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My brother, aunt and uncle are doctors.
There are also several nurses in the extended family, and my sister is a Rad tech.
I have never felt any disrespect.
My brother worked as a CNA during college and he gained respect for nurses and the work they do.
I respect doctors for the work they do-80 hours a week in normal for a resident's work week.
Having several medical people in the family makes for interesting conversation as we swap stories.
My brother is a doctor and he is really supportive. No way do I have the time, energy, or interest to become a doctor. He tells me how proud he is of me for going to school to be a nurse. Sometimes, I get lost when he talks to me (still being a student) about medical stuff. A few months ago when my dad passed, all of us kids were there at his bedside in my parents home. He had only days left so we took turns being at his side. My brother and I made a great little team. We handled giving the array of hospice meds, kept in touch with the hospice nurses, and generally just tried to explain the process to my other siblings. While it was hard, I knew it drew us together even closer as a family.
Oh yes, both of my parents are physicians and one of my brothers is about to start as an internal medicine intern. And that's just my immediate family! Fortunately, everyone supports and respects my job and nursing in general. They even claim that I'm smarter than them, the runing joke in my family is "smart enough to get into medical school but dumb enough to go!"
digitiminimi
114 Posts
I am currently a nursing student and many of my family members are doctors - my older sister, aunt, 2 uncles, and 2 cousins (plus my younger sister is Pre-Med in college). I have a BA in a different field and when I told them I was going back to school for nursing they were all pretty much like "....Oh." Some of them tried to persuade me to run far, far away from nursing. I get the feeling that my siblings don't respect nursing as a profession.
Do any of you nurses have siblings who are doctors? If so, what is the family dynamic between you and them? Do they respect you and your profession? Do you think they think less of you because you are not an MD? Please share if you will...