Are We "Glorifying" Nurses?

Susie2310 · Jul 12, 2015

I deliberately skipped the comments. I know they're just going to make me mad.
That being said... I actually agree with the author on 99% of the points. Granted, there no CNAs in my unit so I actually do the dirty work, so that part of the article doesn't apply to me.
Nursing school really is not that difficult. Most nursing students I feel are first time students and haven't gotten any other degrees, so they're just like, "Nursing school is soooooo haaaaard" when in reality, university education in general is hard. I had a much rougher time with my BA in Psych than I did my BSN. The intellectual level of that material made nursing school look like middle school - nursing school was just a lot more content, which is why nursing school took so much work.

Do you really believe that only nurses who work in ICU/critical care make critical decisions that save patient lives? If I recall correctly, you work in critical care. Is this how you see yourself versus other nurses who work in different areas?

What made nursing school difficult, in my experience, was the huge amount of content that was compressed into a short time - in ADN programs, 4 semesters plus summer school (my experience), 5 days a week. And not just the huge amount of content by itself, but that content thrown in with two days a week in clinicals at the hospitals (my experience). Then the remaining two days of the week spent on homework/completing care plans/studying for tests, etc. Clinicals required hours spent at the hospitals the evening before doing prep, going home and preparing care plans, and sometimes required arriving early in the morning at the hospitals to finish collecting information that was not available the night before. I sometimes left home at 5am to drive to some of the hospital clinical placements. The volume of work, not the content, was what made nursing school hard, combined with the demands of clinicals and clinical prep, the frequent tests/exams, and the psychological games. Another factor that made nursing school hard was the huge demands that it made on my family.

defying.gravity · Jul 12, 2015

Am I the only one who laughed reading that? Lot of extreme examples she used ... black/white thinking .... where are the shades of grey that most of us live and work in? Not the 50 shades, that's a whole other topic altogether.

guest64485 · Jul 12, 2015

I deliberately skipped the comments. I know they're just going to make me mad.
That being said... I actually agree with the author on 99% of the points. Granted, there no CNAs in my unit so I actually do the dirty work, so that part of the article doesn't apply to me.
Nursing school really is not that difficult. Most nursing students I feel are first time students and haven't gotten any other degrees, so they're just like, "Nursing school is soooooo haaaaard" when in reality, university education in general is hard. I had a much rougher time with my BA in Psych than I did my BSN. The intellectual level of that material made nursing school look like middle school - nursing school was just a lot more content, which is why nursing school took so much work.

Funny, my BS in psych was easier than nursing school. To each their own.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 12, 2015

The comments...where oh where to begin? Apparently there are a lot of people out there who really hate nurses.

And the sad thing is that some of them actually appear o BE nurses!

allnurses Guide · Jul 12, 2015

I don't know I am thanked almost daily by most of my patients. Very few are mean surly and rude. The world is full of thankless jobs and they are that way because we as a culture do not thank the people who do them. I was taught to thank people who help me or teach me or protect my rights and freedom and I have passed this on to my child. The other day a gentleman visitor of a patient came to the desk to thank us all for what we do. He was wearing a Korean war service hat and I thanked him for his service! He said it was a privilege and an honor. What goes around comes around.

Hppy

canigraduate · Jul 12, 2015

Man, what a dumb, short-sighted, inflammatory article. That's five minutes I can't get back. Too dumb to even bother discussing. I believe it's strawberry daquiri time â€” much more productive.

CopperEmerald · Jul 12, 2015

The person who wrote this crap (Hilary Thomas, No Credentials) is not a nurse. Doesn't have the first clue what nurses do. Also is not a writer, as evidenced by the misplaced apostrophes. My guess? Someone who flunked out of nursing school and now has an axe to grind. IMHO.

This was precisely my impression, as well.

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2015

My brother is a chemical engineer, and I must agree that his college courses were far harder than mine! It is an extremely hard major, unless you are a mathematics whiz. I also do not make twice as much as teachers do. My best friend obtained her teaching degree the same year I graduated nursing school. She is now retired with state benefits, because she has put her 25 years in. My first nursing job paid me $25k per year; her first teaching job paid her $35k per year. Granted, she made $45k her last year, but she got all holidays off, and 2 months off during summer, and no weekends or nights. I end up working almost every holiday; I haven't had Christmas or Thanksgiving off in years. I also do not receive any type of retirement at my current job. Her retirement benefits are wonderful. I actually worked as a school teacher for a year myself, and I fail to see why so many complain about having to bring work home with them. Grading papers is simply not that hard. When I was in nursing school, an 83 was a big fat F. We had to make an 84 or better on everything. The student teachers could make 70 and pass. We could not fail anything, or else we were out of the program. Not to mention it was drilled into us that we held lives in our hands. Whoever wrote that article was trying to compare things that simply weren't comparable.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Jul 12, 2015

An article complaining how nurses complain. Ok then, passive-aggressive much?

Tenebrae, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2015

I agree that the "thankless job" claims get old very quickly. In my opinion, part of the reward that comes from nursing is internally, and I think that many nurses would be served well to remember this. Accountants do not asked to be thanked any more than teachers, police officers, nurses, doctors, and/or firefighters. We do what we do for a variety of reasons and the satisfaction for a "job well done" should come from your own pride in what you do, not anyone elses'.

I dont need to be thanked. To me the thanks is when an acutely unwell patient responds to the treatment and starts becoming well.

The thanks is when a palliative patient has a good death.....

I could go on.

allnurses Guide · Jul 12, 2015

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but there was a lot of that that reminded me of the Bizarro Nurse Haters from SDN.

And we get compensated very well for the relatively little education we have. We don't have the education and knowledge doctors have. They do the hard work.

No, there is something very "off" with that comment as well as a few others. These people tend to throw in a few semi-plausible statements to soften the digs.

nynursey_ · Jul 12, 2015

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but there was a lot of that that reminded me of the Bizarro Nurse Haters from SDN.
No, there is something very "off" with that comment as well as a few others. These people tend to throw in a few semi-plausible statements to soften the digs.

That was perhaps the comment I had the most difficulty with. "Well compensated" is subjective and depends upon a variety of factors, but I assure you, if fast food workers are pushing to make $15/hr as their "minimum wage" then I most assuredly am not "well compensated" for the "relatively little education I have." In addition to holding my ASN, I also have a BS in Psychology and two other Associate's degrees. So while my formal nursing education amounts to two full years, there are a variety of other types of knowledge I have, all applicable to my job. And I struggle to pay my student loans every month. Well compensated? Yeah. I don't think so. Not without overtime, flex pay, utilizing only PTO, and choosing to work differential shifts.

Thing is ... none of that matters. I didn't get into nursing for the pay. I truly didn't. And I don't complain about the pay until someone makes a sly remark about how well off nurses must be. It's the most uninformed comment of all.