Are nurses really respected???

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2012

yes. we do. although my personal pet peeve is the cutesy pink panda bear scrubs. if you want to be treated with respect as the professional you are, don't come to work looking like you're at a middle school sleepover.

Palliative Care, DNP · Jan 20, 2012

Picture a large hill or mountain if you will. You know what rolls down hill. Now picture the nurse standing at the bottom with arms wide open. Yes, that is correct we catch it all 24 hours a day 7 days a week! If something goes wrong at the hospital must be the nurse. Patient didn't get the water fast enough or ice cold enough? Must be the nurse. This is precisely why I am getting out of bedside nursing. :twocents:

Tina, RN · Jan 21, 2012

In my opinion, nurses aren't respected enough. And we certainly aren't treated as professionals. What other professional would be asked to recite a script to someone, basically begging the person to treat them like a servant?? (In the vein of: "Is there anything else I can do for you?? I have the time.")

Especially now, in the age of "customer service". We are treated as personal waiters/waitresses who happen to know a little bit of medical info. Not to say that waiters/waitresses shouldn't be respected. They have a rough job, too. But we have a lot more to worry about, other than whether a burger cooked to the customer's satisfaction. The level of responsibility a person has at work should have some bearing on the amount of respect they deserve. In addition, of course, to how well they perform their job.

Doctors are always treated with respect, no matter how they behave or how they do their jobs.

tokmom, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2012

No and we never will be because we can't even respect each other.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jan 21, 2012

I have found that in the hospital setting, we are not respected.

In other areas such as insurance and peer review, I am treated like the professional I am.

Why the difference? I wish I knew.

Perpetual Student · Jan 21, 2012

It depends on your particular job and how you conduct yourself. Sadly, nurses in a lot of specialties (e.g. med-surg) are often not taken seriously by a lot of people, esp. patients (see the waiter thread). I feel well respected by the vast majority of folks with whom I interact. There are always some people who're totally ungrateful and disrespectful, but they tend to have the same attitude toward everyone. If you know what you're talking about, act confidently and assertively (but politely and kindly), and do your job well most people who matter will respect you.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2012

yes. we do. although my personal pet peeve is the cutesy pink panda bear scrubs. if you want to be treated with respect as the professional you are, don't come to work looking like you're at a middle school sleepover.

i work in pedi and the vast majority of us wear cartoon scrubs. i think it's perfectly appropriate to the population we serve. can't even tell you how many toddlers/prescoolers warm up to me because the recognize the character on my scrubs. all of a sudden i'm not a scary person who's there to do something bad to them.

to the op- of course there are some people who respect nurses but, at the same time, there are many who do not.

Do-over, ASN, RN · Jan 22, 2012

I respect myself, and I am a nurse. I respect my co-workers (the vast majority, at any rate), and they are nurses.

So, yes.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2012

i will grant you that in pedi everyone wears or should wear nonthreatening clothing, given the patient population. sorry for the overgeneralization. but pedi is it. i don't wanna see care bears in the icu or oncology, or in management meetings.

although, come to think of it, i did see a 55-bed alzheimers unit where the entire staff came in as smurfs on halloween... that was an interesting day.... :lol2:

Tinker88 · Mar 22, 2013

When I go to the doctor's office I do not judge nurses by their scrubs. I judge them by their character and how they treat me as a patient. In fact, colorful scrubs are more inviting to me. I agree with the statement above:

"

If you know what you're talking about, act confidently and assertively (but politely and kindly), and do your job well most people who matter will respect you."

Mks123 · Mar 22, 2013

Amen sister I've always said Nurses Do Not support each other Someone out there getting a Masters or PHD should really do a study!!