I post on several message boards and recently a poster stated "I hate most of the medical community" .
I wasn't going to respond at all until another poster agreed with her and then I gently reminded them that nurses were part of that community and I hope they didn't include us in that "hate".
Well they absolutely did! Apparently some personal experiences with doctors and family death, personal illness and such left them both with horrible views of nurses. I took it a tad offensively and it kind of sparked a mini battle on one board.
I must say that most of the other posters were pretty supportive saying they have had good experiences with nursing or saying no one should generalize and say they hate ALL of one profession.
I'm just really peeved at this. Like we don't get enough crap everyday as it is. No one gets it that we are humans too and deserve to be treated with respect. I've had bad medical experiences, I've had bad stuff happen with plenty of things in life, it doesn't mean ALL things are bad. I guess I just never really heard of someone HATING nurses like that, it took me by surprise.
any subsequent nurse first has to do "damage control" because of the bad experience, before they can even begin to establish a therapeutic rapport w/ the pt. sometimes it is like trying to bail while you were on the titanic!
bigsyis and emanuel goldstein are absolutely correct.
as a family member of hospital patients, i had seen enough bad stuff to make me absolutely terrified when i had to have an endoscopy/colonoscopy about a year ago. fortunately, the nurse assigned to my case was wonderfully caring and capable; i wrote to the doctor about her afterwards, and even put a "group thank you" in an earlier post on this site.
the point is that i didn't and don't hate nurses, or anybody else, but, prior to my good experience, the sight of someone in scrubs really was enough to make me very tense.
thats their problem if they hate nurses.. i get these pt's all the time that are so ungrateful. i could care less what they think. i go to work ..do my job the best i can .. if these idiots don't like it .. then go home... good riddence
My own father hates nurses. In his case, I think it is because he does not respect women. Of course nursing correlates highly with females.
He has used the words "stupid...overpaid"..."lazy gossiping fat asses" and "dumb as a door knob" to describe nurses.
Of course when he is in a hospital, he is polite to the nurses. To him, it's about getting his medication.
On the other hand - he has (((great))) respect for physicians. They are God-like to him.
Sometimes I wonder if my father isn't so unusual. Maybe we see milder streaks of my father's attitude a bit? In a society that is still sexist overall...I don't know?
There is no point in "taking on" people who say they hate nurses. Or any other group for that matter.
It can be interesting to ask a few questions. "Really. What brought that about?" "Did you have a bad experience?" "Wow. Tell me about that."
Taking offense and trying to set someone straight is usually futile and can even reinforce their bias if they start feeling defensive.
So they're wrong about nurses in general. So what. Does that change anything on our end? Will we practice any differently? If we know who we are and what we are capable of doing, why do we need anyone else's approval?
Keeping calm in the face of someone else's bluster, side-stepping attacks rather than trying to fight back, and, when appropriate, using gentle humor, can do far more to set the record straight than boatloads of arguing.
For the most part, let the misinformed be. Empathize with them over their bad experiences. Offer counter-information only if you can do so without getting angry. Live and practice in such a way that you refute their false ideas by your very existence. That's the only "debate" that really changes anyone's mind.
I think everyone has had bad experiences and unfortunately, the good ones never get brought up as much as a bad one. I have had some scary times as a pt, but the nurse i had the other day, made me proud to be a nurse. i told her "you are the reason i became a nurse". to help people and to take care of them when they need it the most . A little kindness goes a Loong way . NURSES ROCK! :yelclap:
I'd rather concentrate on the study where nurses have emerged as the #1 most honest profession. (The one year we didn't make #1 was 2001 the year of 9/11 when firemen were #1).
I agree with Miranda. Choose your battles. :)
I do know what you're saying. It bothers me too. I hate when people disrespect the entire profession based on a few experiences. We do it to ourselves in the "nurses eat their young" threads and the "nurses are catty backbiting and constantly gossip because we're a female dominated profession" threads.
It only takes one bad experience, one bad nurse...
Its pretty closed minded to take one person or one experience and hate an entire profession. And hate is a very strong word. Its like hating cops because you got a speeding ticket. There are some bad ones in tevery profession but geez...thats a little harsh.
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.
It only takes one bad experience, one bad nurse...
This is true of all occupations...and why it is repeated again and again the nurses need thick skins.
People expect us to actually care and act with general kindness, and when this is not their experience, they are disillusioned...as I am sometimes with fellow nurses.
I do know what you're saying. It bothers me too. I hate when people disrespect the entire profession based on a few experiences. We do it to ourselves in the "nurses eat their young" threads and the "nurses are catty backbiting and constantly gossip because we're a female dominated profession" threads.
Yes,yes I know. Initially I reacted to it because I did get upset just a bit. I mean I wasn't crazed or anything, it IS the internet and it IS strangers after all. But I felt the need to defend our profession and maybe educate a bit.
Its pretty closed minded to take one person or one experience and hate an entire profession. And hate is a very strong word. Its like hating cops because you got a speeding ticket. There are some bad ones in tevery profession but geez...thats a little harsh.
I agree and these points were brought up. I agree that it *was* small/close minded to say such a thing.
This is true of all occupations...and why it is repeated again and again the nurses need thick skins.
People expect us to actually care and act with general kindness, and when this is not their experience, they are disillusioned...as I am sometimes with fellow nurses.
Well speaking for myself, my skin is fairly thick after 10 years in the biz. I just don't like trash talk about us!!! Nope! I'll stand tall for us whenever possible. I guess that I'm more used to dealing with frustrated pt's but actual deep rooted hate was something new. It bothered me.
This is America, and people have the constitutional right to feel hatred toward other persons, places, objects, and occupations. Their hatred might be rather misguided, although there's nothing we can do except educate these people on the precise role of nurses in society. I'm not too worried about a few people who hate nurses because many people love us so much that they'd like to become one of us. This is evidenced by the countless number of pre-nursing students who end up on waiting lists, begging for the chance to become nurses someday.
What a great attitude! I love it.
Seriously, who gives a flyin' fig what those people think? As TheCommuter said, most hatred is misguided. Chances are they've never been in a hospital or otherwise cared for by a nurse. People like to generalize. They meet a person who is part of a group and judge the whole group by that one person. And naturally, they pick the worst of the bunch instead of the one who is a shining example.
Lots of people hate broccoli and I love it. Doesn't bother me in the least. They are entitled to their opinion.
People don't like to be told "NO". In my job as a nurse I have to say no to many requests pts. have, or pt. families. NO smoking, NO food or drink, you're NPO, No overnight children, NO, it's not time for your MS, NO, you can't leave to go to Burger King with your friends...or, NO, I won't come in on my day off to work an extra shift.
Nope! I'll stand tall for us whenever possible. I guess that I'm more used to dealing with frustrated pt's but actual deep rooted hate was something new. It bothered me..thumb.gif.fc0b5b00a77a1cf676541776e02de0f9.gif){kind=avatar}
MG-NotANurse
23 Posts
bigsyis and emanuel goldstein are absolutely correct.
as a family member of hospital patients, i had seen enough bad stuff to make me absolutely terrified when i had to have an endoscopy/colonoscopy about a year ago. fortunately, the nurse assigned to my case was wonderfully caring and capable; i wrote to the doctor about her afterwards, and even put a "group thank you" in an earlier post on this site.
the point is that i didn't and don't hate nurses, or anybody else, but, prior to my good experience, the sight of someone in scrubs really was enough to make me very tense.
mg