Is it just my idealistic view of what a nurse should be or does this bother other nurses? I have heard several times lately and have read articles of people who are going to nursing school, not because they want to be a nurse but because they want the paycheck and a stable job. My sister in law is one of these people. She said to me, " I really don't want to be a nurse but I figure that I can work as a nurse while I go back to school." I find that mentality very frustrating. I worked very hard to become a nurse. I worked as a nursing assistant before I became a nurse so I could make sure that I knew what I was getting myself into, I shadowed nurses when I was in high school. I really feel that this is what I was put on this earth to do and to hear people talk like this who have absolutely no concept of what they are getting themselves into and who have no respect for the profession just boils my blood. I feel like these people, who have no intention of staying in nursing for an extended period of time just make it harder for the nursing student who actually wants to make a career of nursing because they take up spaces on the wait list for getting into nursing school.
Maybe some of these people will be excellent nurses and will contribute well to the profession but I personally would not want a nurse to take care of me who only got into the field because they wanted a stable paycheck.
Don't you agree that to do well in nursing you have to have some desire to be here in the first place? These are people's health and lives that we are dealing with. This field isn't just about a paycheck!!!
I know I'm probably being naieve and idealistic when I say this but I really feel that nursing is a calling, not a JOB!!! I've been doing this type of work for going on 10 years now and I have felt that way about it from day 1.
What do you think? Does it bother you that people are getting into nursing who have no desire to actually be a nurse? Just wanting to hear other people's perspectives on the issue.
i don't understand why people keep acting like it is an either/or situation in nursing, compassion vs brains and skill. come on here, that's like saying all blonds are dumb! i am here to say that i am smart (3.98 in my ms program), skilled (always have had excellent evaluations from supervisors, peers, and patients for 32+ years of being an rn) and very compassionate. and yes, i am blonde too! :chuckle
i agree. i enjoy being and working with nurses who are both book smart and provide good "customer service".
i suppose if i had to choose one over the other, i'd take the one who knows what they are doing over the one who can only hold your hand. but 95% of us are both. nursing school is tough and demanding with stringent requirements for admission, so most people have some common sense and book smarts. also, we're a nurturing profession that attracks people that like to help people. of course, added to that are people who are looking for a way to pay the bills as well, which includes most of us with book smarts and compassion.
we can have it all and be it all, still be in it for the money, and be good nurses.
Nursing school is tough and demanding with stringent requirements for admission, so most people have some common sense and book smarts.
That's what I think, too. People talk about the smart nurse vs. the compassionate nurse - aren't they ALL smart? Don't you have to have high grades? Do well on the NCLEX? That requires smarts, does it not?
I don't think this situation is as black and white as many have made it out to be (ignore previous comments of mine; I have learned much from this thread).
I did not read the entire thread but one post that I read stated would you be a nurse for free my answer is yes I have volunteered at the hospital where I live for a number of years even though I am in nursing school now. I knew when I was 12 years old that I wanted to be a nurse but always put what others wanted first so I got out of that relationship and went back to school and will graduate in August of this year. I started volunteering when I was in junior high school as a candy striper so yes I would do it for free. It is not about money to me even though I like the idea of getting paid for doing something that I love but it is about caring and helping others that is what I feel I was put on earth to do . I have taken care of many of my family members when they were sick or dying and have been told even by my instructors that I will make a wonderful nurse because I have ehat it takes to care for others If you go into nursing for the wrong reasons like a paycheck and steady job you probably will not have that job long because someone who cares and that is compasionate will come along and they will have your job. I read post on here about cleaning up poop and other body fluids and not wanting to well if that is the way they feel then they are in the wrong feild. We had students in my class that were passing but could not handle the "dirty work" so they dropped out. I don't care why people go into nursing but you have got to love your job to be good at it and like I said if you don't someone else will come along and take it from you. Hope I have not offended anyone.:wink2:
i don't understand why people keep acting like it is an either/or situation in nursing, compassion vs brains and skill. come on here, that's like saying all blonds are dumb! i am here to say that i am smart (3.98 in my ms program), skilled (always have had excellent evaluations from supervisors, peers, and patients for 32+ years of being an rn) and very compassionate. and yes, i am blonde too! :chuckle
i'm blonde too!!! and graduated top of my high school class, and type 70 wpm... being a nurse requires both brains/skill and compassion
hmmm,but i think it is an important quality,especially in nursing profession...you working with people,not machines.
exactly!
i agree. i enjoy being and working with nurses who are both book smart and provide good "customer service".
i suppose if i had to choose one over the other, i'd take the one who knows what they are doing over the one who can only hold your hand. but 95% of us are both. nursing school is tough and demanding with stringent requirements for admission, so most people have some common sense and book smarts. also, we're a nurturing profession that attacks people that like to help people. of course, added to that are people who are looking for a way to pay the bills as well, which includes most of us with book smarts and compassion.
we can have it all and be it all, still be in it for the money, and be good nurses.
that's me... in it to serve, but the money is nice too!
I agree with you completely - I'm not a nurse yet, but I spend a lot of time watching them and how they do their jobs, trying to learn as much as I can as well as what I'm learning in school. The good nurses I've seen are a combination of all of these things - book smarts, nursing skills and medical knowledge, compassion and caring, and old fashioned common sense. This is the sort of nurse I hope to become. And I agree with some others here too, the pay and the opportunities are nice too :-) I'm not getting into this just for the money, but it helps - unless you are volunteering your time, you have to make a living somehow like anyone else.
Someone once said that if you do what you like, and it's really what you are called to do, a lot of other things like money, etc. will eventually take care of themselves because you will excel in what you are doing, and you will rise in your vocation. I think that's true in any career or profession, not just nursing.
If I had to choose between the compassionate nurse who only knows how to hold my hand and smile when I'm having respiratory distress, versus the proficiently knowledgeable nurse who is intervening swiftly and getting on the phone with the doctor, you can bet that I'm going to kick the compassionate nurse to the wayside.
Even if my nurse is not always smiling or practicing "customer service," my only requirements are that he/she possesses the knowledge, technical skills, critical thinking, and common sense to care for me. Sorry, but a smile and a warm hand are not enough.
Exactly. A lot of people seem to mistake being well liked with being a good nurse. Having knowledge and skill alone may not make people like you any better, but it does help you to, you know, not kill your patient. Just saying, I think that might be kind of important.
i don't understand why people keep acting like it is an either/or situation in nursing, compassion vs brains and skill. come on here, that's like saying all blonds are dumb! i am here to say that i am smart (3.98 in my ms program), skilled (always have had excellent evaluations from supervisors, peers, and patients for 32+ years of being an rn) and very compassionate. and yes, i am blonde too! :chuckle
i don't think thats what anyone is saying. i think that statements like "knowledge/skill over compassion" are in response to assertions that people entering nursing just for the money lack compassion, somehow. so, i don't think anyone is saying you can't have both. its more like, "so what if you're not super compassionate, as long as you do your job safely and competently?". really, the point is that one of these things is clearly more important than the other.
I have a question. How come people are so up in arms about people becoming a nurse for a paycheck and yet say nothing to the new grads who ask "How much do nurses start out at hospital such and such?". Bit of a double standard if you ask me.
I have a question. How come people are so up in arms about people becoming a nurse for a paycheck and yet say nothing to the new grads who ask "How much do nurses start out at hospital such and such?". Bit of a double standard if you ask me.
Hmm and why not? What double standards,just because we enjoy or will enjoy what will do doesnt necessary exclude us from enjoying the not so great money.
Exactly. A lot of people seem to mistake being well liked with being a good nurse. Having knowledge and skill alone may not make people like you any better, but it does help you to, you know, not kill your patient. Just saying, I think that might be kind of important.
Not killing your patient is not the only reason for a nurse to be a good nurse.
Thats not my point. Why can't someone have it all. By that I mean, go into nursing for the money and taking care of patients. It doesn't have to be either you go into nursing for the money or you go into nursing because you want to take care of sick patients. Why can't it be both? Nothing wrong with wanting both.
Tweety, BSN, RN
36,332 Posts
i agree. i enjoy being and working with nurses who are both book smart and provide good "customer service".
i suppose if i had to choose one over the other, i'd take the one who knows what they are doing over the one who can only hold your hand. but 95% of us are both. nursing school is tough and demanding with stringent requirements for admission, so most people have some common sense and book smarts. also, we're a nurturing profession that attracks people that like to help people. of course, added to that are people who are looking for a way to pay the bills as well, which includes most of us with book smarts and compassion.
we can have it all and be it all, still be in it for the money, and be good nurses.