"...Nurses are Doctors SKIVVIES"

[studentdan]

"Why do you want to be a nurse anyway? They're doctors skivvies!"

:devil::devil::devil:

This was what a friend of mine said to me while I was at the bookstore buying some books on Nursing.

I just laughed it off there and then but it only really hit me while I was at home reading the nursing skills book I bought. It has made me so mad that I needed to come straight on here and vent!

I don't think in anyway shape or form that a nurse is a doctors skivvie. Nursing is a profession in its own just as medicine is a profession in its own right.

People [he included] obviously think nurses are hired by doctors! UGH!! I'm that mad right now I can't continue writing this..!

He's in college studying to be an English teacher..

Skivvy: a female domestic servant who does all kinds of menial work. It's used as a slang word sometimes in the UK and Ireland.

[AZ_LPN_8_26_13]

Nurses are portrayed in the media as sex objects, ridiculed, looked down on, et cetera. We run the hospitals and the doctors come and go. We should demand more respect, but we don't get it.

The way I see it, nurses are what make a hospital, you cannot have a hospital without them. Magnet hospitals (I happen to work for one as a nurse's aide, while studying to be an RN) recognize that, and are nurse-centric

[AZ_LPN_8_26_13]

I used to be a social worker. You think nurses get dumped on you should see how bad the social work profession gets it. People would say now why would you want to be a social worker? Trust me nurses of the world its not so bad.

The reason I would not want to become a social worker has nothing to do with working conditions or onerous tasks - like another poster mentioned, no one will ever ask a social worker to clean the poop out of someone's butt-crack - nurses and nurse's aides are called on to do these type of things all the time - I have done them myself many times .....

What I would not like, and I've heard other people comment in this regard too - there are too many people these days scamming the system and trying to get a free pass, I don't think that I could be a social worker for that reason alone - seeing that sort of stuff and knowing that it's robbing people who really need the help would make my blood boil. At least in nursing, you are dealing with people who are actually sick, not people who are trying to scam the system.......

[Katie5]

I don't know about it being a "good analogy", IMO a somewhat poor one,

but let me ask you this: who gives you either the shot or the band aid?

A nurse or a doctor? When I think of getting either one, I think of a nurse.

How about the rest of you???????

Dang! I'm staggered. How did you take a perfectly good analogy and twist it thus?

[Katie5]

Nurses are portrayed in the media as sex objects, ridiculed, looked down on, et cetera. We run the hospitals and the doctors come and go. We should demand more respect, but we don't get it.

Goodluck on the demands...

[hburatti85]

I told my gynecologist I was going to be a nurse, and she asked me "why nursing instead of going to med school?". Um, because I don't want to be a doctor?

My family asks me the same thing, most annoying is, "But you're smart enough to be a doctor." Yes, most nurses are smart enough, but we want to be nurses. Like being a nurse is a step down from being a doctor. It drives me nuts sometimes.

I scored really high on my entrance exam to nursing school and my brother said to my mom "If she is so smart why isn't she studying to become a dr?". I was so mad and hurt. I know I'm capable of being a dr but I think nursing can be more rewarding. It is because of the wonderful home-health nurses that my father has been able to stay home instead of going to a LTC. His doctor never would bother coming to the house, but said that the nurses are his eyes and ears. It's the wonderful hospice nurses that are making the transition to hospice a lot easier on us the family and on him as a patient. (My brother a 3rd year med student doesn't even know what hospice is.) I want to treat the patient and the family.

[aimckay]

I served in the US Navy becoming an E-5 (SK2) in 2 years of a 4 year enlistment. As anyone will tell you, it is the NCOs, E-6 and above that run the services. The officers look to that experience for guidance, counsel and to develop leadership skills. A professional nurse should be looked upon with the same respect. In addition, as a former software development project manager, the communication skills, personal and trust building skills required in a moments notice and anticipating problems before they develop are at the core of a valued nurse. Don't ever forget that as a nurse. Doctors are frankly amazing individuals to have committed extraordinary time, resources and money to attain their goals. Nurses commit to those same principles at a level appropriate for personal and professional goals. And that's that shipmates.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

how archaic.

we've come a looooong way.

leslie:nurse:

Unfortunately, though, the perception is still there. I doubt it will ever be any different, really.

What amazes and pleases me is that some people actually prefer to be nurses over becoming doctors. I have to wonder what leads them to become nurses, when it is, compared to Medicine, less respected generally, pays so much more poorly, and is, well, not as clean (depending on the specialty, I guess you could say). Of course, look how many of today's nurses go immediately into being NP's. That is not being a "lowly" nurse.

To OP: please inform your friend that you are not a pair of underwear and that he needs to update his opinion a little. Your angry reaction won't help him change his view. Don't fear a little honest conversation with him, please. It could help everyone in the long run. Why did you get angry, anyway, do you suppose?

[charlieccrn]

While a doctor may make more per year (not all do) they most often make less per hour than I. They put in too many hours and don't have the freedom to have the time off that a RN dose. As a CCRN I have a lot of autonomy in the ICU. I prefer this to being a doctor.

[kachidekuyua]

Ouch, It hurts...! Is he really a "real friend" of yours? I think, a friend should be happy and proud to whatever his friend decided to become. For me, being a nurse is a great profession and nobody can't compare to what care and service we can give to our patients. :)

[jrsmrs]

Ugh. A few months back, my own mother told me that after I graduate nursing school, I need to go back to medical school to become a doctor so I can "fire all the sh#@%y nurses." I was SO incredibly offended.

[PatricParamedic]

You could always remind them there's an amazing book out there called, "America's Dumbest Doctors" selling like crazy. There's no book on the shelves called Dumb Nurses, with good reason. Not enough material.

[Gina41674]

I have always heard of the term skivvies as underwear, and as a nurse, how many times are we covering the doctor's ASS!!!