Has anyone ever look down on you because you are a nurse

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I'm talking about doctors or maybe even friends or family. My uncle once said with a disgusted look on his face e don't do nursing they have to give bath and stuff. My friend's boyfriend once said the work is demeaning since all they do is wipe butts. Hearing these stories are really sad. They are misinformed and very cruel. All of us will one day be in a situation where we might need help in that type of way.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Probably, but I'm too convinced of my own awesomeness to notice ;)

But, for real, shrug it off. We are actually very highly regarded by the general public.

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Whatever, when I told my friends that I've decided to be a nurse, they were like, "ohhh....but in the end, you will be a doctor right?" Well, I have deep respect for nurses and I don't consider nursing as a "stepping stone" towards medicine. I agree with CodeteamB - the public DOES highly regard us.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

My sister statred uni a year after me to study accounting. She is still doing exams 7 years later and is pretty low on the totem pole at work still. I am running a ward of 25 beds and about 40 staff and a significant budget. I have also been seconded to hospital after hours manger.

For someone who cleans poop and feeds old men not doing so bad huh sis?

Plus because she is still "training" her wages are shocking.

I have the last laugh because she was so cocky and mocking of my career choice yet I have succeeded much faster than her !!

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Specializes in Neuro ICU/Trauma/Emergency.
My sister statred uni a year after me to study accounting. She is still doing exams 7 years later and is pretty low on the totem pole at work still. I am running a ward of 25 beds and about 40 staff and a significant budget. I have also been seconded to hospital after hours manger.

For someone who cleans poop and feeds old men not doing so bad huh sis?

Plus because she is still "training" her wages are shocking.

I have the last laugh because she was so cocky and mocking of my career choice yet I have succeeded much faster than her !!

That's a tough one. I have a sister who is a CPA and another who is an Engineer. I started out my career as a nurse, going to a health science high school, obtained my LPN. They all looked down on me for Nursing and pushed me to get my masters in Health Administration. While we all make very well, my sister who is an accountant makes significantly more than I do( we're in NY), but I love being an RN more!

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Specializes in ICU.

If people put me down because I am a nurse, at least they don't do it to my face, so I wouldn't know. My family saw how hard it was to get thru nursing school, and kept reminding me of the smells, etc., I would have to endure. This is a second degree for me; I was in the business world before. My brother tried to get me to go into engineering, like him, but I really wasn't strong enough in math. He is a chemical engineer and makes tons of money, with swanky benefits. Nursing has made me confident, strong, able to problem solve, and many more attributes that I don't think I had before.

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Specializes in Med Surg.
I'm talking about doctors or maybe even friends or family. My uncle once said with a disgusted look on his face e don't do nursing they have to give bath and stuff. My friend's boyfriend once said the work is demeaning since all they do is wipe butts. Hearing these stories are really sad. They are misinformed and very cruel. All of us will one day be in a situation where we might need help in that type of way.

When people start talking stupid I just stop talking to them.

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Specializes in ICU/PACU.

Yes, my mom, in her own way of course. My parents have both mentioned something about me cleaning bed pans and laughing about it. I worked in ICU many years and I try to explain what I do and just how important it is but it's hard for people to understand. It's just rude and condescending. But I make more money than both of them did at my age, SO THERE! Some people just don't get it. And that's fine by me, because there's plenty that do.

My mom is always asking me "when are you going to NP school? Why don't you get your masters? You can just do it online, it only takes a year." That really bothers me because it downplays everything I'm doing now. It's annoying and hurtful.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

No one's ever insulted my choice of becoming a nurse to my face.

I come from an extended family where there's not much educational attainment. Many of my relatives dropped out of high school, and no one in the large family has a college education (with the exception of two cousins and me).

So when I became an LVN, it was as if I had become a doctor to them. And when I became an RN, that was just icing on the cake.

I think the perception would have been different if I had come from a family with several doctors, lawyers, engineers, college professors, and other educated professionals. I suspect I would have been asked, "Why don't you go to medical school? If not medical school, why not become a nurse practitioner?"

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Specializes in L&D.

No, never. So far, I've never had a doc say anything like that to me or "you're just the nurse". The docs I work with, for the most part, appreciate us as nurses. As for family/friends, again, they have never said anything like that..Maybe it's b/c we have so many nurses in our family, they understand it is more than that.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Nope. Never. I have only ever received respect, admiration, appreciation or simple indifference.

We have several nurses in our family, four physicians and a couple of physical therapists as well as business professionals, executives, IT professionals and entrepreneurs. The family focus is on education, so anything that leads to a degree or advanced degree is praised.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I'm talking about doctors or maybe even friends or family. My uncle once said with a disgusted look on his face e don't do nursing they have to give bath and stuff. My friend's boyfriend once said the work is demeaning since all they do is wipe butts. Hearing these stories are really sad. They are misinformed and very cruel. All of us will one day be in a situation where we might need help in that type of way.
Their comments reveal their ignorance...sad really. I have never had anyone belittle my choice to my face.

I would laugh it off and say..."Well I may wipe butts but I am paid well to do it. I'd be nice to nurses if I were you for it isn't the MD at your bedside at 2 am when your butt is in trouble...your "doctor" is home...snug in his bed. It's a nurse who saves your life."

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