Higher Calling

Nurses Relations

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Why is it that nurses are informed from the beginning of their education and throughout their careers that nursing is a higher calling? Is this being taught to management and administrators as well? Rhetorical questions, as a male, in a female-dominated profession, and coming from the corporate world it is rather disingenuous and would never be tolerated in "male" dominated professions. I'm expected to take care of you or your family, and in return I get to work in sub-par environments with sub-par compensation. Why am I nothing more than a liability on the balance sheet?

I was never "called" to nursing. I could easily leave to do another job that paid just as well.

I love to work with people. Before I became a nurse I worked as a hairdresser. When the economy tanked, so did business at the salon. I wanted a job where I could predict my paycheck. And here I am. Take it or leave it. It's a job and not in the top 5 things that are most important to me.

I sometimes think my detached feeling from it allows me to see emergencies through pretty neutral eyes, but I know plenty of more passionate nurses who do well under pressure as well.

Oh, I would say being a nurse is one of the top 5 things that defines me. As would be any career I've had for 22 years.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

WOW. Horrible assumption.

, having 10 months of education, the compensation may seem fair. I'm guessing you haven't been exposed to other fields and I definitely think your outlook would be the minority in the Philadelphia area. Good for you.
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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

WHY the insulting tone? Honestly, you come across arrogant and rude.

You are missing the larger point, either intentionally, due to an agenda or you like being argumentative, or possibly due to a reading disability. I never equated a higher calling with being a successful nurse and my point is that nurses are unfairly treated and underpaid. This is justified by employers by manipulation, playing off of women's innate instinct to care and nurture over men's nature. Sorry, if that's stereotypical, but it's true, and yes, there are exceptions.

What about comparing a BSN with other bachelor degrees? An ASN will not even get you an interview at the vast majority of the hospitals in the Philadelphia area and certainly not any of the prestigious hospitals. There are plenty of professions that don't even require a degree that pay better and have much better working conditions, and guess what, they are all male dominated.

I was educated at one of the best nursing schools in the country and don't believe that they are any less progressive than the community college you received your education at.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

WOW now I am done. Insult after insult. To other posters and now "older nurses". Incredible. So done with you and this thread.

Nursing needs to change and hopefully when old ideas and old nurses leave the profession there will be greater opportunities and less resistance to the possibility. The defense of horrible working conditions and sub-par compensation baffles me. It's much like the defense of an abusive partner and the denial that people live in out of fear of the unknown or they don't believe they deserve better.

!

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Specializes in Primary Care, OR.

This feels like one of those trickery/bait/rant/terrorize threads.....

Where the OP makes some "well known" statement that no one else has experienced.

Then when you reply with nope sorry no call/happy with job/career mobility/return on investment, your met with...

"well your just some barefoot lowly WOMAN who went to COMMUNITY COLLEGE and you don't KNOW any better"

😂

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WOW. Horrible assumption.

Ah, but he's made no assumptions, no attacks, no insults of any kind. Why would you take offense to any of it, he's clearly just.....chatting? ;)

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Come now, ladies. He's here to save us all from ourselves, dontcha know?

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If only it were merely a baiting thread by one of our better-known trolls, it would probably get dismissed as such.

Unfortunately, his attitude is not unique, is not unique to a whole cadre of graduates of nursing programs within the last several years who blame everything they dislike about the profession--including their inability to land their 'Dream Job'---on everyone and anyone.

The problem is older nurses who won't change. The problem is younger nurses who don't know better (or, at least don't know as much as the person griping). The problem is a female-dominated profession, the problem is it isn't really a profession (blue collar vs. white collar rears up from time to time). Let's not forget that the problem is also not enough education and too much required education.

And so on.

People who are unhappy with the hole they've dug for themselves, perhaps by taking out too many loans or otherwise getting into too much debt in pursuing the much-vaunted, ever-needed Nursing Career, can get pretty nasty sometimes.

Thing is, we tell kindergarteners to play nicely, you don't have to like the game that Susie chose, but you get to choose the game NEXT time, so....there you go. And you don't like the game that you chose because you aren't winning? Sorry...you'll have to wait until you get to choose another game.

Life. What a trip.

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Specializes in Primary Care, OR.
Come now, ladies. He's here to save us all from ourselves, dontcha know?

Yes! I forgot to thank him for advocating for us since we're all working in trash and remaining silent, holding our bladders in our hands and crying in the broom closet, only to collect that lousy wage!!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
I can't say I have been hit too hard with the calling aspect of nursing but I have witnessed, as in other fields such as education, the mindset that "if I don't do it who will?" which I interpret as not only codependency with secondary self-esteem gain but also minimizing the fact they are overworked and underpaid.

As a nurse and now NP I do not feel as if I have been compromised or under paid. I have however changed jobs when I felt the workload was shifting to unreasonable and also when I had the opportunity to make more money elsewhere. Some of it is what the individual is willing to tolerate and while I get there are reasons such as location, family obligations etc. that people cite as the motivation to being treated poorly by their employer I have attempted to resist putting myself in a position that would require me to compromise especially with regard to income. I do believe some of it has to do with the fact that nursing has more women than men. Overall I have truly loved my entire nursing career however not for one minute would I be willing to do it for less than I feel I am worth.

Damn I feel totally gypped! I actually posted what I felt was a thoughtful response addressing some of the OPs comments which I happened to somewhat agree on with suggestions for how we can avoid the pitfalls of feeling put upon.

Then again I'm just a barefoot, old, nurse who yup you guessed it started with only a community college education. :D

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Everyone ...

This thread has been reported a few times and it has Staff shaking their collective heads.

I'm not sure what to say except, please stop taking on each other in rude, judgmental tones using language such as troll, learning/reading disability, etc.

Then, if you report, please do not further engage. It just adds fuel to the fire and everything keeps on keeping on, ya know?

How about everyone, including the OP, take a step back and chill a little with the discussion. Return with clearer heads.

Sound like a plan??

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First, I do not live my life based on popular beliefs or a consensus of opinions and because no one likes” my comments on nursing does not invalidate them.

I have the highest respect for women and believe at the end of the day they are the superior gender. That's a huge part of why I was genuinely shocked when I pulled back the curtain of nursing and seen what a disarray it is in. You can deny, deflect, and personally attack me all you want. The problem is that does not better your situation or conditions. You may like your job, but I got news for you, it can, and it should be better.

If you go back to my original post there wasn't an individual attacked and pointing out facts are not personal attacks. Why feel insulted that I pointed out that LPNs have 10 months education or an associate's degree is not the same education as a BSN?

Nursing being a higher calling may not be taught in school or said out loud, but it is at the fundamental core of the nursing philosophy. It's still being used to this day: Nursing Calling. Most of the comments do not address the original idea and are personal in nature. It's not much fun at work and definitely not my idea of fun at home. I'm giving up my short lived stint on Allnurses.com and hope you guys have fun. Peace.

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