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 It is such an outdated notion.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.
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?)
You make an interesting point... when you say you are a witch I assume you mean Wiccan? So are you offended when called an Angel?
Also do you feel like you were called to be a nurse?
You know I think some people put too much emphasis on religion being tied to being called. From my previous posts I guess most people think I am very religious because I say I feel Nursing is my calling. I am not however overly religious, by no means a zealot. I beleive in a higher power, I don't mind if some call it God I don't mind if some call it The Mother. I just feel that the world has a consciousness beyond what mere mortals share. I feel that death makes our souls or entity whatever you wish to call it part of the Universal consciouness. I don't necessarily believe that the Higher Power is one entity but perhaps the Universal consciouness. I beleive that The historical period BC may have seen many things that were coined miracles, simply because There were fewer souls sharing the Universal consciousness and thereby some of the more attuned or enlightened Human beings were able to harness more of that power or perhaps it was directed more accurately to certain people. The time of Christ is widely documented however accurately we will never know. Angels and Demons and God and Devil were good and evil. The simplest terms in which people knew to label them.
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.
Thanks, when I reread my post it sounded like I was a bit full of myself. I had juust got off one of those good shifts where I worked my butt off but felt good about what I accomplished.
You make an interesting point... when you say you are a witch I assume you mean Wiccan? So are you offended when called an Angel?
Also do you feel like you were called to be a nurse?
hmmm.... m not offended to be called and angel... i think i jus find the word, angel overused when applied to nurses... a calling? actually, my mum dragged me to take this nrsg cuz i was jus always having fun and i would say had too much fun as a Communication Arts stude.. cuz u have to be always out ther...to be fascinated..
but sumhow m glad my mum forced and threatened me to take up nursing cuz i found more fascination getting involved with what's basically happenin insyd us ...i find th dz process to be amazing.. d bodily responses are wonderfully wicked..and proven ideas that we can do sumthing about it is astonishing!!
but still, ther's a HIgher Influence wc governs these things - i believe in that..
Its jus that i believe there is nothing so divine about being a nurse..its jus a profession, a career.. whatever ur job is, it becomes divine if it comes from the heart and u believe beyond..
Just a thought , if it is a calling would you do it for free ? Or even just for basic needs , like housing , food and a small stipend for clothing and such ?
Specializes in Neurology, Neurosurgerical & Trauma ICU.
Just a thought , if it is a calling would you do it for free ? Or even just for basic needs , like housing , food and a small stipend for clothing and such ?
Just a thought , if it is a calling would you do it for free ? Or even just for basic needs , like housing , food and a small stipend for clothing and such ?
I didn't say I was a priest. If you happened to see my previous post i replied that I also demand all of the things Smiling listed, good wage, benefits, respect from doctors, Managers, Pts and families. I think people that don't feel like they had a calling may think that those of us that do consider it a calling may be thinking along to much of religious lines.
Here is my story condensed version and the reason I felt like nursing was what I was meant to do.
At 16 I dated a girl who had a brother that was quadriplegic. By circumstances, she asked me to help her get him to his W/C one time when his aid didn't show. I ended up talking to the guy I liked him he like me I ended up working for him as his personal aid for 6 years (btw I got paid). Circumstances changed and he had his own brother take over his care and I kicked around the oil field for about 7-8 years. During that time my own brother had a MVA and you guessed it broke his neck and became a quad. I decided that the best way I could help him and learn about his situation and eventually care for him was to become a nurse. It was a sudden and unexpected event that in retrospect I had to some extent been prepared for by my past experience. I din't recieve any glaring sign from God but I felt that becoming a nurse would give me insight into my brothers situation, teach me to take care of him and provide me with good long term employability with good pay and the opportunity to assist my own brother with his hardship. You may not see this a a calling but I do. My brother died in 2001 and I have also lost my father in 2003. COPD CA Lungs mets, I felt at that time that I had been meant to be in the place that I was in as a nurse in order to help my mother understand the things that were happening. I also feel that if I hadn't been educated as a nurse I may have been hurt much more and possibly gone into self detrsuct mode with these occurances, so I feel that was also part of the plan for my life. Not to mention I actually met my wife in nursing school, so I feel my entire life was structured by this one decsion, a decision that just sort of fell in my lap from nowhere. I had never planned to do anything but be a bachelor and work labor jobs and party when I was 28. At 29 I found myself in nursing school because of something my father said to me. He said The way you are living isn't good for you and will not last as long as you think it will, I will not be here forever and before I die I would like to know you have a good career that will be something you can do forever. When I thought about something that would last forever a light went on and I remembered taking care of the young quadriplegic and the only thing I could think of doing was becoming a nurse.
I think thats nuts..An angel to most people simply means that you are someone who assists them technically, emotionally, physically and especially in a time of need when they are feeling vulnerable. I have no problem with being called an angel because it doesn't mean I am anything less or anything more than the wonderful, caring, competent and confident nurse I am. It to me has nothing to do with religion, a putdown, a stereotype or anything other than one person relating their admiration and or confidence in a nurses care, compassion and confidence. Period. But, certainly an interesting albeit a bit defensive IMHO viewpoint from the other side of it.
Just because something "is a calling" doesn't necessarily mean you do it pro bono or for no benefits any more than a classical pianist or dancer who "knows" or "lives" for his or her talent would...Some people simply want to minister assistance to others and the vehicle is nursing. Being called an angel or like word doesn't diminish or demean nursing in any way, shape or form and I have no need to "protect" or "promote" myself to the degree that I feel uncomfortable with that.
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.
why, that is lovely, tweety. i'm serious. this would be my personal definition of the perfect nurse. high 5 !!
i do work for 8 hours..and as much as possible ill get home as early as i can to catch up w/ my own lyf...Im a lover of lyf!! no matter how the next few seconds seem to be apalling, il do my best to get by and share the vibrations around me..
i would tend to stay later at work for my colleagues..if the incoming shift is struggling (btw, our endorsement are interlapping, eg, pm shift start at 1320 and the am shift offcially ends at 1520) then, i would stay to help out.. one of these days itll be my shift's turn to b bz and they wld help out.. i work in an extreme ends of acute and chronic ventilation.. we value team working so much as everybody does and my stand?
id still preferred to be called a witch.....heeeeeeeehheeeeheeeeeee!!!
I think thats nuts..An angel to most people simply means that you are someone who assists them technically, emotionally, physically and especially in a time of need when they are feeling vulnerable. I have no problem with being called an angel because it doesn't mean I am anything less or anything more than the wonderful, caring, competent and confident nurse I am. It to me has nothing to do with religion, a putdown, a stereotype or anything other than one person relating their admiration and or confidence in a nurses care, compassion and confidence. Period. But, certainly an interesting albeit a bit defensive IMHO viewpoint from the other side of it.
i do work for 8 hours..and as much as possible ill get home as early as i can to catch up w/ my own lyf...Im a lover of lyf!! no matter how the next few seconds seem to be apalling, il do my best to get by and share the vibrations around me..
i would tend to stay later at work for my colleagues..if the incoming shift is struggling (btw, our endorsement are interlapping, eg, pm shift start at 1320 and the am shift offcially ends at 1520) then, i would stay to help out.. one of these days itll be my shift's turn to b bz and they wld help out.. i work in an extreme ends of acute and chronic ventilation.. we value team working so much as everybody does and my stand?
id still preferred to be called a witch.....heeeeeeeehheeeeheeeeeee!!!
i cant be nice all the tym..
So now I guess you are not Wiccan but just a little wicked huh? LOL
CCU NRS
1,245 Posts
You make an interesting point... when you say you are a witch I assume you mean Wiccan? So are you offended when called an Angel?
Also do you feel like you were called to be a nurse?
You know I think some people put too much emphasis on religion being tied to being called. From my previous posts I guess most people think I am very religious because I say I feel Nursing is my calling. I am not however overly religious, by no means a zealot. I beleive in a higher power, I don't mind if some call it God I don't mind if some call it The Mother. I just feel that the world has a consciousness beyond what mere mortals share. I feel that death makes our souls or entity whatever you wish to call it part of the Universal consciouness. I don't necessarily believe that the Higher Power is one entity but perhaps the Universal consciouness. I beleive that The historical period BC may have seen many things that were coined miracles, simply because There were fewer souls sharing the Universal consciousness and thereby some of the more attuned or enlightened Human beings were able to harness more of that power or perhaps it was directed more accurately to certain people. The time of Christ is widely documented however accurately we will never know. Angels and Demons and God and Devil were good and evil. The simplest terms in which people knew to label them.