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 It is such an outdated notion.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.
Burnout nurse manifesto......yeah, that's it. Interesting fellow you are. I am trying to respect your opinions, I really am.
Well thank you, I just calls em as I sees em! Thanks for a thought provoking thread and I have had a great time debating it, aftermidnight and I worked 7a-7p today so I gues I will rack out, L8tr
Yes, some consider nursing a " calling" and I respect that. I believe many feel called to professions such as police work, military service, and nursing, as well as other professions that serve the public. Those who consider nursing a noble calling are often some of the best nurses around. I don't dispute that.
As for myself, I consider nursing a career, for which I deserve proper compensation as a professional, not just in pay--- but also in respect. Respect from doctors, administrators, nurse managers and yes, my patients/families; this respect should be a given for nursing as in any profession--- but often it is not. Therefore, on some level, I consider the "nurse as angel" stereotype threatening to my concept of nursing as a profession. But hey, that is just me. :)
I used to feel it was a calling, but now, this more acurately reflects my belief. Well said!
I don't think it was harsh at all....as I said, I have found that to be my experience. I don't think that even if someone works all the time, that that should be their "life". In order to have a healthy existence, one must have a life outside of their work. I personally, do not feel the need to get wrapped up in....or even a little involved in, my patients' lives.
Nursing is a career to me...NOT a calling! I do it because it allows me the flexibility to work and still have a life outside of work and extra time with MY family and friends (the ones that ACTUALLY mean something to me). Truth be told....once I walk out those unit doors at the end of the day, I couldn't care less what happens. I know I've done everything in my power for those patients and everything I was educated to do, while I was PAID to be there. I do it because the human body fascinates me...not because I feel this great need to be a "healer" . Give me a break!
So, is all this making me sound a little "hard"? It probably does, but guess what, that's ok with me. I put my "game face" on when I go to work. I'm paid to care for 12 hours and that's it! Once I'm done, I'm done.
It's a job, not a calling, not a lifestyle.
I'm there for 12 hours as well, and when I'm done, I'm done. I work with trauama patients. People like you and me who are minding our business one second and the next in a hospital all broken up. During those 12 hours, I manage your pain, I see you naked, help you poop, I talk to you, I care about you, I hear about your life, I'm interested. I work very hard. Sometimes I'm the hardest working person there. I want no reward or recognition or anyone to call me an "angel of mercy". It's just me.
You don't sound harsh, but for me personally I want to "bond" with my patients. Not just put in 12 hours and recieve a paycheck. Call me silly, while I have a very rich life, I want my work life to be the most fulfulling that it possibly can be. I did take some work home yesterday. I went through my personal book collection and shared them with one of my patients, who was bored and oh so greatful. He said everyone said they would bring him books, but I'm the one who remembered. Small rewards every day.
Can I have it all please?? A happy life outside of work and a happy life at work and not just counting down the hours and collecting a paycheck.
I'm there for 12 hours as well, and when I'm done, I'm done. I work with trauama patients. People like you and me who are minding our business one second and the next in a hospital all broken up. During those 12 hours, I manage your pain, I see you naked, help you poop, I talk to you, I care about you, I hear about your life, I'm interested. I work very hard. Sometimes I'm the hardest working person there. I want no reward or recognition or anyone to call me an "angel of mercy". It's just me.
You don't sound harsh, but for me personally I want to "bond" with my patients. Not just put in 12 hours and recieve a paycheck. Call me silly, while I have a very rich life, I want my work life to be the most fulfulling that it possibly can be. I did take some work home yesterday. I went through my personal book collection and shared them with one of my patients, who was bored and oh so greatful. He said everyone said they would bring him books, but I'm the one who remembered. Small rewards every day.
Can I have it all please?? A happy life outside of work and a happy life at work and not just counting down the hours and collecting a paycheck.
I'm no angel my no means.
Very nice post. You know I think being an Angel might be like being crazy, if you really are you probably don't know it. To the person who recieved the book you promised, you are a wonderful person and have made his/her life more tolerable, believe me coming from a bibliophile, this would gain you almost Saint status.
I also agree that we are able to have the best of both worlds, great working life and wonderful fulfilling home life.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I do love to "bond" with my patients, even the difficult ones. They are my supreme challenge, and most of the time I can "break through" on some level to them. However, I don't equate with providing superior, compassionate, tender care with being an Angel, and never will. All humans should be capable of compassion, anyhow. That I am living up to a code I set for myself LONG ago, does not make me an angel. Far from it.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
welp we can go round and round on this....let us agree to disagree. I am not one who has to have the last word, myself, so I leave the floor open. Have a great day everyone!
There are some truly nice people out there (specialy here in the south) that call me honey sweetie, etc and don't mean a thing negative by it...I catch myself doing it too and have gotten accustomed to it. BUT when they start overdoing....gushing 'angel' stuff its usually for manipulation's sake in my experience. And that goes right along with the self sacrificing nun theory of nursing IMO. Bleghh.
Whenever management starts this kind of talk (which is why I avoid Nurses Week like the plague) I know there's always a hook to it. We are a profession, treat us like professionals...that is really all I ask.
Our chaplain at my last facility was always sending nurses religious emails...referencing us to nuns, giving, self sacrifice, 'angels of mercy', etc the whole shebang. ALWAYS I caught the real message: which was meant to spur us on to be more: we were not quite angelic enough, we weren't 'good' or caring enough, specially if we asked for respect, set limits with patients, etc. I object to this type of manipulative stuff as well.
There are some truly nice people out there (specialy here in the south) that call me honey sweetie, etc and don't mean a thing negative by it...I catch myself doing it too and have gotten accustomed to it. BUT when they start overdoing....gushing 'angel' stuff its usually for manipulation's sake in my experience. And that goes right along with the self sacrificing nun theory of nursing IMO. Bleghh.
Whenever management starts this kind of talk (which is why I avoid Nurses Week like the plague) I know there's always a hook to it. We are a profession, treat us like professionals...that is really all I ask.
Our chaplain at my last facility was always sending nurses religious emails...referencing us to nuns, giving, self sacrifice, 'angels of mercy', etc the whole shebang. ALWAYS I caught the real message: which was meant to spur us on to be more: we were not quite angelic enough, we weren't 'good' or caring enough, specially if we asked for respect, set limits with patients, etc. I object to this type of manipulative stuff as well.
Yup. I agree. This angel of mercy archetype has lent way for much manipulation and scapegoating used by management, patients, docs and of course....fellow nurses. It's a screwed up measuring stick to use in sizing up who is the "better" nurse. BARF.
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
I catch myself using 'hon' too much, simply because the residents use it so much. I have to watch myself and not do that because my admin (heck my nursing professors told me to) it is not professional, and can be found offensive by some that feel you are in no position to call them something other than their first and last name.
I got written up one day by leaving a patients room and she overheard me say 'sweety'..but I wasn't talking to her, I was talking to someone that called me that in the hall. I told the story to admin, but they wouldn't budge and still wrote me up! OH well...not a battle I chose to fight tooth and nail about.
But it can get you if you aren't careful...and now I have basically put that into practice in regards to patients talking to me. I am your nurse, I do these things because it is my job and my profession, not because I am giving you special treatment or giving you something extra..it is my JOB to do this! They basically call me ___ the Nurse anyway..so I don't run into it much anymore. (I don't let residents call me by my first name alone, must be followed by nurse..because there are many folks with my name and that saves on confusion, and also it is a respect thing! I earned that title, and want them to remember I am not their friend or buddy, but their Nurse!).
There are some truly nice people out there (specialy here in the south) that call me honey sweetie, etc and don't mean a thing negative by it...I catch myself doing it too and have gotten accustomed to it. BUT when they start overdoing....gushing 'angel' stuff its usually for manipulation's sake in my experience. And that goes right along with the self sacrificing nun theory of nursing IMO. Bleghh.
Whenever management starts this kind of talk (which is why I avoid Nurses Week like the plague) I know there's always a hook to it. We are a profession, treat us like professionals...that is really all I ask.
Our chaplain at my last facility was always sending nurses religious emails...referencing us to nuns, giving, self sacrifice, 'angels of mercy', etc the whole shebang. ALWAYS I caught the real message: which was meant to spur us on to be more: we were not quite angelic enough, we weren't 'good' or caring enough, specially if we asked for respect, set limits with patients, etc. I object to this type of manipulative stuff as well.
I dunno...when sumbody tells me, "oh, ur an angel..." (accompanied w/ the batting of the eyelashes).. i cant help to grin and roll my eyes.... cuz im a witch who happens to be in this profession and wanted to be professional enuf to carry out my duties, and responsibilities...conscientiously and legally...
i dont think angels are having so much fun either...
witches do... ahihihihihihihi!!!! (eh? wer's my remote controlled broomstick?)
. Give me a break!
CCU NRS
1,245 Posts
Well thank you, I just calls em as I sees em! Thanks for a thought provoking thread and I have had a great time debating it, aftermidnight and I worked 7a-7p today so I gues I will rack out, L8tr