Are you ashamed of being a nurse?

Nurses Career Support

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Hi everyone. Please respond and offer feedback on whether you are ashamed of or embarrassed about being a nurse; becoming a nurse; or considering nursing as a career. If you are ashamed or embarrassed, why? If not, why not?

To all of you out there who have said they are ashamed,

Consider...do you work WITH your fellow nurses, understanding the "bigger picture", and come to the table with suggestions, not just gripes??? Or is it each nurse for him/herself???(and I don't mean gang up on administration with your gripes, either)

Consider....you are seeing only the "perks" of corporate America, and not the politics and problems that all jobs have (as a nurse working in corporate America I can tell you that the grass is not necessarily greener out here)

Consider....do you fly from one job to another, instead of trying to make an impact on where you work?

Consider....do you consider Nursing your "profession" or just a job or a career?

Consider...do you ask the right questions and do the research BEFORE you take a job, to see if the situation is right for you, the right staffing mix, the right nursing administration support, the right respect for nursing by the physician community, or do you just take a job because the money, hours and benefits are right, and some recruiter told you things were rosy?

Consider.....can you further your education to get where you would like in nursing, but you just don't care to?

Consider....do you belong to your state nursing association or the ANA to work to have your voice heard? (It's not someone else's job to "fix" things in nursing, it's the job of ALL of us).

All of these are things that you can do to SUPPORT nursing

instead of just putting up with it and complaining. It's time nurses worked together to make a change, and I'm not talking collective bargaining. Can't all of us who went into nursing because they have a committment to caring as well as the science, and want to make sure it reaches professional status, grows and becomes what it was can be for clients everywhere, work together to make a change???

They say teams can meet more goals than individuals alone. I think, as hard as it is to say, that maybe "biting the bullet" to make entry level a BS degree might go a long way to promoting the professionalism necessary to get a start on the problems of nursing. There was an intangible something that I received, as well as most of my classmates, simply by making the committment and working to complete our BSN over the last couple of years. Something I didn't get in my generic diploma program or during the subsequent 28 years I have been nursing (as you can tell, I'm no "spring chicken"). A professional committment, an understanding of what leadership means in nursing, and a better understanding of some of the key issues facing nursing today. I am a better nurse and professional for it. I am in it for NURSING, not just for myself, now.

Nursing's problem is not treating itself professionally first, so how can any other profession take it seriously?? It's no wonder business and medical professionals alike run roughtrod over us. As soon as we get OUR act together, maybe we WILL be given the respect we deserve, if not, we can TAKE it, and so many others will see us as a profession worthy of their respect, and possibly even become their own profession.

You may or may not agree, but I just had to opine on this one,

NH RN, CMC

Virginia

Well said RNCountry.

Originally posted by Roberto

I feel no pride in being a nurse. I look at it as a job and nothing more. ....

You sure get around. I've met you lots of times. When you're taking care of my loved ones, I don't stray far from the bedside. Why? Your technical skills don't mean squat if you're too burned out to realize the enormity of what's been entrusted to you. Go take some accounting courses or something.

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." -- Leonardo DaVinci:p

Specializes in ortho and paeds.

I had a fair idea what I was getting myself in for when I started this course (Ba. nursing) I dont want to get into it cos I think I'll get respect or good money. Its cos of what you do. Nothin but respect for nurses worldwide.

I have been a nurse since 1979. started as a LPN and then an RN. I find that the men are progressing a lot faster than the female nurses. Also the mentality in nursing is also changing with the increase of male nurses. at this time i am not sure that is good or bad. Nursing is tough,but can be very rewarding.

Hello everyone, this is my first experience with chat rooms, I always thought they were for lonely people and perverts! (Just kidding). Anyway, I needed to participate in either a professional nursing meeting or a nursing chat room for an assignment in one of my classes (I am a first semester student in a two-year RN program). I chose the chat option since I have two young children and very little time to pee much less attend any meetings right now! I am very happy that I did this, to make a long story much shorter, it is so great to see the different opinions of RNs, LPNs, students, males, females, etc. I am happy to see that many of you still have hope for the profession and that you are proud of what you do (as you should always be). I realize that I am joining the profession at a time when there is a lot of opportunity but also a lot of turmoil and I commend all of you for sticking with it. I don't know much about the politics yet and I am sure I will encounter people that may make me want to quit but I have hope that for the most part, nurses will remember that we're all in this together and go easy on each other.

Thanks!

I recently saw a survey somewhere and it showed nurses very high on the list of professions that people trust the most. What a wonderful honor that is. Of course I'm proud to be a nurse.

I work in home health/hospice in the rural south. When I show up at a home I am treated with such respect and gratefulness. No, my days are not always perfect and I get pretty stressed out but I am proud to be a nurse and feel like I do make a difference.

Think about this, are you the one that every relative and acquaintance calls when they have a health crisis? Of course you are. Overall people respect nurses and turn to us in times of need because they respect our knowledge, our empathy and our ability to deal with all disciplines of the health care profession.

Ann

It seem to me that being a nurse should make a person proud, not just for all the obvious reasons, but also because of the growing shortage of nurses. Nurses are the few and the mighty!

Yup,me too. Really happy to have chosen this profession. After almost 20 years at one institution (in the ICU!) I keep coming back to work, on my weekends off from the corporate job! Why? Because it is so refreshing to have patients and their families say," Thanks so much for your care." I tell them, "If I was sick, I would wish for the same care I am giving you." I hope that I get that lucky. We need to encourage others to join this very wonderful profession. Yes, we clean up ppop. But we also look at the 'big picture' and evaluate, assess and initiate care that would be lacking if we were not there. And to think that my parents pushed me into this profession. It is great. Thank God for Johnson and Johnson who have taken a public stand to speak up for us!!!

ashamed- hell no! getting my nursing degree has been my biggest accomplishment...

Originally posted by bunky

I am proud to be a nurse. I don't always feel good about the job due to short staffing but when people ask me what I do, I am proud to say I am an RN.

Same here.

I am proud to be a nurse.........always am, and always will be. :nurse:

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