Are most people just against nursring as a profession?

[1moretime]

This is a brief background about me, Hispanic, male, 21, 4.0 gpa 3rd year towards my BSN.

The main reason I mentioned that was to give you a little heads up about why I feel that nurses are unappreciated.

I grew up telling myself "I want a job that involves patient care". Off-course everyone assumed on me being a MD because i have a way with math and science (it just clicks to me with ease) and graduated top 8 in my class. I however do not want to become a MD. I don't know if it's because of so much more schooling or the cost $$$ or just because I don't want go that route.

So I got into the nursing field and I love what I am learning. However, my family and best friends disagree with what I am doing. They constantly tell me "you're a leader not a follower that's what MD do not nurses" my parents background is still stuck from where we came from( IN Dominican Republic nurse are so limited to only what an AID can do in USA ). So I try to educate them and tell them the huge difference and how our primary care was a NP! But off course they think I can do better so it brings me down at times.

Not Only do I have parents that think I should change my mind but the friends i group with tell me in a "nicer" way " dude you're so smart just become MD so you can take charge and make a lot $$$, besides you'll get more respect because DR do all the important stuff ". I could not hold my tongue to my peers and tried to informed them with the reality of how much work nurses do and how we are the gate keepers between DR and clients how we pretty much make sure they don't kill clients be double checking everything and how we give that comfort which draws me into nursing:nurse:.

The whole point of this is to see if anyone else feel unappreciated how do you handle it:mad:. Also, I usually don't care what people say about my personal decisions but it hurts when it comes from your loves ones

Nursing student.:redbeathe

*Excuse my bad grammer

[blueharlequin]

Old thread, but I thought this was interesting and wanted to comment.

I hate saying this about a support system, but don't listen to your family. While there are some rights the profession of nursing as a whole are pushing for that I (pretty strongly) disagree with, I also think the nursing profession IS misunderstood. I think a lot of people, including people who pop out of the womb knowing they want to be a nurse, don't entirely know what the nursing profession entails until school and beyond (because school is really just an intro/start).

The fact is that nurses are nurses and MDs are MDs. They have 2 separate scopes of practice and 2 different job functions. And both are integral members of the health care team. I don't think it's safe to assume that the MD profession is uncaring, just like it's not really safe to assume that nurses know nothing about biological processes. The MD profession does focus more on the sciences, and no one can replace the MD/DO in that respect (this is where I disagree with a lot of nurses...many believe NPs/PAs are equivalent or close to equivalent, but I think that's extreme). The nursing profession focuses on patient care/comfort, which I don't think a lot of MDs could do. MDs obviously have the science knowledge and may be able to figure out nursing diagnoses (some MDs were once nurses), but constantly being at the bedside wouldn't be an enjoyable kind of care for them. Being an MD entails a LOT of autonomy, which I would imagine could make nursing pretty unbearable for the MD (among other things).

If you want to be a nurse, be a nurse! The world needs nurses, just like the world needs doctors. If you prefer the nursing model, then that's what you need to do. And there is NOTHING wrong with that. It has nothing to do with selling yourself short and everything to do with finding your fit (which, in my mind, is a GREAT achievement).

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Doctors here do NO patient care. They may do procedures, but the usually spend 5 minutes with a hospital patient and maybe 7 with an office patient.

If you want patient care, either nursing, or paramedic, physical or occupational therapy (though those have different sorts of patient care)...

No shame in being a nurse....just know that getting a job has been VERY hard for most nurses on this site.

[blueharlequin]

Doctors here do NO patient care. They may do procedures, but the usually spend 5 minutes with a hospital patient and maybe 7 with an office patient.

If you want patient care, either nursing, or paramedic, physical or occupational therapy (though those have different sorts of patient care)...

No shame in being a nurse....just know that getting a job has been VERY hard for most nurses on this site.

There are certainly doctors that have no bedside manners. I don't doubt that for a moment. That was my point with "constantly being at the bedside wouldn't be an enjoyable kind of care for them." Ultimately, however, doctors DO care for patients in that the profession entails them fixing health problems. Doctors and nurses both require patients to do their jobs. And from what I understand, medical schools do look for the altruistic "I want to help people" response from applicants during their interviews. The applicant may or may not mean it...I'm sure a large portion say that because it's what the board wants to hear. But I also imagine a lot of them do believe it. Just because a doctor only spends 5-10 minutes with a patient doesn't mean they don't care (I know you were referring to the doctors you work with, FYI...there certainly are doctors that don't care). And from what I understand, doctors are disturbed by the nursing profession thinking they don't care. But to see the other side of things, the nursing profession probably has multiple reasons for making this assumption. Ultimately, if the two professions could get together and discuss (maybe they have and I'm unaware) or set some standards with teamwork between doctors and nurses, the medical care industry would only be better off. But to me that sounds like an idealistic world situation...not modern America with its crumbling economy.

But yes, if you want to be a nurse, that's what you should do. DEFINITELY no shame in being a nurse! Also think about it this way. If you became a doctor, knowing that you actually wanted to be a nurse, do you really think you'd be a good doctor? I would imagine you'd end up being so dissatisfied that job performance would suffer. But if you want to be a nurse because that's your passion, then that's absolutely what you need to do. And you will probably end up making a good nurse if that truly is your calling.