This Site has Jaded My View of Nursing

[kimmyz]

Hello. I am just about to finish my first semester in an LPN program. I hope no one will take this the wrong way, but I never knew there was so much negativity between LPN's and RN's, and in the work place with employees and bosses. When I joined this site it was to meet other nurses and receive support. I had no idea there is so much disagreement between each other. It is almost like a prejudice against certain groups because of the letters behind the name. I want to be a nurse to take care of patients, I really enjoy helping people. I didn't know all the stress I hear about nursing would be compounded by my peers. I guess I just had rose colored glasses on. I talked with my instructor about this and she told me it's true unfortunately. Doctors stick together and have a special bond because they are doctors, but nurses eat their young. She said it could be because we are mainly women, and women are catty. The males I have seen so far don't seem to be this way. Right now we are doing clinicals in a nursing home, and do the same job as the nurses aides. I would never consider myself above them.

I am happy to learn from them. When I first found out I would be doing clinicals in a nursing home I was scared. I thought ok I'll just get through it until I get to the part of nursing I really want to do. I found out that I love taking care of the patients so much that if I was just allowed to do that, I would be happy. It is very rewarding to be apart of their lives. We should all just pitch in where we can. (In our scope of practice) But certainly never consider ourselves above someone else. Maybe part of the nursing burnout is the lack of support from each other. I know there are alot of you who do not feel this way and express it here in your responses to the negative comments, but the fact that the animosity exists, I guess is just beyond my comprehension. Maybe it's because I am going the LPN route to get to my RN could be why I don't see it. I am just happy to be here till I get to the next step. I respect people where they are and the choices they make. Anyway just my 2 cents.

Kim Z. -SPN - SCC (Just 2 more semesters to go!!! YAA!!!)

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm sorry to read you are so jaded.

Please don't judge an entire profession on what you read on a message board or what one person tells you. The message board tends to be skewed to the negative.

Please don't presume that all RNs have animosity to LPNs and that all nurses eat their young.

On a daily basis we are just concerned with taking care of our patients to the best of our ability, we aren't concerned with BSN vs ADN, LPN vs RN, being nasty to nursing students, or eating our young. Women certainly are not catty in the nursing profession.

Are you going to come across arrogant RNs? Yes you are. Are you going to see nurses eat their young? Maybe you will (personally I haven't seen this.). Is there negativity in nursing? Absolutely there is.

It's sad that so young into the profession you're passing judgements on an entire profession that you've barely experienced. I'm feel sorry for you that this is your experience.

Good luck to you in all that you do. Congrats on the impending graduation.

[TazziRN, RN]

Depends on the individual and the climate. I personally treat my entire team as a team; no one is better than the other. As for doctors, they support each other way too much, in my opinion, even going so far as to protect someone who is clearly a danger to society until they just can't anymore, and in the meantime counless people have been affected. Maybe we nurses don't put up with it because we are patient advocates, ever think about that?

As for nursing as a whole, it ain't just the RN's who treat others this way, I've been treated that way by LVN's and CNA's who think that because they've been in the business longer than me, they are "better" than me somehow. I will never forget or forgive a CNA who humiliated me in front of her coworkers because I asked a question as a student.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

most of what you see on this site is venting after a bad day or a bad year and occasionally a bad life. please don't think that all rns hate lpns. we are all at work for the same reason, to care for patients. you will be welcome with open arms at most every place you apply. continue your education and remember that if you no longer like the job you have its time to move on or up. either fix the problem or go find another position somewhere else.

as far as the catty behavior, if it is tolerated by the manager of that unit it will thrive. negative behavior has been identified and confronted on the unit i work on. a year ago no one wanted to be pulled to our unit, now we just got a wonderful review from the rest of the facility as this is the only unit staff does not mind being pulled to. this is a very busy stepdown unit.

nursing is stressful as well as rewarding. i think it took me about 5 years to realize that. i love what i do and i have really enjoyed the challenges presented to me in the many types of nursing i have explored.

i hope this perks you up a bit and welcome to nursing.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

A bit of wisdom from (gasp!) SDN - Very few people go to a message board to say gosh, what a good day I had!

The posts are there, just not super frequent. Try going to the Success Stories area.

[Corvette Guy]

kimmyz - I respect you as a team member in the healthcare profession. We all take different routes in our career path to reach individual goals. First, I was a Certified Surgical Technologist, ADN, then BSN. I have seen many a LVN with outstanding clinical skills. I have also worked with MDs of the highest of integrity that treat others of less formal education with respect.

Please, realize misunderstandings are common occurence on public message boards. If an individual has offended you, then maybe address the matter via PM to a Mod.

I do hope you continue to actively visit allnurses.com. I wish you much success in your nursing career.

:flowersfo

[jonear2, RN]

Im so sorry that you have gotten such a sense of negativity on this site. I have been a member for several months now and I have never really gotten a sense of resentment. I will tell you that I am an Rn and the floor that I work on has a good mix of RN, LPN, BSN, ADN etc. Everyone is supportive of each other and there has been no animosity there either. You kind of have to look at it like this...No nurse is "better" than another nurse because of education level. We each bring to the profession our own unique qualities and patients get different needs met with different nurses. But at the end of the day, we all wipe butts, and baby that is the great human equalizer. We are patient care advocates, shoulders that are cried upon, and care-takers. Not just care takers of the patients, but of the docs, and not least of all, EACH OTHER. Dont be jaded. Be proud, whatever your education, or your skill level, you are a nurse. Patients dont say "hey LPN do this," or "hey RN, do that." They say "Hey NURSE."

REMEMBER THAT

amy

[Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN]

because most of the people in the profession are women insults both women and nurses!

This is a place to vent, come to for support, laugh, cry or just goof off with other members of the same profession that can say "yeah, I know how you feel". We check our halos and wings at the door!

As for the doctors, perhaps we can learn a thing or two about the cohesiveness of their profession. And lately, the med school classes have been 50-55% women these days, so the "boys club" just might become a thing of the past.

I've had a lot of success treating others how I would expect to be treated, as a professional. Whether they are a med student, a cocky second year resident in July, an attending physician, a fellow nurse, my manager or the critical care tech remembering to take q2hr accuchecks on one of my patients, they get the same level of respect and I have never had a problem with backstabbing or pettiness. (Granted, I've been a nurse for less than two years, so I'm not exactly the voice of experience compared to some around here, but I have lost my rose colored glasses!)

Good luck with your future career and I hope you find an environment that respects what you have to offer!!

Blee

[SharonH, RN]

Kim, if you think its bad on this board then your rose-colored glasses are going to be quite shattered once you start working in the real world. There's something about working in high-stress situations in which you are responsible for the lives of others that makes people a little terse, ya know? It's ironic that your instructor would refer to women as catty, that comment in and of itself is quite catty I think. You haven't seen men act that way, well if you just hang on you will. As far as thinking you are better than another person because of your educational level, I don't know what that's about but it seems that there is a lot of concern in this profession in making sure that certain members always keep humble, that bugs me. The minute you are perceived as stepping out of your place, there is resentment and grumbles from some quarters. That's unfortunate. If you can be proud of who you are, then you can draw your own conclusions from your experiences and a mere message board will not affect your viewpoint of nursing.

[SharonH, RN]

As for the doctors, perhaps we can learn a thing or two about the cohesiveness of their profession.

I know you meant that in a positive way in regards to respect but I would like to say that a lot of the cohesiveness among physicians often comes at the expense of others, in particular the healthcare consumer. As a group, physicians will protect their $$$ first. Case in point, their support for medical malpractice legislation. Second case in point, their support for anti advanced practice nurse legislation. So I can admire their respect for each other but I hope we nurses (as a group) do not become so concerned with our own needs that we neglect the very people we are supposed to be caring for. And as an aside, I doubt we will ever will become like that.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Kimmie - welcome to All Nurses. This is a place to share, vent, congratulate and commiserate with our fellow healthcare providers. We truly do welcome you. Many times we come here to be among folks with a common background, knowing that we have to some degree, been there, done that. Venting and asking for advice are two of our purposes for being here. I am sorry it seems like we are complaining too much. Sometimes we just don't have great shifts. As to cattyness among nurses - I've done other things too and its more an individual people thing versus a gender issue. I've met some catty guys too. Many of us love our young and/or new nurses and really like teaching them.

[minnib]

KimZ,

as my instructor use to say "Welcome to nursing", nursing is a trully wonderful career and yes you will have good days and bad and everything in between BUT if you really do love to take of people then all of that negativity will be just what it is "negativity"..all careers have it, life has it at times...i think as I get older I just accept some days it's just gonna' be like this!, my job, my life...but I will tell you this; nursing has helped me grow as a person, it has touched every facet of my life and I am examining some very important issues in my life b/c of the things I am exposed to in my nursing career..how many careers can you say that about? You decide yourself what you want to give as a nurse and what you want to take from this profession...WELCOME FRIEND AND FELLOW NURSE:cheers: