because of the caring aspect. Now many of the nurses are there for the money and that the unions are demanding large increases in wages because of the shortages in licensed RNs.
I believe that nurses do contribute a lot to our society. It just concerns me that the occupation seems to be focusing more on earning more money and less on patient care. Hopefully the profession will take a proactive approach in curbing the emphasis on greed and focus on what really matters most to us all...caring about our community.
