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

[dulcet]

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.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Not directly, but one of the interns I work with (I get along with them quite well), asked me, "Why didn't you become a doctor?" I replied, "Why didn't you become a nurse?"

[CJ NV]

I had an experience like that a long time ago when I was new to the profession.I meet this guy who was making fun of me.He just doesn't know what a nurses job really is all about till he was in a life and death situation.I just said that we have more responsibilities more than ever.I don't really want to get into details with him during that time.He thought that nurses clean people's bottom all day and all night long.Come to think of it,a few months later on a New Years day,I was there to respond and attend to him in our small ER because of a fireworks accident.It was illegal and he knows it,I mean messing up with fireworks.He lost all his fingers and almost lost his right hand and life due to infection.He comes to the hospital daily for a painful dressing changes and a slow recovery time.Only then,he slowly realized and accepted the fact that this petite nurse whom he made fun of a couple months before was patient enough to do all his complicated daily dressing changes,can do so much more,like save his life...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

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.

No one who has ever mattered and no one who was not ignorant has ever looked down on me for being a nurse.

[chrisrn24]

Weird. All I hear is "you're a nurse? Wow! That's a great career."

[ohiobobcat]

I worked for a chiropractor 10 + years ago as a chiropractic assistant (which was totally on the job training- no classes, no license/certification). When I gave my 2 week notice and told him I was going to CNA school and then to nursing school, he looked down his nose at me and said in a disgusted tone "Why would you want to do THAT?" I considered the source (he was kind of a jerk even before he made this statement) and carried on my way. Never had an issue with anyone else I can think of...

[dulcet]

So many people are going into nursing I think the perception is changing and will change even more. At least that is what I am hoping.

[amygarside]

No one ever did that to me. But maybe there are some people who talk behind my back. But I don't really care about them. All I know is, I'm living a wonderful life. :)

[bsyrn, ASN, RN]

I get looked down at every day because I am short, not because I am a nurse .

[bell1962]

People will say to me, "Why don't you go back to being a real nurse in the hospital?" I work in a school.

[dulcet]

People will say to me, "Why don't you go back to being a real nurse in the hospital?" I work in a school.

To me a school nurse sounds like a lovely job. I love kids.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I went to a prestigious all-girls high school that hardcore promoted the hard sciences and male-dominated fields. Not once did I hear them promote nursing (it was med school, etc). I have a feeling at my tenth year high school reunion, some of the faculty and classmates will turn their noses up at me for pursuing a female-dominated field.

Oddly, I went to a high-end girls' prep school just like that, too. One of my classmates there is now the nursing director for a multi-state chain of over 15 hospitals and clinic facilities, and I am not doing too damn bad either. We have both spoken at career seminars there.

Some of us are put on this earth to be examples to others, as my sweet old grandmother used to say. You can go to that reunion and have a ball!

People will say to me, "Why don't you go back to being a real nurse (in the hospital)?"

I have had opposing counsel ask me in deposition how long it has been since I worked as a nurse (I am a legal nurse / life care planner, among other things). I say, "I'm working as a nurse today." When they say, "How long has it been since you took care of patients?" I say, "I write nursing plans of care for injured people in my present job, and it's why I am here today." Then they get exasperated and ask me how long it's been since I worked bedside in a hospital. I tell them, and add that it's been a pleasure to be able to explain the expanded roles of nursing in society. They growl, and my attorney client smiles.

[HikingEDRN, BSN, RN]

When I was thinking of changing careers, I first considered medical school. I spoke with several physicians I knew, both experienced and just out of residency. One of my colleagues was married to an OBGYN who told her to tell me to go to medical school because "hanging around with a bunch of nurses will make her crazy." I won't say anything else bad about him because he was on call the night I went into labor with my son and he safely delivered him via unexpected c-section. However, when my son took a huge gulp of amniotic fluid on his way out, it was the NURSES who got him to breathe

He was a newer doctor those several years back. I think he would regret those words now.