Nurse is a nurse is a nurse

[Dayray]

We really need to do something about the publics understanding of nursing. I'm starting to get really ticked about this and I'm far far from a prideful person. I'm just tired of people not realizing that I do infact hold a license and that I went threw a hell of allot to get it and that I do more then just change bed pans etc...

The other day I ran into my wife's cousin who I haven't seen for about 13 years. We were talking and he asked what I do.

"I'm a nurse"

"Oh really? So is my girlfriend"

"Cool where does she work?"

"Oh she doesn't work as a nurse anymore she does telemarketing"

"Really? Why"

"She makes more money that way"

"Huh? How much does she make?"

"Oh minimum wage + bonuses of 2 or 3 dollars"

Went on like this for a while turns out she was a CNA, ok so I was a CNA once too but I didn't call myself a nurse. CNA's are great and some are damn sharp but they aren't nurses. I just let it go and didn't take the time explain the difference to him.

A few days later I'm sitting at the nurse station and a doc is complained about her office "nurses". It seems that some of them don't feel comfortable calling lab results to patients or excepting phone orders. So I ask are they nurses or MA's. Well some are nurses but the ones complaining are MA's. All I said was well if I was an MA I wouldn't want to do it either. I don't even think MA's can legally take orders or report test results.

Had a patient freak out on me the other day when I went to start her IV. "You can't do that I need a doctor!" "Um honey I can call him in here but doubt he has started one in the last 20 years scene med school"

Anyway I'm feel better after venting and now feel a little silly about being so ticked off but we really do need to do something about this

[healingtouchRN]

oh my goodness, where is your state nurses association, nursing home assn, & any one else who is looking out for the well being of these clients? They have no liability but the nurse in charge does!!!! Oh this is scary! What state is this?

[healingtouchRN]

I often tell my clients the amount of education I have (BSN, & a CHTP), (people really don't know), & I don't brag or anything... I am just factual and forthright about how much cont. ed. I do (87 hours this year alone). I do cont ed each month, as well as teach & am in a private practice alone so I let them know they aren't dealing with some idiot off the street with 2 month of training....it does gain the respect & make the clients rethink what it takes to be a REGISTERED NURSE. Puuulease, don't think I am downing LPN's & ASN's.....I am just a proponant of cont. ed. whether thru the job or university or on-line, what ever, just stay current. It really gripes me when people get to renewal time & they have no hours in for 2 years!!!!! What were they doing that they could take 3-4 days in 2 years to update them selves!!!??? I work 3 jobs, so being too busy doesn't fly with me. I am the epitome of busy! (okay, borderline workaholic, but I do have a date with my hubby tonite!). off the soap box now, my feet hurt!

[yannadey, LPN]

Originally posted by funnygirl_rn

**I bet if you wore a space-suit...someone just MIGHT think you were a future astronaut! Forgive me..I couldn't resist!

you got me :roll with that one funnygirl.....

As for you "nursebucky" I'm sure once you become a NURSE you too will be "frowning" just like the ER nurses you talk about. Could they be "frowning"(looking serious) because they are doing actual work r/t nursing rather than trying to look nice.... not ment to be mean but you are a nrsg student & your preception of nurses is very interesting for one who choose to enter the profession....

Nursing is not a Right it is a Privilage

.......as stated by a nursing instructor at BCC.

[liberalrn]

Not trying to hijack thread, but I am so intrigued by "Wit". Loved the Prof. Ashford character.....Susie the RN was also very good. At the beginning, I thought that the doc was a jerk and then when the fellow came......more of a jerk! And then, at the end, I realized that it is THEY that are so limited...trying desperately to control destiny...think the fellow referred to faith as a "spiritual construct". It is the docs at the end that are left bereft. The RN and the pt have come to terms and acceptance.....very powerful stuff. Lots of docs that I am privileged to work with share the holistic perspective, but then there are the others.......

In college, I did a paper on the image of nurses. I read the Harlequin romance nursing books and Cherry Ames etc. What is particularly disheartening, to say the least, is the way the image floats above reality and is preferred by most. I think we need to not just speak out against the falsity and work to change it, but also ask ourselves, what purpose does this Teflon stereotype serve our culture? Compare to the "wicked" stepmother image--still pervasive now. Perhaps it served to keep nuclear family intact? Likewise, how does this image of nursing "help" our culture? Does it persist b/c people in general dislike thinking about disease and death and by elevating nurses to a "special" status, it distances them from the harsh reality of disease and death? I mean, if we are perceived as angels of mercy.....angels have no needs (well, human ones anyway).....does anyone see what I'm getting at?

[happystudent, RN]

Originally posted by Dayray

It gets worse =( today I had lunch with my fahter in law. He was complaing becuase my mom in law a CNA is being forced to attend classes on weekends. I asked what the classes were for. Seem she is being forced into med certifacation class including hwo to give IM's. Guess where she works? in the hospital on the med surg floor.

I have heard this was coming but dident belive it CNAs are going to give meds in the hospital =( what a scarry thought and what a slap to nurses, a 20 hour course that allows CNAs to do one of the core tasks of med/surg nurses

REALLY! OMG! what hospital is this? please tell me so i dont end up there!

[happystudent, RN]

]

I take it that i look nice since I am not frowning like some of our ER nurses.

Hey go easy on Er RNs. Im a critical care tech in the ER and the Nurses are Awesome!!

[flashpoint]

The hospital here gave the RNs gifts for Nurses' Week and the LPNs and CNAs got nothing! I'm know CNAs are not nurses, but they are an important part of the nursing team and should have been recognized in some way. LPNs are nurses (much to many of our RN's dismay) and we didn't get anything either. It always kind of burns me when I have a patient who asks me if I am an LPN or if I am a real nurse...LOL! LPNs are not RNs and have less training than RNs, but we are still nurses. I hate the Johnson & Johnson commercial about being a nurse...it features all RNs...not an LPN in the bunch!

[rachel h, BSN, RN]

The hospital I used to work for changed the name badges so that your title was in bold letters and HUGE- I swear you could see it across the room, whether it was MD, RN or LPN- the letters were about an inch high. That really seemed to clear it up for the patients. However, it did look a little kindergarten-ish...

[Dayray, RN]

liberalrn I think Understand what your trying to say. I agree if im getting you right. I went into nursing to serve people not get glory and its shoudlent bother me so much that people don't relize the training and work that go into nursing. I guess pride pops up on all of us somtimes.

Now that I've had a few days to calm down I see that for every comment I listed in my original post, I hear at least a hundered nice things from patients and doctors and get lots of thanks (that Im not really seeking).

As for the teflon image - (if im following you) I think its a good thing. One of a nurses biggest jobs is to comfort and that image helps with that. It's kinda funny though beign that Im a man hehe, although I like the image of nurses as careing and compastionet I still can't reconcile the hat they wore in those types of books lol

Oh and as for the CNA med thing I live in Colorado, I remeber reading somthing about the BON approving CNAs for med administraion in acute care- about a year ago. I had forgetten about it until I talked with my fatehr in law so I don't remeber the specifics. I have to talk to my mother in law and find out what really is going on. I would hope he is mistaken. allthough the skill of giving injections isent that complecated there is allot more then that that goes into it as you all know.

[liberalrn]

oh, no! You read me almost completely wrong!!!! I do NOT like or approve of our "selfless, angel of mercy" image--it is truly a death sentence to people. The Teflon reference was looking at this static image that will NOT die.......no matter what. I think the worst thing that can happen to anybody is to be asked everyday to have no needs, to put others primary at all times and to smile all the while. The BEST interactions I have had w/ pts is when we can connect on a personal basis--and in these PC times, that statement seems fraught w/ inappropriate sentiment. It's not. To share a joke w/ a pt; to share an interest conversationally.......these pts just bloom---afterall, we are sticking them into a box too. They have to wear certain clothes and we don't let them walk even if they can, we only focus on their illness etc. They are as trapped as we are. Please, I was trying to express a theory and my frustration w/ this image stuff--in no way was I sanctioning it!

[Rapheal]

We have a CNA who tries to pass herself off as a nurse. She has psych issues and has been "talked to" by the nursing supervisor on more than one occasion. She is constantly convincing patients that there is something wrong with their IV sites (really? I see no evidence of warmth, redness, edema, coolness, pallor at the site). She has plenty of time to chat with the patients because she neglects to do the blood sugars, vitals, beds and baths that she is assigned. So the patients like her and ask for "that nice nurse-(her name)."

Burns me up.

[mattsmom81]

I think we have a few nurse masqueraders here in OUR midst. One of the clues may well be when they say things like "There's really not that much to giving an injection. "

Just a thought.