Hi all, I have too much time to contemplate life during this quarantine! I have noticed some posters mention they recommend viewing nursing as your job and not your identity. I am guilty of having my identity wrapped up in being a nurse for the last 7 years, and I felt working with disadvantaged pt populations made me a better person than working at a for profit place or in a more affluent area. Therefore I worked at a community clinic serving low income residents and recent immigrants. Then worked at a county hospital working with similar pt population as well as pts with addiction and mental illness.
2 months ago I switched to working for a large nonprofit system in the town I am from, which is one of the most expensive areas in the country. Job is higher pay, less stress, and my mental health is exponentially better. The pts are mostly wealthy, healthy people coming for outpatient surgery. There is sometimes charity care done. I am much happier but have guilt about taking the easy road when I already come from privilege. Does anyone have similar feelings or prefer working with a certain pt population? If you do, is it because you truly enjoy the interactions more, or because of a sense of doing the right thing? At the community clinic I truly enjoyed almost all of the patients, wonderful people from all around the world. At the hospital, enjoyed some of them, did not enjoy gettin beat up and screamed at, but still felt I was helping the most vulnerable. Interested to hear other points of view.
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
7 hours ago, Emergent said:
As long as you get the job done and keep the patients safe, it doesn't matter what your opinion of the patient is. Whether you have disdain for the underclass, or you despise the wealthy, or you find repulsive people in all walks of life, you had better not show it. Put on your game face and do a good job.
Very true, part of being a "good nurse" is having a good poker face.
I don't think that it matters which nursing job, or any other job for that matter, makes you a good nurse/person. Having worked many different jobs prior to nursing I think that it is more important to do a good job whatever that job may be, there are usually many opportunities to be a "good" person in just about any job. In nursing same thing, being a nurse doesnt make you a good person per se, it depends on how you use that position, no matter which nursing position you have or who your patients are, to do good and do your job the best you can in any given situation.
I’m not a good person because I’m a nurse. I’m a good person because that’s how I was raised and choose to be.
Everybody that I care for deserves my care. It does not matter how much money they have. When you are sick enough to need the ICU, it really doesn’t matter how much money you have or who you are. You are sick.
I wear a lot of hats in life. I’m a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, and I’m a nurse. I put being a nurse last because it’s the lowest on my list.
I see too many people wrap themselves up in their identity as a nurse. They burn out the fastest.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I like to think that I am a good person, but not because I am a nurse. I try to be kind and treat all people with decency and respect but again that has nothing to do with being a nurse. Nursing is just a small part of the person I am. It is that part that pays to rent and buys the groceries but I am so much more and do not use the nurse label as a part of my over-all identity.
I initially thought the title of this thread was "Does being a nurse make me a good person?" So I thought this was like asking my husband "Does this dress make me look fat?" Now my husband is a very high functioning autistic and throughly pragmatic in his communication style. So his answer to such a question would probably be; "No honey the fact that you are fat makes you look fat!"
So being a nurse doesn't make you seem like a good person, I've known plenty of nurses that were pretty crappy people, but being a good person does reflect on your character and image.
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.
On 3/3/2021 at 12:01 AM, hppygr8ful said:
I initially thought the title of this thread was "Does being a nurse make me a good person?" So I thought this was like asking my husband "Does this dress make me look fat?" Now my husband is a very high functioning autistic and thoroughly pragmatic in his communication style. So his answer to such a question would probably be; "No honey the fact that you are fat makes you look fat!"
I never held it against the first ER patient I had to de-louse when she arrived to the floor - it was always the job of the newbie:) She had a lot of moxie despite having to live on the street. I so enjoyed working on that unit because the nursing staff was so cohesive despite no running water in the rooms, 4 patients on vents in a large room, etc. However, as the culture of hospitals turned into corporate interests, it made everyone a little meaner as the parking lots were increasingly filled with administrators and clerks. There's nothing wrong with doing your time in the trenches and moving onto something easier as you age. You've done more to serve the poor than most people.
TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN
923 Posts
Very true, part of being a "good nurse" is having a good poker face.