America's view of the nursing profession

mysticalwaters1 · Oct 22, 2005

When I tell others I am a nurse, they look up to me and respect my profession. They look at my job as one that is professional and of high responsibility, also well paying.
This is my experience from personal friends and acquaintances. In the media, however, I have seen this differently. Take, for example Ben Stiller's role as Greg Focker in "Meet the Parents/Fockers". In "Meet the Parents", he is belittled by the Byrnes family and their friends.
What are the other personal experiences of other nurses.

For the most part same with me. Although my girlfriends my age at first thought of me just dealing with bm and urine constantly and that was it. Maybe that mentality preventing people entering nursing? So did my grandmother. She just thought I got pt's there food, cleaned, and passed out medications. I shed the light on them about all we do.

But my other family members and college non nursing majors and pt's for the most part seem to really respect nursing. You may not notice it with pt's because of course you're crabby when you're sick but I hear it. I do feel we tend to tear each other apart but I'm finding out quickly it seems to be that way where ever you go in any job or profession.

So it seems it's mixed about how people regard nursing. Most seem to respect them reguardless but still don't understand all we do. And the TV drives me bonkers since out of work I'm a coach potato and I never see nursing shown in correct light or it's all negative. I usually watch stuff about a nurse who killed her relative or childe with overdose on insulin oooh drives me nuts! Or there is all these MD shows. Nothing wrong with MDs but not that we have to have our own show, would be nice I think it could be quite funny, or can't there be a medical show in collaboration with all hospital staff? While ER is better than most you barely see the nurse and the ER docs doing stuff the nurses do. That show specifically b/c perfect opportunity to show md's working with nurses to care for pts. It just stinks! Oh and the one character was a Nurse and then they converted her into a doctor....argh..Not that one wouldn't do it but I liked that character especially b/c she was a nurse and a main character... oh well...I still say MTV needs to do a true life show on nurses.

jsteine1 · Oct 22, 2005

I'm trying to view this from the perspective of the general public and I just do not believe that they can look at you and tell whether you were a Diploma, Associates, Bachelors or mastered prepared nurse. I personally have never been asked the question, have any of you outside of your hiring interview? Unless asked and answered, a physician wouldnt know either unless it was on your name tag. So if there is an air of disrespect, it's roots are deeper than credentialing, a lot of it sadly is economically driven relative to reimbursement models and our societal values. In some countries, physicians rank about the same as a technical worker, like a plumber. In the US, the perception of doctors is one of affluence and power, thus unfortunately, almost automatic respect from the masses. Rock stars are well compensated too, thus preferential treatment. Crazy? absolutely. This is just reality and I dont believe nurses should look to fault themselves and each other for this. Deal with your own reality, garner respect through your work, your compassion and your professionalism.

bluesky, BSN, RN · Oct 25, 2005

I guess in truth I don't really care what random Joe's think of my job. I know that the visitors and patients and physicians that I take care of and work with respect my intelligence and say so on a regular basis. Other nurses, on the other hand are a completely different story. We need to fix how professionally we view and treat each other before we can impact the rest of society. Just my 2 cents, y'all.