Agism in nursing?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 28, 2016

How old is "older"?

Is there a field where you don't need to be concerned with ageism?

A sixty year old nurse who has been working continuously for forty years is at the top of the pay scale. A sixty year old nurse just graduating from nursing school is at the bottom of the pay scale. The nurses experiencing the most ageism are those expensive nurses who can be driven away or let go in favor of hiring less expensive nurses.

Zooey72 · Oct 28, 2016

I have grown tired of the 'isms' in society. It seems like everyone wants to scream 'victim', and whoever screams it loud enough wins. I am an older male who just started nursing school. Nobody has stopped me from doing anything except me. I control my own fate, and if I fail, I fail, if I succeed than I succeed. I don't get invited to keggers with my nursing co-students, and who cares.

I don't even count the example of the older nurse who they are looking to let go as being ageism, if anything that is experiencism. I am sure they would be more than willing to keep her on if she took the pay of someone with less experience (I am not saying that is right, what I am saying is that her age has nothing to do it).

At any rate, just because I am a guy I am not going to blame my failures (or contribute my successes to) having different genitalia, or having been on this planet more times around the sun than some other people. One of my favorite quotes is:

"You must either conquer and rule

or serve and lose, suffer or triumph,

be either the anvil or the hammer" - Goethe

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 29, 2016

I have grown tired of the 'isms' in society. It seems like everyone wants to scream 'victim', and whoever screams it loud enough wins. I am an older male who just started nursing school. Nobody has stopped me from doing anything except me. I control my own fate, and if I fail, I fail, if I succeed than I succeed. I don't get invited to keggers with my nursing co-students, and who cares.
I don't even count the example of the older nurse who they are looking to let go as being ageism, if anything that is experiencism. I am sure they would be more than willing to keep her on if she took the pay of someone with less experience (I am not saying that is right, what I am saying is that her age has nothing to do it).
At any rate, just because I am a guy I am not going to blame my failures (or contribute my successes to) having different genitalia, or having been on this planet more times around the sun than some other people. One of my favorite quotes is:
"You must either conquer and rule
or serve and lose, suffer or triumph,
be either the anvil or the hammer" - Goethe

How interesting. A man is tired of "isms." Haven't suffered any racism? As a white male, you're in the most privileged class in the world. Of course you're "tired of isms."

TuesdaysChild · Oct 29, 2016

I have grown tired of the 'isms' in society. It seems like everyone wants to scream 'victim', and whoever screams it loud enough wins. I am an older male who just started nursing school. Nobody has stopped me from doing anything except me. I control my own fate, and if I fail, I fail, if I succeed than I succeed. I don't get invited to keggers with my nursing co-students, and who cares.
I don't even count the example of the older nurse who they are looking to let go as being ageism, if anything that is experiencism. I am sure they would be more than willing to keep her on if she took the pay of someone with less experience (I am not saying that is right, what I am saying is that her age has nothing to do it).
At any rate, just because I am a guy I am not going to blame my failures (or contribute my successes to) having different genitalia, or having been on this planet more times around the sun than some other people. One of my favorite quotes is:
"You must either conquer and rule
or serve and lose, suffer or triumph,
be either the anvil or the hammer" - Goethe

As someone who has worked on many EEOC employment cases, I can say there's clear evidence of "isms" out in the workforce giving some an unfair advantage over others (ageism, sexism, racism, nepotism, etc). It's definitely true that some people are just looking for an easy settlement and claiming discrimination in some way or another. But for every frivolous claim, there's a good two or three that are legitimate (and even egregious).

Personally, I've never experienced any barriers due to gender or being paid less than male counterparts. Then again, I work in a field that is overwhelmingly female (and we work autonomously). But it took me some time to realize that my experiences are not everyone else's experiences. For some time I also felt the way you do and thought a lot of complaints had little to no merit. Turns out, it was just hubris on my part. Just sayin :whistling:

It might do you well to look into Intersectionality.

caliotter3 · Oct 29, 2016

If you are sixty years old, you are sixty years old. Don't be surprised if you are treated as such. FWIW, I faced age discrimination when I was 42 and have dealt with that kind of treatment ever since. There is no way I am going to return to 22, so I just have to put up with it.

Zooey72 · Oct 29, 2016

I love the fact you suppose things about me. I never mentioned my race, but you assumed I was white. Maybe I am, maybe I am not; but what I will tell you is that my sister is black. (not that it should matter, but it does to people like you)

Thankfully, my sister and I grew up with parents smart enough not to raise their kids with "isms".

You are looking for an "ism" excuse for any failure you have. You need to grow up and be a person, instead of longing to be a victim. Or to put it another way, be an adult.

I honestly don't care about any specific thing about you, you could be an orange Eskimo from Timbuctoo. You prefer excuses to results, and THAT is what defines you.

Zooey72 · Oct 29, 2016

And you are correct about that. I was given points getting into nursing school because of my member and my age, and that is clearly wrong. I am an "A" student, and did not need (and I resent) any special treatment I was given.

I do think it is funny though that the poster who wanted to complain about my 'white male privilege" did it in the context of a prof. that is ran and dominated by women. She is clearly a good example of my point, because she is screaming "Victim" at the top of her lungs to the point it drowns out any rational thought.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2016

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...yes, ageism is a concern in the nursing profession.

For example, my former manager once told me during an off-grid chat that, "we prefer hiring younger nurses because they take direction more easily. We can train them the way we want."

This same manager said, "Older nurses are argumentative and more difficult to deal with. They are more set in their ways."

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 29, 2016

As someone who has worked on many EEOC employment cases, I can say there's clear evidence of "isms" out in the workforce giving some an unfair advantage over others (ageism, sexism, racism, nepotism, etc). It's definitely true that some people are just looking for an easy settlement and claiming discrimination in some way or another. But for every frivolous claim, there's a good two or three that are legitimate (and even egregious).
Personally, I've never experienced any barriers due to gender or being paid less than male counterparts. Then again, I work in a field that is overwhelmingly female (and we work autonomously). But it took me some time to realize that my experiences are not everyone else's experiences. For some time I also felt the way you do and thought a lot of complaints had little to no merit. Turns out, it was just hubris on my part. Just sayin
It might do you well to look into Intersectionality.

As a female nurse who has been married to two male nurses (not at the same time), and having had free access to their paycheck stubs, I can attest that male nurses do make more per hour than female nurses. I, having had more education and experience than either of them, was paid the exact same hourly rate as my ex, and he received pay raises earlier (and larger) than mine even then we were supposedly going by a "pay grid" that applied equally to everyone.

My DH and I were hired at the same institution on the same day in the same unit, and he was offered the same pay as me, even though I had additional 5 years of experience, (both total and in the s pecialty), considerably more education and had been published in our specialty. At hire, they listed five hoops that we needed to jump through in order to be promoted from Level I to Level II nurses (or whatever their language entailed) and receive a 5% increase. I jumped through the hoops and he not only did NOT jump through the hoops but declared that he wasn't going to because it was stupid. He got the raise and the promotion. I did not.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 29, 2016

I love the fact you suppose things about me. I never mentioned my race, but you assumed I was white. Maybe I am, maybe I am not; but what I will tell you is that my sister is black. (not that it should matter, but it does to people like you)
Thankfully, my sister and I grew up with parents smart enough not to raise their kids with "isms".
You are looking for an "ism" excuse for any failure you have. You need to grow up and be a person, instead of longing to be a victim. Or to put it another way, be an adult.
I honestly don't care about any specific thing about you, you could be an orange Eskimo from Timbuctoo. You prefer excuses to results, and THAT is what defines you.

Well, you've made a lot of assumptions about me there, haven't you. And the "people like you" comment was particularly classy.

Zooey72 · Oct 29, 2016

Well, you've made a lot of assumptions about me there, haven't you. And the "people like you" comment was particularly classy.

In the context of our posts, I think you know very well what "people like you are". My skin pigmentation became less of a factor when I met some kind of insane criteria 'people like you' believe in since my sister is black.

I fail to see what 'ism' you are trying to accuse me of, but like all victims I am sure I am guilty of something (at least in your mind). The only discriminating post here has been yours 'calling out' my white male privilege.

As far as anecdotal evidence goes, everyone has a story. A friend of mine who is younger and gay thought he was being persecuted when I helped him shop for a new T.V. (I know something about it, and wanted my help). The salesmen always approached me first no matter what store we went into. This horrible persecution had nothing to do with his sexuality, it had to do that I was older and probably had the money to buy more.

But he wanted to find a boogey man, and he found it.

As far as your husband getting a promotion and not you; did it ever occur to you that if what you are saying is 100% true the reason they may have promoted him and not you would be to meet some idiotic criteria since nursing is dominated by women?