I work alongside nurses and am in the process of becoming a nurse myself.
While I have great respect for the profession and my coworkers as well as a passion for it (hence my reason for going to RN school), I've noticed nurses (many but not all) have this superiority attitude like their job is the only job in the Healthcare field that matters. They talk down to all the other professionals (respiratory therapists, social workers, occupational therapists, etc) and disregard any of the hard work they do and just expect a pat on the back for every little thing. I've even heard some nurses say they should get paid more than the doctor because their work is more important.
Also, I hear many nurses complain that they have too much to do, and then when anyone tries to give them a hand they have this turf battle and think everyone is trying to take over their job and isn't competent enough to do so even if it's something as simple as helping bathe a patient.
The OP sounds like I did when I was a NA and in nursing school. While I fully appreciate what the OP is saying I must agree with the others. My perspective completely, completely changed when I was the nurse caring for my patients. Of course I saw lazy nurses when I was a CNA, but I also saw lazy CNA's as well. As others have more eloquently stated the load of responsibility as a nurse multiplied exponentially than when I was an CNA. I had "mean" nurse preceptors in nursing school but I also had "mean" co-workers when working on the floor. This is real life, not school. I fully understand your point OP but again as someone else said, get a couple years under your belt on the floor and then examine your mindset. We all have our place in the world of healthcare and the optimum goal is to achieve team work and promote excellent patient care. If that is not your passion or desire then nursing is definitely not something for you.
I have never met a CNA turned RN that didn't all realize that they were wrong to give nurses crap because they couldn't always do everything for the CNA. I was a CNA for years before becoming a nurse and I always tell my CNAs when they get pissy that I had their job once and it's a walk in the park compared to being a nurse.
You forgot kissing family's butt, answering the phones while the HUC get's a break, and discharge teaching.
Ha Ha! We really do need a "love" button. :)
I did put the "etc." in there to cover the other 200 things that only nurses can do that I omitted.
I always treasured my techs, but the ones like the OP who actually believe they are doing more than the nurses are beyond my ability to tolerate. This is taking the "you don't know what you don't know" beyond the pale. The best CNAs and PTCs I ever worked with were well aware that although they worked very hard, they didn't have half the education and the accompanying responsibility and LEGAL LIABILITY that the nurses had (just as a good nurse understands and appreciates the differences between his/her scope and that of other professionals with more education and responsibility).
You probably should reserve your own attitude for after you have been a nurse for a minute. After you have worked in the trenches for years, you will come to understand that you don't know what your talking about.
No, it isn't right to be disrespectful to other team members. But because the nurse is still at the end of the shift, responsible for the overall care of those pts, it is all on you! And yes, I appreciate an RT, a social worker, an occupational therapist, ect....but those people are not always available, seems not when you need them anyway, so ALL those jobs become yours too. Stress does alot of things to a nurse. Nursing school is not easy, but the reality of being a nurse is not even comprehensible for you yet. You have no idea.
And we all become controlling regarding the care of our pts, because it is all our responsibility, and everyone is not as passionate for "your pts" as you will be. And God forbid anyone will ever give you " a pat on the back for every little thing you do", because it isn't going to happen.....your lucky if you can sustain any job satisfaction from the volume of work that is piled on any and all nurses. Nursing is not for the faint of heart.
I remember when a hospital I worked in was all union, and everyone was going to be going on strike. There are so many people that contribute to the care of a pt. But when our bargaining unit, just RNs, looked at how each job (housekeeping, dietary, transport, lab, unit secretaries, case management, EKG techs,RT, social work, PT/OT/ST, ect) could not do our job..we quickly realized that we could, and had many times, done all of their jobs. Nursing is the only discipline that can do that.
And we were able to come to terms with the hospital, so no strike!
And I have never heard any nurse, in the 24 years that I have been one, say that they deserved more money than a doctor. Don't believe that. Good luck to you, you have quite a rude awakening coming! Hopefully you will be able to stay on your pedastle, but not likely.
I've noticed this mindset in Nursing as well. It just seems like modern nurses see themselves as the center of the universe. It's what drove me away from Nursing school and into Respiratory therapy. I hate to say this, but from working as a tech and EMT for many years I gradually realized that I just didn't like Nurses very much. Gone are the days of people who get into the profession because they genuinely cared for people. Now its all ME ME ME.
I like being an RT, and loved working EMS, because I was around people who didn't just do it for the money, and who had a team mentality. I don't see that in Nursing at all. I think its a profession in crises, and I think maybe other health professionals need to step up and reduce the role of RNs in health care. They will always be necessary of course, but they've accrued way too much power and influence and patient care is suffering as a result.
As a student nurse my mother(a nurse for 37 years) warned me the nurses 'eat their young'. I was very much aware of the superiority complex nurses had with me as a student. But as a practicing nurse that attitude has gotten better. I've mainly noticed the attitude of 'none works as hard as I' but I think that goes with a lot professions. What you are experiencing could be that you are a student or just primarily with where you Are working. The best thing to get out of it is to not follow suit. Respect everyone you work regardless of their position.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Infofreak411 said:
Well I agree you have too much to do, in fact I do the same thing. We actually had a consulting firm come on and asked why the the techs were the ones running around doing everything while some of the nurses sat at the station on their cell phones. So I know about the time crunch while giving reliable and safe care. But, at the same time why do nurses (some not all) complain about having too much only to get defense when anyone tries to help.
The consultants obviously didn't look too deeply if that is the conclusion they came up with. In fact, that is insulting and they did not earn their consulting fee. The casual observer can identify "tasks" that are being done. So it might look like the aide is doing more. But nursing isn't about just tasks, it's about quality and outcomes. Some things cannot be delegated, even if they look simple.
And what are you calling "help"? I've had a lot of personnel try to give me "help" that wasn't very helpful. Not when I'm responsible for the outcome. You got excellent advice to check back in after you've been a nurse a couple of years. Nursing: easy to criticize. Harder to do.
I may be off but it seems like this entitled attitude is prevalent with this early 20's generation right now. Some are so rude, and they all want to charge after being a nurse for a day.
I watched an SI nurse lay into a rad-tech for moving a patient ad raising their HR/BP. I was astonished. #mindblown
I personally think the days of "nurses eat their young" are slowly dying. At least I hope they are.
Health Unit Coordinator. Used to be the Unit Secretary; before that it was the Ward Clerk. Please try to keep up.
And now they, whatever the most recent term is, seem to have gone extinct in many places. Such a shame as they could really help the flow of things by dealing with a lot of stuff nurses and aides *could* do but are often too busy with direct patient care.
WTH? So who's doing what they used to do? It's one thing not having paper charts to keep up with. But what about the other stuff?
I could put on my resume that I can troubleshoot printers, copiers, and other office machines. We learned how to order certain supplies (though I'm sure day shift had way more of this to do.) Putting charts together? Oh yeah did that.
migsie1
25 Posts
The OP sounds like I did when I was a NA and in nursing school. While I fully appreciate what the OP is saying I must agree with the others. My perspective completely, completely changed when I was the nurse caring for my patients. Of course I saw lazy nurses when I was a CNA, but I also saw lazy CNA's as well. As others have more eloquently stated the load of responsibility as a nurse multiplied exponentially than when I was an CNA. I had "mean" nurse preceptors in nursing school but I also had "mean" co-workers when working on the floor. This is real life, not school. I fully understand your point OP but again as someone else said, get a couple years under your belt on the floor and then examine your mindset. We all have our place in the world of healthcare and the optimum goal is to achieve team work and promote excellent patient care. If that is not your passion or desire then nursing is definitely not something for you.