Reclaiming our Profession

As nurses, we are inundated with the image of "angels in white", being told nursing is a "calling". We need to look at these ideas and realize how they are being used by others outside our profession to not allow us the recognition we deserve. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

I've been a nurse for a few years now. When I was wait-listed for nursing school, it seemed the profession was undergoing a change. Many Diploma programs were being closed in my area, the push was again taking place for the Bachelor's degree to be the standard of entry into practice and many nurses in my area were being laid off. When I was finally admitted to nursing school, I embraced the ideas I was being taught wholeheartedly. I LOVED the idea of becoming a nurse. I truly felt I had found my niche.

As a new nurse, I embraced the idea of being "an angel in white". Advocated the idea that nursing was a "calling" that only special people could answer. When I wasn't able to get a break or even a lunch period, I chalked it up to the idea of my calling. I was sacrificing for my patients, they deserved all I had to give even at my own expense. I looked at older nurses that I worked with, ones who didn't seem to "care" (as I so naively assumed), didn't deserve to be called nurses. Only I, as a young, fresh new nurse-so full of myself, could TRULY care...TRULY understood what it meant to be a nurse.

Fast forward to the present day. I've been around the block more than a few times now. Counting my time spent first as a nursing assistant then a tech then finally an RN, I've learned an important lesson: I am NOT an "angel in white". I am a highly trained professional, bringing a high level of experience and knowledge to the table. I have skills that have a high value, I work in a PROFESSION that literally is responsible for people's lives. I can make the difference between a patient having a positive outcome or a negative one. It's taken me 18 years to learn this lesson. (Never said I was a quick learner.) Unfortunately, there aren't too many people out there who realize this about my profession.

I was at Hallmark earlier tonight, looking for a card for a friend who has now been accepted into a Master's program to become an NP. I ran across a few cards that were displayed for Nurses Day, which is fast approaching. I looked at these cards, full of teddy bears, band-aids and sentiment thanking me for my sacrifice, for being an angel. Not one card acknowledged the years of training and study I've undertaken to get to this stage in my career. Not one card acknowledged the responsibility I have in training not only new nurses but new doctors. Not one card recognized my commitment to a profession but to an altrustic idea. To me, these types of sentiment are used to de-value what I do.

Let me put it to you this way: If I am a nurse because I have some altruistic idea, then it's o.k. for hospitals to not pay me for my years of experience. Let's face it, the more years I have in the profession, the less I am compensated. If I'm an "angel" I should accept my place in the healthcare world and realize it's perfectly all right for me to NOT be paid a decent wage, to NOT be compensated for my knowledge, skills and experience. It's o.k. for hospital administrators to dictate staffing matrixes without considering my input because, after all, as a nurse I'm considered a drain on the bottom line not an asset. I should just "suck it up" and realize I'm powerless to do anything about it. I should recognize it's ok for doctors to belittle me, because if I was truly "that smart" I would have went to medical school, not nursing school. If I'm an "angel", I should look to the hearafter for my reward, I should really be putting most of my earnings into a retirement account so I "won't be a drain on society" when my body wears out and I can no longer work as a nurse (honestly, this was quoted in a nursing Journal I have from the 1940's). It's all right for hospitals to give me patients that are so ill I barely have time to care for them, let alone take a bathroom break for myself. I shouldn't complain when some administrator so full of themselves adds another stupid form I have to fill out because really, they think I have plenty of time to fill out redundant paperwork. Heaven forbid I ask for lifting equipment to move my large patients...we can't afford that stuff and reallly, as a nurse you should be able to find other staff to help you move that patient. Heaven forbid you then injure your back...you must be malingering. No reason for you to get hurt when trying to provide care when you are short staffed, you should just be able to make it work.

I have decided to turn in my halo. Maybe I should become the "Norma Rae" of my unit, loudly advocating for our staff and patients. I have found my voice and I am now ready to use it. I am a NURSE and as such deserve your respect not a little angel pin. Don't patronize me telling me how I should learn to work smarter, not harder. And don't expect me to use your script, telling my patients "Truly, I have the time" when I don't. You think you can do my job better? Come walk in my shoes for one shift, just one..I guarantee you won't make it.

It's time for nurses to stand up and say with one voice "We are nurses, this is our profession. We are reclaiming who we are and we're not going to take this anymore!" Who is with me?

When I went into nursing, a zillion years ago, I had no idea of what the salary was. I did not think of myself as some sort of Angel in White or that it was a calling. Who was I calling? Who was I answering to? I have no clue what that "calling" is. I just liked people and liked helping people and thought it would be a good fit.

Now after so many years, so many changes, the job really remains the same. We were always running around, little breaks, etc. Now we have so much more "tasks" to do to comply. Hospitals are big business. Do not believe that a "non-profit" is such. The profit is huge.

We are always "reclaiming our Profession" every day. I do not see much change around the corner. I know I must have it somewhat better in CA as we have a union. Our pay is better, yes, but we still deal with abusive patients, and management who are just doing their job which is to save money, so that they show "good numbers" and get their bonuses. How come they do not publish their pay? Our contract is open to everyone who wants to see it.

What paycheck? My unemployment check for 12 weeks at minimum wage or less? that paycheck? after almost 20 years of outstanding service until the end, naturally, according to them. I'm trying to unify in my own selfish way, I guess, by sharing my trauma.

Without protective rights for our jobs, no paycheck is coming. To me this is what 'reclaiming our profession' is about, not whose decision making process is sharper or why we completed our nursing studies and years of work in the field of nursing.

Sometimes it seems we get so competitive and caught up in the little pictures that it leaches our ability to really unite as one group of professionals, and then sometimes we miss the big picture entirely in the process, which is that regardless of who or what is supposedly 'better', we are in this together, whether we like it or not.

We need to get along and get together as one. We need to fight for better job protection and security, better staffing, better pay and benefits, and better non-violent, non-bullying workplace environments. There should be zero tolerance for bullying in the workplace. It is a form of violence, period.

Yes, that would be nice to see the administrators pay? Why aren't more nurses administrators I wonder? We need to administrate ourselves.

Hmmm, maybe that doc thought I was one of those dern 'call' nurses. :sofahider ;)

Wondern,

Don't know where you live but it seems people will always complain about salaries. I work 32hr/wk and gross over 100K in California. But some days, it feels not worth it. When I read that some are being paid $18/hr I blinked hard! How is that possible? Our cna's make more than that.

At this point in my career, I am a good nurse, professional, care for the patient, and do the job as best as possible....but I am doing it now for the money. Where else can I make such a salary? Due to our salary, few nurses leave our hospital until retirement. No "calling" here.

That's awesome, needshaldol! I hear the cost of living there is very high. Still $100k does sound good. I made a little over half that with continual OT, and ~20 yrs. exp. I had topped out there.

Obviously, your hospital is doing something right to retain most of it's nurses through retirement. I had a lot of friends there, more on the acquaintance level, really. I miss them sometimes. That was my plan too, after so many years at the same place, to retire there, but some others had other plans for me that seemed to work out real well for them.

The harder I tried to get along the worse my work environment got it seemed. At the end it was really all fun and games, that's short for torture. I just wanted to do my job without constant childish bullying games supported by management.

I brought up salary not really as a 'complaint' but more as a unifying factor because I feel many nurses are underpaid for the work they do.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

Why can't nursing be a calling and a profession? Hear me out here.

When I decided to get into nursing it was because I discovered that I had a certain set of skills and aptitudes with regards to critical thinking, problem solving and instinct/intuition. Never has any other career fit my skill set so well (and I've had four of them!). In that way, yes, I feel like I'm called to be a nurse.

HOWEVER.

If you want me to use my critical thinking, my problem solving, my intuition and my countless hours of hard-earned knowledge, well, that ain't free, honey! Like anyone with a skill set who is a part of a profession, you're going to have to pay me in order to have access to all those things.

I think you can be called to a certain profession -- or, if you hate the word "called" like I'm starting to, have a particular aptitude for a profession -- and still be a PROFESSIONAL, who has the right to a reasonable salary, reasonable working conditions, and to be treated as a valuable and knowledgeable part of a team.

Specializes in LTC, office,hospice inpatient.

amen and hallelujah !!!! what shall we do,march on washington? i'd do it. i and nearly every nurse i know are absolutely fed up. where do we sign up?

Please let's face it. This is a job. But only a certain type of person can do it well. Have to put others first, so maybe that is where the "calling" comes from? Like becoming a nun? Actually a nun sounds good. I live two doors from a Catholic college and the nuns have a great place to live, all drive the same cars (each one has their own), and have no idea of what they do. Is that a calling? If so, that is great, no worries ever.

As for the salary for CA nurses, yes it seems high......but.............not when you consider the "average" fireman in my city (city with extremely low crime) earns $142K/year. And he gets to retire with full benefits at 50. Is that a "calling"? No, itl as a better job.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, Neurology, Rehab.
I just finished working overnight with a lady who believes nursing is a calling. She has worked 12 nights in a row. I asked her "why??". Her comment to me was "the hospital needs nurses so badly, we are so understaffed" I do not for the life of me get this mentality. This woman was so tired last night she could barely stand up. SHE IS ALSO COMING IN TONIGHT. She is somewhat of a saint. She does not take any breaks. She actually visits with other patients that she previously had. However, I believe that she is making herself sick. She does not look healthy. Our charge nurse is even worried about her. I told her last night if she keeps coming in everynight she won't even be around for the hospital. By the way, we make 18/hour. I know it cannot be for the money that motivates her.

Are you Kidding????! Are you an RN making $18.00hr? What state are you in? I know whatever state/city you are in you can do better by trying to find something else. Even if you can do a travel assignment for 4 weeks and then travel back home. Lots of nurses here in California are still doing this. The management should step in and stop this woman from working like that. If she makes an error, who is to blame? God Bless.

Specializes in OR, public health, dialysis, geriatrics.

Standing at the ready! I am with you and the rest of my nursing compatriots.

Specializes in Critical Care.

sexual harrassment, imho....(referring to the poster who's administrator plays suggestive music in one to one meetings and turns it up at the chorus)

Specializes in Critical Care.

"As with nursing and law enforcement and fire service, the military is simply a job with a defined set of responsibilities. None of these vocations are callings and doing them does not a hero make."

Thank you, you have put in words something I have felt for so long...why do we glorify military service over all other services that also can put people "in harm's way"....yes, grateful for those who serve our country, but equally grateful to those who face gunfire, fire, and disease as normal workday risks and still get up and put on the uniform!