how do we improve the image of nurses

Nurses General Nursing

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i am just curious on how do we improve the images of nurses, i know some people see us as non skilled general laborers, doctors handmaids, as well as many other misconceptions i have noticed over the years. I am just curious if anyone has any ideas on how to improve our status.

"gag a maggot" Still ROFL, I never heard that before, but soooo appropriate! Look at other professions, has anyone seen a kitsch lawyer teddy bear, or a porcelain engineer doll, or even a "Doctors are patient people" T-shirt?

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Corrections.

I agree totally with the comments that have been made so far....although I do like the Garfield that I have attached to my stethascope. We need to quit the bickering, we all took the same state boards to get where we are.

Where I work (corrections) the inmates say to the new nurses, whats a matter, can't you get or keep a job at a real hospital??? Until they see them in action when one of them gets hurt or something and then it changes totally. :cool: ;)

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Oh my. Shay and Renee you hit it right on the mark!!!! I've been singing "RESPECT" for years. And let's keep our tiffs within the profession and not bash each other .

However, I DO love my trinkets. I have a nurse figure or doll for every year I have been a nurse. They go from tiny porcelain to an 18" Florence. I'm not fond of the Tshirts, mainly because they are usually pretty tasteless. I mean do I REALLY want to think about "interesting smells?"

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Specializes in NICU.
Originally posted by semstr

I agree with Don and Shay for starters. (Although I love my Tshirt: "I am a nurse, not an angel". Featuring an angel with a pint an a cig in her hand)

Amen to that!

I am only 25, and most of the stuff I've found is way too flowery for me. I bought a tshirt recently that says 'I had 5 babies today..what did you do?' and I wear it everywhere. I get a lot of interesting raised-eyebrow looks, but some of the nurses know EXACTLY what it means, and it's always a kick to have someone in the grocery store (I don't get out much! rofl) come up and ask me about it. I think if the stuff available were a little fresher, maybe we would wear more of it. Flowers and hearts are nice, but not for me. :>P

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I do have 2 porceline figurines, one a nurse, one a doctor. But they're not the cutesy stuff you usually see...these figures have so much dignity in their faces.

They're made by Lladro, a pretty well known artist from Spain. The stuff is pretty expensive, but worth it, as his work is considered a "collector's item."

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Stargazer,

bought that Tshirt in Greece last year. The angel was on it already, had the text put in myself.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Mending Our Image

Americans love nurses, but the public still has a narrow view about what the profession actually does. New media campaigns try to polish those perceptions and draw potential RNs

into the fold

By Cathryn Domrose

June 26, 2002

http://www.nurseweek.com/news/features/02-06/image.asp

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

gosh i best tell my parents, sisters, friends, and inlaws to take back all the stupid nursing statuettes they have been so kind to give me thru the years. personally, i love them and what they mean to me. I in no way see how they tarnish our image as nurses in America. tell ya what I DO SEE though:

i see*** DAILY*** habits of nurses ourselves that do just that.....wearing nasty long painted fingernails and loud makeup and crummy, wrinkly scrubs, popping gum all day long, and reeking of cologne (male or female), piercing eyebrows , just to name a few get to me, anyhow. it only takes ONE person like this to create a horrid image on our behalf......not fair, but true.

treating patients w/disrespect would be another (and yes- oh yes- i have seen it and called 'em out for it). another " habit": gossiping and/or guffawing loudly in earshot of patients and family may be another thing that harms our image whether we know it or not. (i know ; i have been guilty of this too, so i include myself in this area ---slaps own wrist).

also--- it *would* be nice if the media would show a more realistic image of nursing as a profession. however, i think we must really be own best spokemen, if you will, getting the word out to as many as we can as to what we do. how many here volunteer time at their kids' schools or scouting meetings to tell them what you do and what it takes to be a NURSE in the 21st century. how bout voluteering in the community where there is need as an RN/LPN?

to me, it is plain silly to whine about figurines and tshirts when all that can be done is not yet, to polish up our own image by our own acts and words. JMO anyhow.....:rolleyes:

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Specializes in NICU.

Whining? Jesus.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Corrections.

I have been trying to help make the image of the nurse better by helping my friends that are not in the medical profession more about diseases that can happen. Every month at my VFW meeting I give out health information out to the members... one month it might be breast cancer(expecially national mamogram month) or diabetes or weight loss (which I need to work on myself). I also volunteer at the county fair to help with the health booth. I also work for the Red Cross when I have time to promote good health. We have to start projecting ourself as a professional before other people will percieve us of that. :cool:

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Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.

The doctors at my hospital wear jeans and Birkenstock sandals. The image of nursing is NOT skin deep, it is about people understanding and having respects for what we DO.

Even if everyone wore clean scrubs, had good grooming and impeccable tact and grammar, we'd still have the problem of the image of nursing....

We need to help educate people about what we do and the importance of it. People think they are in hospital to see the doctor. That is not the case - they are there because they need nursing care. But why don't they see that, why is nursing the "invisible" part of getting better? I think we need to start with explaining to our friends and families what we do, talk about the complexities and intricacies. Then go on to patients and families as appropriate. How many times have I explained something to a family member and have them look at me in shock, saying "you have to be really smart to be a nurse these days, don't you?" Yes. You do.

The problem is communicating that to people.

Clean scrubs DO say that someone is "professional" - but there is a lot more to be communicated...

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pebbles-- if that is the case how can we improve our image?

kristi white- what did you mean by your post? i must have missed something here.

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