A New Prespective on the Nursing Profession

Published

:nurse:Recently I have been bummed about all the negativity in the nursing profession. I have vented my thought through this site about lateral violence, bad attitudes and the hardship of being a new grad. One evening, several nurse friends and I were griping about those same topics, however among us that evening was a psychologist. She stated that she has listened to us gripe and gripe and wondered if we wanted her scholarly opinion. Since gripping was getting us no where, we said sure. This is a basics of what she said....

"Nursing is a complex and diverse profession, there are nurse in pediatrics and onocology and surgey and home care and so on. There are nurses that are older and new and younger a new, younger and experienced, younger and inexperienced. There nurses that are christians, muslims, buddists and aetheist. There are nurses that are from the U.S. , from India, from England and so on. There are nurses that are LPN, RN ,ADN, BSN, MSN, etc. You are a very diverse group of professionals that are all grouped under the title of nurses. I'm I correct"

"20- 30 years ago was nursing that diverse? Probably not."

"The job of nursing has grown and changed over the years. But the professon has not. Nurses still must do the things that were standard 20 years ago. All those things that were considered paying your dues to the profession before you could be considered a nurse. The early morning classes, the having to work one or more years in acute care before moving into something more suitable, working hours that were potentially harmful to self and patients, the dealing with bad preceptors and nursing instructors, and living with the lateral violence."

" Nursing needs to embrace this diveristy, utililize it to it's fullest extent. Use the strong personal attributes of the diverse group of people to the fullest extent, instead of pigeon holeing them into the way things have always been done. Done that way for no reason other than that is the way it has always been done. Prehaps if that new grad is 'not getting it' on a the med/surg floor, she isn't suppose to. He/she is prehaps more suited to working in home care or surgery. Each area of nursing has it's own attritubes that work in that setting. Use the personal attributes to allow each nurse to be the best nurse that he/ she can be.

I had to sit back and think about that. Alison was right. Not everyone is going to be a great floor nurse or a great surgical nurse. That is one the greatest things about nursing. I have met surgical nurse who be horrid as pediatric nurses and peds nurses who just don't get geriatrics. There are nurses who couldn't write a scholarly article to save their jibs but are the most wonderful at adminstration. Each of us comes with our good and bad attributes. Utilize those attributes.

Those of us nurses, said 'you just can't change the old ways because you want to" Alison answered back with. "You all believe in evidence based practice. Then find the evidence. Do research. If the changes still don't come, then can you truly can't say your practice is not based on evidence. For example, You all complain about lateral violence. First of all that is also part of the human existance. It is the way females are taught and expected to act. I know many of you don't act that way, but it is inherent in the way females and those with female patterns act. Secondly, If you believe that lateral violence is a detriment, then prove it. Find those good at research and find how what effect lateral violence has on the work place, the burn-out rate of nurses, the drop out rate of new nurses, the effects on patients and patient's families. If there is a positive correlation between lateral violence and negative outcome, find away to change it. Use all the great education you have received. You know what they say, 'cure the symptoms and the problem still exists, cure the problem and it goes away'.

I find those to be great words of wisdom. Utilize the individual attributes of nurses to the fullest extent for both ourselves as nurses and as people. Do just settle for it because it has always been done that way. Take charge of our profession and make it a profession that we can all enjoy, excel at, and be proud of.:clown:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Interesting, but not really very helpful. If we use "Alison's" observations alone, certain nurses fail at nursing just because they are working in the wrong nursing setting and not because they have failed to master a general skill set, problem solve poorly, don't think critically, or don't actually like nursing.

I wonder how "Alison's" theory would weather if applied to her own profession, which is somewhat rigid and hide-bound in its own right but does allow easier access to flexibility in practice than nursing ever will.

(And how old is "Alison"? She seems to think that 20 years is an incalculably long time) :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Alison is 45 years old. She has her PhD in psychology and has been a practicing psychologist for over 20 years.

As as far as nurses not being able to the basic skill set or be good critical thinkers, that falls to our nursing education. If a person cannot master the basic skills, are poor problem solvers, can't use critical think or don't like being a nurse, then they shouldn't be a nurse. If they lack the skills in school they should be encourage to find something. It should not wait until after the person has graduated to be told you suck at this profession. Nursing is a big demans field right and many students are getting the pass because of the nursing shortage. If a person doesn't like the profession of nursing, then they are not being true to who they truly are and not are using the given personality attributes.

The basic skills of nursing are considered to be the gold standards, but I know of many a nurse who could not or would not know how to start an IV, insert a foley, or do a tube feeding (basic skills). There is one nurse that could not do any of these things, but her position requires her to be able to adjust pacemakers. Can you do that? I can do all those other things but pacemaker adjustments. Just as some nurses can grasp the concepts required to read heart monitor strips at an advance level, but could not get a restless child to sleep or change diaper.

You see that is the great thing about nursing. Nurses can take the basic skills learned in nursing school and shape them and mold them to suit who they are. Not take the nurse and shape them to what always has been.

Nursing needs to grow with the times. Nursing can be for anyone who believes that is who they are suppose to be. If inside a person is not a nurse, then they shouldn't be nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

All very nice and extremely idealistic. It takes movements within a mass of people to make those types changes and while people are trying to put food on the table, that is just not what goes down. The reason things are the way they are is because enough people who are in power buy into it, mostly because they are the ones who get to suppress others and get on their power trips. She is right to say that this is part of the human condition. Look at history,in when people get tired enough of something then they revolt, however, that usually only happens under extreme circumstances. As long as nurses can make a good enough living and are not getting physically beaten at work, they will continue to put up with the crap and destructive behaviors just like many other people do in their jobs in other professions. I am actually glad I changed my major once I got involved in nursing school; I realized that it's a very suppressive and caddy environment, especially becaus, it is run by women. By the way, I am a woman, so I can point that out in good faith. It's just a fact that women, especially when given power and reinforced by other women, are unbearably nasty and unfair...it's a shame!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

I agree with finding the evidence to prove, although we have enough evidence IN OUR FACE that it is almost a moot point.

It doesn't take into consideration the way women, in particular, are socialized. If we changed how women view each other and ourselves things would most certainly change. I see the majority of the problem as WOMEN....MY OWN gender....

I do agree some people can't ever be hands-on (I have a PROFESSOR RN friend who wrote a book in EKG interpretation and she would most certainly pass out at the first sight of blood, but she is a BRILLIANT THEORIST)...and those who couldn't tell you the rationale but can diffuse the most hostile of situations.

Fix the people who come into this profession...and you can probably fix the profession.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Alison is 45 years old. She has her PhD in psychology and has been a practicing psychologist for over 20 years.

Okay. So she's on par with many of us.

As as far as nurses not being able to the basic skill set or be good critical thinkers, that falls to our nursing education. If a person cannot master the basic skills, are poor problem solvers, can't use critical think or don't like being a nurse, then they shouldn't be a nurse.

Actually, these things are NOT the responsibility of nursing schools. Mastering a skill set comes with time and practice. Nursing programs have only enough time to introduce tasks and concepts and try to engender familiarity with them. Problem solving, applying critical thinking and determining if nursing truly is what we want to do also comes with time spent working in the field.

If they lack the skills in school they should be encourage to find something. It should not wait until after the person has graduated to be told you suck at this profession.

It will not be known for some time whether a nursing student "sucks" at the profession or not. To my mind, we all sucked pretty badly in school and immediately afterward, and expecting new grads to function as fully-realized nurses is an immensely unrealistic thing to do.

Nursing is a big demans field right and many students are getting the pass because of the nursing shortage.

Only if you buy into the hype that training programs want you to believe.

If a person doesn't like the profession of nursing, then they are not being true to who they truly are and not are using the given personality attributes.

But they don't necessarily realize that yet, IF that is truly the problem.

The basic skills of nursing are considered to be the gold standards, but I know of many a nurse who could not or would not know how to start an IV, insert a foley, or do a tube feeding (basic skills). There is one nurse that could not do any of these things, but her position requires her to be able to adjust pacemakers. Can you do that? I can do all those other things but pacemaker adjustments. Just as some nurses can grasp the concepts required to read heart monitor strips at an advance level, but could not get a restless child to sleep or change diaper.

Like it or not, agree with it or not, there are essential skills inherent to every profession that must be mastered before one can practice. Ask Alison what the entry practice standards and expectations of her profession are, and how far she'd have gotten if she had been unable to meet them.

BTW, we need to examine what nursing's "basic skills" really are. Starting an IV was not a core proficiency when I went to nursing school, and I think that is still the case. I didn't learn to do it until years after graduation. I don't see it as a basic nursing skill, really.

Furthermore, the ability to "adjust" pacemakers or change diapers is immaterial to core nursing tasks--the things we are all expected to know about and perform. Different nurses will be drawn to different specialties. There's no secret in that. The riddle of the sphinx has not been solved.

You see that is the great thing about nursing. Nurses can take the basic skills learned in nursing school and shape them and mold them to suit who they are. Not take the nurse and shape them to what always has been. Nursing needs to grow with the times. Nursing can be for anyone who believes that is who they are suppose to be. If inside a person is not a nurse, then they shouldn't be nurse.

But we cannot pick and choose those basic skills we are good at and like doing and ignore the rest, especially right out of nursing school. There are parts of nursing practice that are what has always been and will remain so because that part of the job and need for those skills still exists. And there are parts of nursing practice that are radically different from what was, even as long as twenty years ago... I'm sorry, but I can't help laughing out loud at that perception :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
...paraphrasing a psychologist friend:

"Nursing is a complex and diverse profession, there are nurse in pediatrics and onocology and surgey and home care and so on. There are nurses that are older and new and younger a new, younger and experienced, younger and inexperienced. There nurses that are christians, muslims, buddists and aetheist. There are nurses that are from the U.S. , from India, from England and so on. There are nurses that are LPN, RN ,ADN, BSN, MSN, etc. You are a very diverse group of professionals that are all grouped under the title of nurses. I'm I correct"

"20- 30 years ago was nursing that diverse? Probably not."

What kind of nonsense is that? Was nursing that diverse 20-30 years ago? Of course it was.

I'm thinking that you friend likes her theory a great deal. I call it the "Miss Ann Elk Syndrome.*"

*after the Monty Python sketch, in which Miss Ann Elk explains her theory about the dinosaurs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Department.

As a guy about to be an RN in two weeks (hopefully), I really enjoyed reading this post.

Finally I am able read a brief post as to why you female nurses seem to rant and rave at each other constantly here at All Nurses.com. I have often read various posts on this website just to get a feel of what to expect when I start working part time as a new RN.

As a firefighter / paramedic, I mainly work with males, and while we also have our disagreements, I believe we are less emotional and resolve the issue in question sooner than most females.

Just to be safe, I think I'll go purchase one of those neat shark chain suits and wear under my scrubs just to keep the claw marks to a minimum.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
As a guy about to be an RN in two weeks (hopefully), I really enjoyed reading this post.

Finally I am able read a brief post as to why you female nurses seem to rant and rave at each other constantly here at All Nurses.com. I have often read various posts on this website just to get a feel of what to expect when I start working part time as a new RN.

As a firefighter / paramedic, I mainly work with males, and while we also have our disagreements, I believe we are less emotional and resolve the issue in question sooner than most females.

Just to be safe, I think I'll go purchase one of those neat shark chain suits and wear under my scrubs just to keep the claw marks to a minimum.

You're a guy, so it probably won't get directed toward you very much. Seriously.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
As a guy about to be an RN in two weeks (hopefully), I really enjoyed reading this post.

Finally I am able read a brief post as to why you female nurses seem to rant and rave at each other constantly here at All Nurses.com. I have often read various posts on this website just to get a feel of what to expect when I start working part time as a new RN.

As a firefighter / paramedic, I mainly work with males, and while we also have our disagreements, I believe we are less emotional and resolve the issue in question sooner than most females.

Just to be safe, I think I'll go purchase one of those neat shark chain suits and wear under my scrubs just to keep the claw marks to a minimum.

Which is precisely why working with males is a whole lot easier.

Honestly, I cannot stand working with a bunch of women. I am as forthright as can be, and solidly NOT passive-aggressive, but women can't handle it.

Wish there were more males in this profession........

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Which is precisely why working with males is a whole lot easier.

Honestly, I cannot stand working with a bunch of women. I am as forthright as can be, and solidly NOT passive-aggressive, but women can't handle it.

Wish there were more males in this profession........

OMG you've found the problem and solved it all in the same sentence. LOL... Women process problems differently. Prima donnas or divas have to have attention. They get that attention by talking all the time. As my dad used to say. "Some people wouldn't be happy if you hung them with a new rope." :mad:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
All very nice and extremely idealistic. It takes movements within a mass of people to make those types changes and while people are trying to put food on the table, that is just not what goes down. The reason things are the way they are is because enough people who are in power buy into it, mostly because they are the ones who get to suppress others and get on their power trips. She is right to say that this is part of the human condition. Look at history,in when people get tired enough of something then they revolt, however, that usually only happens under extreme circumstances. As long as nurses can make a good enough living and are not getting physically beaten at work, they will continue to put up with the crap and destructive behaviors just like many other people do in their jobs in other professions.:up:

Agree with above. And, frankly, I think only a nurse can really understand the dynamics occuring in the field. As a psych nurse, I listen to folks all day. But I don't ever kid myself that I REALLY understand what it's like to live in the skin of the person I'm listening to. I'm fine with your friend giving her opinions, and they're definitely worth thinking about. I may give suggestions to the person I'm talking with. But my suggestions may be unworkable, or unworkable at the moment, for that person, or may show that I just don't get it. The comments about evidence based practice facilitating change in the environment show she doesn't get it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion