nursing instructors continue to tell new students tha they will make them nurses. wrong nursing is a calling similar to the ministry. i have both callings and feel that nursing can be used to comfort and encourage those patients that are fearful and in pain. i don't preach to my patients but encourage them to talk about their feelings about their illness and what scares them most. most have told me its not knowing what's happening with their care not the illness or death. the unkonwn is more frightening than death.
if you got into nursing for the money or "glory" or to further yourself with self agrandizing titles and degrees then i feel lyou are in the wrong career. those who entered nursing when i did who were intrigued with money and prestige to be gain are no longer in nursing. they still have their license, degrees, and their prestige because they are instructors but not nurses. they have been away from the reality of nursing and changes in the real world of health care not the information in books but in the trenches. nurses have to have a calling to be willing to clean a patient who has soiled himself/herself, clean up emesis whether is is food or blood, hold the hand of a lonely dying patient who came from a nursing home with no family left comfort them or cry with a family when a child passes or a grandparent or parent passes.
the emotional draining of the above is often offset by the patient that thanks you for saving them or changing their life or saving a family's loved one. i have experienced all the above and still thank God that i can still make a difference.
the instructors i have had gave the hooks and matrix to build my career for helping my patients but they didn't make me a nurse. i had been helping others my entire life and was prepared to do so as a nurse. they just sharpend my skill level.
What do you think?
do a random act of kindness each day. smile at a stranger and watch how the return the smile. afterward notice its hard to be grumpy when working.
And the eduation and experience that makes us 'critical managers' also makes us a very valuable commodity. I remember a HR manager once that used to huff, "I just don't understand nurses that are in it for the money." Get used to it. Because not only am I a 'spiritualist', I'm an undervalued 'biologist' and a highly refined 'scientist'. So, show me the money.
I'm more than worth it.
~faith,
Timothy.
The above statement does not detract from caring at all. Love it!
Just an observation, from my life, not this thread. In the past whenever I have heard this idea of nursing being a 'calling' it has always been stated by a woman. Always women, not a man. Disclosure, I am of the female specie myself. I think you won't find as many men making these statements, because they aren't socialized to accept less with the false carrot of it being a 'calling'. They tend to be socialized to a business approach. Which is good IMHO.
I think this may come from those with a conservative background, where women are raised to be caretakers rather than individuals with certain aptitudes and life choices. I also think this is used to keep women 'in their place' instead of viewing them as professional nurses with education and experience deserving of a certain income. When's the last time you heard a surgeon admonished for wanting to make money because his job is not a job but a 'calling'. Doesn't happen.
Edited to add: I don't mean any disrespect towards those who personally feel nursing is a calling for themselves. Where I get uncomfortable is when I hear someone saying the nursing profession is a 'calling'. Or all nurses have a 'calling'. Or the implication that if you don't perceive a 'calling' that you are less than.
This is what I don't like about the concept of being "called" to nursing: it denies that this is truly a high tech job.
It implies that 'caring' is the MOST important concept of nursing and everything else is a distant second. Look at the title of this thread: if you 'care' enough because you were 'called' to it, then anything you learn in school and experience is fluff by comparison.
Not everybody that feels 'called' to nursing has what it takes to learn the science and thrive in a high stress environment.
I agree with Mr. Huffman earlier in the thread: defining nursing as simply 'caring' not only devalues us, but disempowers us. Every human 'cares' about something so if nursing is just a focusing of 'caring' then anybody can be a nurse. If anybody can be a nurse, then why pay nurses more than the guy behind the counter at 7-eleven? This sets us up to fail.
I am a 'caring' nurse. But, more importantly, I'm a highly trained, highly skilled bedside monitor and interventioner. I am just as likely to be tweaking balloon pump waveforms as I am to be cleaning poop. Just as likely to titrate 3 critical drips at once than to be holding a hand.
With pts more and more critically ill, even on the medical units, it's not fair to define nursing by 'caring' and 'callings'. If you don't have what it takes to critically evaluate and intervene, then you shouldn't be a nurse. You learn that in school and experience.
And the eduation and experience that makes us 'critical managers' also makes us a very valuable commodity. I remember a HR manager once that used to huff, "I just don't understand nurses that are in it for the money." Get used to it. Because not only am I a 'spiritualist', I'm an undervalued 'biologist' and a highly refined 'scientist'. So, show me the money.
I'm more than worth it.
~faith,
Timothy.
:yeahthat:
Especially the part about when our "caring" is constantly overshadowing our skills and knowledge base, we devalue our profession. Its a tough stereotype to beat when its self perpetuating!
If I'm coding, I'd rather have a nurse that knows the ACLS protocol than one who holds my hand until the doctors arrive!
Especially the part about when our "caring" is constantly overshadowing our skills and knowledge base, we devalue our profession. Its a tough stereotype to beat when its self perpetuating!
If I'm coding, I'd rather have a nurse that knows the ACLS protocol than one who holds my hand until the doctors arrive!
You know, whenever I see that Johnson & Johnson, syrupy sweet nursing commerical "I dare to care, dare to care!" I want to gag. Yes, you need to be kind and compassionate. But you don't hear "I dare to master human biology &, high tech equipment!" No.
I am called by God to be his child. I have vowed (and am honored) to be my husband's wife. I have promise to love and care for my children. I'm a writer by nature. I'm a nurse by virtue of education, attitude, and employment.
I have never felt comfortable with the romanticized image of nurses as angels of mercy. You can be dedicated and decent without wearing a halo. And I'm pretty sure JCAHO would probably have a fit about wing sanitation.
nurses have to have a calling to be willing to clean a patient who has soiled himself/herself, clean up emesis whether is is food or blood, hold the hand of a lonely dying patient who came from a nursing home with no family left comfort them or cry with a family when a child passes or a grandparent or parent passes.
Actually, I think this part is the easy part of nursing. You'd have to be a pretty callous person to NOT clean a patient who soiled themselves or to comfort them while they die. Those things are more a part of being human than being a nurse in my opinion.
I definitely see how nursing is a calling for some, but that's not how I came into nursing - for me, it was simply a choice.
You know, whenever I see that Johnson & Johnson, syrupy sweet nursing commerical "I dare to care, dare to care!" I want to gag. Yes, you need to be kind and compassionate. But you don't hear "I dare to master human biology &, high tech equipment!" No.
I was actually "called" to write to them about their obsured vision of nursing.
That annoying commercial hasn't done one thing to improve our public image.
Speaking of that annoying commericial, it makes me angry for another reason. The ad is trying to recruit more people into nursing. HELLO! Over 100,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing programs or wait-listed last year alone. There is no shortage of people who want to become nurses. There is a shortage of nursing instructors and funding for nursing programs. But I guess donating money to educate more nursing instructors wouldn't make a syrupy, saccarine commercial that makes J&J look good to teh public. Total waste of money pretending to contribute towards nursing.
i can't believe there are so many nurses that cannot spell. I make typos all the time, BUT I proof read my replies before sending them. I don't feel nursing is a calling. I feel a person makes a choice about the field of study they pursue.(nursing, teaching, engineering etc)
i can't believe there are so many nurses that cannot spell. I make typos all the time, BUT I proof read my replies before sending them. I don't feel nursing is a calling. I feel a person makes a choice about the field of study they pursue.(nursing, teaching, engineering etc)
Well, looking at my own post I can see that I spelled two words incorrectly. I feel 'called' to not criticize anyone's spelling. Especially on an Internet forum. Especially for those who just worked a 12 hour shift and are unwinding reading and posting.
Although I might criticize those who criticize spelling, but do not follow capitalization rules in his/her own post criticizing spelling LOL. :rotfl:
:chuckle 
What, you mean you aren't one of these at work: 
Well, looking at my own post I can see that I spelled two words incorrectly. I feel 'called' to not criticize anyone's spelling. Especially on an Internet forum. Especially for those who just worked a 12 hour shift and are unwinding reading and posting. 
Multicollinearity, BSN, RN
3,119 Posts
The above statement does not detract from caring at all. Love it!