Did ya catch the article in July AJN called "I'm No Angel" written by Margaret C. Belchers MSN, RN, CCRN ? Alot of follow-up opinions in this October issue as well. If you read it....what's your opinion?
She sure gets bashed for the article in follow-ups. I agree with her totally. I smile and cringe when I get called an angel. Sorry folks. I'd take solid, reality-based praise like "You are so competent" or "You are so smart" or "I trust my family member in your hands because you are so knowledgeable" over being an "angel" any day of the week. It is such an outdated notion. So Florence Nightengale-ish. We've come along way baby. It takes away from what we really are doing as nurses and what we are capable of, and how much responsibility we carry. Nice yes, caring yes, compassionate yes....but here on earth as a fellow HUMAN BEINGS....not magical angels. YUCK. EEK. SAPPY. This to me is not bad to feel this way. It is not a gruff, old, burnt-out nurse attitude. To me it is enriching thought and a foundation for a more pleasing and rewarding career platform for the future. We all need to work towards eliminating the Doctor=God and Nurse=Angel mentality built in to this profession. It is a dysfunctional illness that only serves to make us loosen our grasp on reality and to minimize our true worth. It makes for poor doc/nurse relationships. Our patients see us as pillow-fluffing angels of the past...as if the docs are in the hall 24/7 handling every ticking moment. And we, as nurses are OK with that? Feel good and valued about that? Public education....long overdue. But to get the right message out, we have to LIVE the part. EDUCATED NURSE. NOT ANGEL. I am a good nurse and that is what is necessary to do a good job. (Besides, wings and halos tend to get all tangled up in privacy curtains) Tell me i'm thoughtful, sweet, caring...just don't put me on the Angel pedestal.
Thanks for this hour of your life. I will step off of my soapbox now.
This thread reminds me of the school I chose to get my RN to BSN. "The practice and teaching of nursing is a calling to exercise God's gifts in a life of service to humanity." Should be interesting. :)
I feel its just a compliment not to be taken literally!!!!!! Lets face it, ppl today rarely stop to help one another. Its just a compliment to thank you for doing something for them... ITS NOT LIKE YOUR WEARING A HALO...:chuckle
This thread reminds me of the school I chose to get my RN to BSN. "The practice and teaching of nursing is a calling to exercise God's gifts in a life of service to humanity." Should be interesting. :)
This is listed as their mission statement?
Hmmm correct me but you are agnostic(fence straddle)atheist if I remember from the other thread. So how do you feel this is going to fit into your philosophical scale?
I personally went into nursing for the hospital food discount...
Yep gotta love the bland cold tasteless food you can get at jacked up then reduced prices :chuckle LOL
oh and to snag me a doctor....
And this one is gonna make you the bell of the ball after we were just crucifying Dr. Phil for his comments a couple of weeks ago!!!! :rotfl: :roll :roll :roll :roll :rotfl:
wow. took me all day off and on here at work but i read the whole thread!
i am weighing in agreeing with ccu nrs about his impression regarding the original article (and a few others - mermaid, etc.) i think everything has been well-stated by all sides and i've enjoyed reading the posts.
and i'd like to say that this is why i think a one size fits all answer to the problems facing nursing is impossible.
steph
my feeling on this ongoing thread is that the original point has been derailed....it has been misinterpretated to an erroneous misconcept that by being called "angel" or "honey dear", for that matter is the point....which it is not. it is about the everlasting concept that nurses are angels of god called to the position. i would never jump to the conclusion that if a patient called me angel that it was in reference to this myth....many people just use the word as a term of endearment. but i do stand by my statement that the old 'angel of god myth' is alive and well in a large majority of the minds of the general population as to what a nurse is. i lost interest in the thread when the topic of conversation became built around 'terms of endearment'...and not the larger concept originally intended to discuss.
Ok as a nursing stereotype that all nurses are called I will say, that anyone who buys that stereotype is sadly mistaken. We are not all called. Some are called however and that still doesn't make them Angels either.
I took opposition to the fact if a nurse does feel like nursing was a calling then they are somehow automatically seen as the right hand of God.
Okay so here we go some are called, some are not, some choose nursing as a purely tolerable occupation that will pay the bills and offer flexible hours while not being dependant upon tips. Which some of the professions that make tips make more under the table (literally) than we do above board but I digress. So that being said I still find it entirely difficult to beleive that there are very many (notice I am allowing there are a few) that really see nurses as stereotypical comforters just there to offer a prayer before dying(oops different thread LOL)or to be customer service reps as it were for God. I know that in this age of Information highway, almost everybody that steps intoa hospital has at least one family member that has done a thorough research and enters the situation believing they know all there is to know about the surgery, procedure, test, diagnostic, etc. that Aunt May, or uncle Tom or Gramma or Dad is about to undergo, so if there are those out there that beleive that we are or at least were of a time when God chose us and sent us to deliver his message to the ailing they have been set straight by Jr. the PC whiz that can find any and all info on whatever the subject may be and will set them staright that the nurse is just another person that is liable and open to lawsuit if and when they make a fatal error.
One of the things that bothered me is the idea that those nurses who HAVE felt a calling to be a nurse are slapped with stereotypes too .. .. .which is what people are complaining about regarding the "angel" stereotype. Seems the stereotypes fly fast and furious . . .
People are saying that "called" nurses are so busy with shining their halos that they are incompetent nurses.
There are individual nurses of all sorts who came into nursing for all kinds of reasons who are incompetent. Just as there are competent nurses.
I did not feel a calling to be a nurse. I have always felt something, who knows what it really is, to be in a profession where I could be of service/help to others. I started out majoring in Social Work long long time ago :)
I got married, decided my role was to stay home and raise my kids. I was looking for something to do here in my rural town and saw an ad for an EMT course. Discussing it one night with a friend who is a CRNA, he said "why don't you go to nursing school and become an RN?". I had never even considered it. I had most of my pre-reqs done due to my earlier college experience. I just did it. Looking back, I cannot remember any lightening bolt from the sky that illuminated the issue for me.
Now I was not called but that doesn't mean I don't get great satisfaction from being a nurse. And I do actually think about my patients after I leave work. I am glad that I do something that takes the focus off myself and onto others. It is one of the things my husband and I try to teach our children. It is amazing how much better you feel when you reach out to people and take your eyes off yourself for a little while.
However, I also made a decision that I would not sacrifice my family for my job. I turn down most offers of extra days of work and only work part-time. I also go to the bathroom on a regular basis, take my lunch break and other breaks and rarely have to work overtime.
The stereotypes of who does what based on whether they felt they were called or not need to stop.
I'm not an angel of God but the OP's article definitely left the impression that she didn't care for being called "angel" by patients.
And I call my elderly patients honey, sweetie and dear . .. . I'm ready for JHACO though .. I'll just say the patient is my grandma or grandpa and in this small town the odds are high that I'm related to them somehow. :)
I compleltly see your point I explained somewhere that I feel called but I explained the circumstances and there are probably many that think I should not take this as a calling but I feel it and that is what matters. My wife is also a nurse and she does not say she feels a calling but she states that she knew she had to do something that was in a capacity of helping people and Nursing was the choice that seemed the most likely, available and in her path at the time she was looking. I see this as a calling. That is just me! She also met me in nursing school so she got double bonus for her time LOL! But seriously I also beleive we were meant to be together even now when I am drinking and she is pissed at me. So go figure!
Hmmm correct me but you are agnostic(fence straddle)atheist if I remember from the other thread. So how do you feel this is going to fit into your philosophical scale?
Yes it is. They are a private school affliated with the 7th Day Adventist Church. Their cirriculum fits into what I'm looking for in a school, 100% online, no clincals, and NLN approved.
I did call myself agnostic/atheist, because I am in a weird place right now. The hunger always stays.
I don't think I'm going to be bothered by the Christianity and the mission. Since it teaches nursing and not Bible study, I'll be comfortable with it I hope. I was a devout Christian for many years, only the last 3 or 4 years have moved other spiritual directions, but I still embrace many of Christ's philosophies, if that makes any sense. I am adamantly against religion in any form being used in government agencies or influencing the law, and I've been burned by many a "Christian" in my life, and the self-righteousness of a very few Christians irritates me. But believe it or not I'm not against Christianity and it's teachings. (please don't tell anyone on "current events", it will ruin my rep. :rotfl: )
But yes, the we are Angels of Mercy and God's ministers on Earth is alive and well, and not a "myth" is some people's eyes. I need to be very respectful of others beliefs in this matter.
I recently got a flyer from a mail-order/online order company that sells nursing stuff and I was amazed by the number of nurse-as-an-angel stuff in there.
during one of many down turns in economy i was w/o a job, a single mom and office work was near imossible to find...so i determined to find something that the employers were anxious to hire...ergo i went back to school [kicking and screaming] and i became a lpn
funny thing happen .. i am good at what i do and most days i enjoy working...
if they throw in a halo along with a paycheck i say YIPPIE
JVanRN
406 Posts
I personally went into nursing for the hospital food discount...