Have you ever been told

[purple10]

Have you ever been told by someone (non-nurse)that nursing is easy? because "the only thing nurses do, is give out meds"

I was told this the other day and I wanted to slap the person silly

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Not exactly. I think a lot of people don't realize exactly what nurses do, and I got a lot of comments about whether I was sure I wanted to be wiping people's butts and dealing with vomit all day.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Everyone, except for nurses, are completely oblivious to what nurses are and what they do.....

[RPN_2012]

Have you ever been told by someone (non-nurse)that nursing is easy? because "the only thing nurses do, is give out meds"

I was told this the other day and I wanted to slap the person silly

Yes, and I wanted to thow something heavy at them:mad:, and I'm not even a nurse yet, I'm a 1st semester nursing student! I can't stand it when people say things like that, about things they know nothing about! The public in general is VERY missinformed about what nurses do, what nursing school entails etc, etc... It frustrating to say the least! They either think that nurse do nothing but empty bed pans, other says we nurses do nothing but give pills all day long, other think we just do what the doctor says etc, etc, ugh:uhoh3:.

[schack]

I work in OB, so I constantly get "it must be so nice to rock babies all day"... Yeah right! I just smile and bite my tongue!

[MissJulie]

I'm not a nurse, yet, but I did get an odd comment about being in nursing school. My younger sister's friend, evidently, was to be a Physician Assistant, which is all well and good, but she's not exactly a great student in the sciences... Anyway, one day, she said to me, "So, you're in the nursing program, right?" Now, at our school, the nursing program (RN or LPN) is pretty much the toughest program to be in, so I was prepared to get the glory of it all when I said, "Yes, the RN program."

Her: "I feel sorry for you."

All I could do was blink and stand there with my mouth open, so I said, "Why?"

She said, "Because that's so hard."

Me: "Well, sometimes the hardest things to get are the most valuable. This is a valuable degree and liscense."

Her: "Are you sure?"

Me: "Yes, and what are your career goals?"

Her: "Physician Assistant"

So, I, in my wonderful wisdom tell her that I was once going for that, but that after some soul searching, I decided that nursing was a better fit because I would actually be helping the patients, not writing prescriptions and sending people for tests, etc. And do you know what the little runt said in response?

Her: "That's good for you, but I don't want to SETTLE to be a nurse."

All I could do was walk away before I exploded on her. The thing is, her mother is a nurse, and she got her degree at the same school!

The only reasoning I can figure for this is that she wants to go above and beyond her mother's training, which is fine. But, by saying that I was settling to be a nurse instead of PA was completely insulting not only to myself and the entire nursing world, but her mother in particular.

And another thing, evidently this poor girl doesn't know what it takes to even get into PA school. First, she doesn't understand the fact that she'll have to get her BS in either Biology or Chemistry to get the required prereqs, then there's getting into the program, then going for two years non-stop to get through it. Oh, and did I mention she's been working on an asosciates degree in science for about 3.5 years? By the time she gets to her goal, if she makes it, she'll be her mother's age and no farther than her. And, she'll probably be expecting her mom to still be paying her bills.

Sorry if this offends anyone, it's just that she really got under my skin! Isn't it crazy when people can just plant that little bug in your ear and it stays there forever just buzzing and irritating you until you go insane? Seems like that's what she did to me, and putting all of it out here where someone else could understand helps a lot.

Julie :)

[VivaRN]

Me: I'm a nurse.

obsessive TV-watching cousin: The nurse stands there while the doctor tells her what to do.

She was being totally serious.

Had to take a few deep breaths before I could seize that teaching moment.

[ObtundedRN, BSN, RN]

"the only thing nurses do, is give out meds"

Giving meds is more of a nuisance to me. In school I thought, "Oh cool, I get to play with needles, and IV meds!" I'm in critical care now, and I look at that long MAR with many different IV meds and meds that have to be crushed and put down a tube. It takes a lot of time away from other things I need to get done for my patient. lol.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Have you ever been told by someone (non-nurse)that nursing is easy? because "the only thing nurses do, is give out meds"

I was told this the other day and I wanted to slap the person silly

Yes. Funny enough, it was on one of our "crazy" days.

[leslie :-D]

my family too, was oblivious as to what nsg entailed.

i gave them copies of my nclex practice test.

ea and every person, literally dropped their jaws.

seriously, as esme stated, no one has a clue...

except for nurses themselves.

leslie

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

my mother always told me that all nurses did was sit at the nurse's station, drink coffee and tell the aides what to do. after more than 30 years as a nurse, i still haven't convinced her otherwise.

[TDCHIM]

Wow, that's completely ignorant. Even before I (a non- and never-will be-nurse) wandered onto this site, I was aware there was a lot more to nursing than "doing what the doctor says" or "wiping people's butts." How sad and scary it is that people are so clueless about the true nature of nursing!

If it makes y'all feel any better, half my extended family still thinks I'm going to school to be a "medical transcriptionist." Yes, because I'd need a bachelor's degree to do that.... I don't know what hurts the most when I hear that: my tongue, my head, or my pride! :)