Higher Calling

[guest449786]

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?

[theradiantforce]

My understanding about the higher calling bit is that it DOES take a special type of person to be able to handle nursing and be good at it. For every specialty in nursing, some can hack it others can't so, it is kind of like a "higher calling". I LOVE NICU and hear people say it isn't for them on a near weekly basis. A friend of mine works burn and I have no idea how she walks through the doors everyday. Different strokes.

Also, many many cultures and people still regard nurses with extremely high respect believe it or not. All in all, I've seen nurses who only go into for "job stability and money" and guess what? They are the same ones on here complaining of night shift and actually having to care for a human being. It is not a job you can go into without having a little something extra invested in it besides needing to pay rent. But that's just my opinion.

[kakamegamama]

Well, goodness gracious somebody got miffed....anyway......for some of us nursing is indeed a calling. For some of us, it is not. Whether it is or isn't doesn't really matter to me like it once did. Although to me it is a calling, I can appreciate the fact that to others it's a means to an end and no shame in that. What really matters to me is: quality patient care, treating others the way i want to be treated, working together in some form or fashion to bring about positive change in a profession that is challenging more often than not, often under-appreciated, and exhausting/mind boggling/wearing and tearing on the old (yep, old) body. Sometimes I DO think however, that if one goes into it only for the money/stability? that person will eventually find it less satisfying. However, I could be wrong. I find it quite interesting that a profession that began with the Knights Templar and Crusade "medics" ( men) has over the years morphed into a profession that the majority are women. Not sure why. Anyway, just my two cents worth. The OP did have some valid concerns, imho, but I think his delivery system kinda sorta rankled, to put it mildly......

[ixchel]

Is that you arm with the white "nursey" watch?

Ha! I wish. Between kids, a hubs who works second shift, school and now work, I'd have to photoshop all those arms into the picture because I now have ZERO social life. I'm pretty sure just smelling a beer would get me drunk at this point, anyway. So I can pretend drink with you, if you'd like. We can be pathetic on the interwebs together.

I'm just realizing this thread has just been killed completely. Sorry, OP.

[Red Kryptonite]

Many liberal art majors find that the job market is far too tight for whatever esoteric subject they majored in, and they wind up being para-professionals with four-year degrees making 14 bucks an hour.

BA political science 1997 checking in. Woot!

To be fair I had planned to go to law school but reevaluated because that career is not very family friendly. So here I am, a CNA in LPN school 18 years later.

[nursel56]

I never heard anything about a higher calling either in nursing school or as a teen volunteer at the Catholic Hospital next door to my Catholic High School. To my mind when I read the "calling" in nursing I think of Jennifer Jones recital of the Florence Nightingale Pledge in the already super-sentimental movie Since You Went Away.

What I have noticed as the years roll by is that there is a general association between traditional accouterments of nursing (whites, caps, school pins) and the supposed subservience and "handmaiden" status of nurses. I absolutely reject those associations, but by the mid-seventies where I was there was no remnant of submissive nurses that I could see.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I find it ironic that there are many threads on here lamenting the poor working conditions, under staffing and compressed wages, ie lucky to get a 2% raise and now everyone is attacking him for stating the same. I agree nurses are underpaid and should be getting good regular raises and this is not the case in many places. People on here have mentioned they have not even had raises in some instances and a 2-3% raise doesn't even keep up with inflation. Some people have mentioned that starting pay has gone down for new hires. How about clinical ladders with a one time raise and a demotion clause to rescind that raise in the future if you don't jump thru the ever changing hoops? Not to mention health insurance has just gotten worse and more expensive which essentially results in a pay cut esp for anyone with a chronic health problem. Now we have to be weighed and measured, our blood work taken and wear afit bit or pay a privacy penalty!

So while I agree that his tone was not the best, I think there is truth to what he is saying. Unfortunately I don't have any real solutions to the problem. Other than if the National Nurse United were able to unionize hospitals across the nation and get federal staffing laws, and no lift environments like similar legislation in CA. Healthcare is a corporation and will pay as little as they can get away with and staff as cheaply as possible without laws or unions!

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

I think like many professions nursing CAN be a calling in the sense that you feel like you were born to do it or would do it for free. Do you have to feel called to be a good nurse? I don't think so. I also think its dismissive and a little rude to call it horsepucky or garbage when someone feels it is their calling

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

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.

Interesting -- you've displayed the same bad attitude and accusations of agendas vs. lack of reading comprehension on another thread. I guess that's what passes for logic, a coherent argument or a point in your mind. Trotting out ancient and overused stereotypes doesn't pass for thinking, either.

I've been a nurse for a long time, and I've always been treated (and paid) fairly. The "higher calling" business seems to stem from the days when nursing WAS a religious calling, and perhaps some religion-based programs still spout that nonsense. But most of us in the twenty-first century know better.

I am just sorry that your experience with nursing has been so negative. Perhaps that says more about you, however, than it says about our profession.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Not arguing with myself regarding my education, as I stated, I don't believe my education was less progressive than theirs. My statements only leave open the possibility that it may not have been as progressive as I believed it to be.

Suggesting that one may have a learning disability was not meant to be a negative and I'm unsure why you took such offense to this?

You project and deflect with every post and fail to ever address the issue that I put fourth. It's okay if it doesn't excite you or you find no interest in it. I don't appreciate your assumptions and venting due to your lack of understanding or interest.

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.

Tell the nurse in Texas who contracted EBOLA how great nursing is. Tell all the nurses who drop out after two years, which has one of the worse attrition rates of any industry. Tell all the nurses who work with dangerous ratios and are unable to give quality care and sometimes fail to give safe care. Tell the administration that it's okay that benefits are cut, equipment isn't available or fails, and continue to fool yourself into thinking that I'm the problem.

No wonder the profession has one of the highest depression rates of any industry.

I initiated the conversation and I think it's only fair that I choose to end it as well.

Now we're done...Peace!

Suggesting that someone may have a learning disability because they've disagreed with you IS negative, and if you don't get that, perhaps you are the one with the comprehension problem.

I'm not quite sure what those "horrible working conditions" you refer to over and over would be. We're indoors with heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer and a roof to keep the rain off. That beats any number of professions for working conditions. The compensation has afforded me a nice life over the years. No, I can't have EVERYTHING I want, but I can have a comfortable home, a reliable car, nice vacations, steak for dinner every now and again and the odd designer handbag. I'm not living in a mansion, but if money were that important to me, I probably would have chosen another career. I have a career that's interesting, challenging and flexible.

Ebola aside, the fact that nurses drop out after two years is less a condemnation of nursing than it is a commentary on the lack of congruence with their expectations and the reality of nursing. People drop out of social work, the law and education after two years as well when their expectations aren't met.

I find it offensive that you would compare enjoying my career with defense of an abusive partner. Clearly, you have no idea.

But if you've had the last word and you're gone now, that's OK.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

This is a forum for nurses, nursing students, etc., and the title of the webpage is allnurses.com. Personally, I can't speak for doctors, and apparently I can't have an opinion about nursing. Again, baffling that I'm personally attacked for advocating for better conditions for nurses.

Within 3 years I will be in independent practice and only loosely associated with the field. I won't be providing patient care or working with other nurses. I don't really have a dog in the fight at that point, but I'm genuinely surprised at the denial and resistance to the idea that nursing is flawed and needs to change. It needs to change not only for nurses, but our patients, resident, clients, or clever name here. I haven't posted much here and don't mind honest debate, but I get personally attacked and accused of being something I'm not.

Nursing was built on the idea that it is a higher calling and to the people saying I've never heard that, too bad. From those beginnings and that fact that it's a female dominated profession, for better or worse, this is the end results. Apparently I'm in the minority in thinking that nursing can be improved upon and glad I'm only passing through.

You aren't advocating for better conditions for nurses; you're attacking nurses for putting up with what YOU consider to be "subpar" conditions and pay. When you come into a conversation swinging, it shouldn't surprise you that folks get a bit worked up over your nastiness and your misogyny.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Well, goodness gracious somebody got miffed....anyway......for some of us nursing is indeed a calling. For some of us, it is not. Whether it is or isn't doesn't really matter to me like it once did. Although to me it is a calling, I can appreciate the fact that to others it's a means to an end and no shame in that. What really matters to me is: quality patient care, treating others the way i want to be treated, working together in some form or fashion to bring about positive change in a profession that is challenging more often than not, often under-appreciated, and exhausting/mind boggling/wearing and tearing on the old (yep, old) body. Sometimes I DO think however, that if one goes into it only for the money/stability? that person will eventually find it less satisfying. However, I could be wrong. I find it quite interesting that a profession that began with the Knights Templar and Crusade "medics" ( men) has over the years morphed into a profession that the majority are women. Not sure why. Anyway, just my two cents worth. The OP did have some valid concerns, imho, but I think his delivery system kinda sorta rankled, to put it mildly......

No calling here -- I went into it for the money, job stability, career flexibility and because physiology fascinated me. After nearly forty years, I'm still interested, still find it rewarding and satisfying. I've found, though, that those who DO have a calling tend to burn out faster. Just my anecdotal observations -- maybe someday someone will do a scientific study on the phenomenon.

[Libby1987]

Not arguing with myself regarding my education, as I stated, I don't believe my education was less progressive than theirs. My statements only leave open the possibility that it may not have been as progressive as I believed it to be.

Suggesting that one may have a learning disability was not meant to be a negative and I'm unsure why you took such offense to this?

You project and deflect with every post and fail to ever address the issue that I put fourth. It's okay if it doesn't excite you or you find no interest in it. I don't appreciate your assumptions and venting due to your lack of understanding or interest.

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.

Tell the nurse in Texas who contracted EBOLA how great nursing is. Tell all the nurses who drop out after two years, which has one of the worse attrition rates of any industry. Tell all the nurses who work with dangerous ratios and are unable to give quality care and sometimes fail to give safe care. Tell the administration that it's okay that benefits are cut, equipment isn't available or fails, and continue to fool yourself into thinking that I'm the problem.

No wonder the profession has one of the highest depression rates of any industry.

I initiated the conversation and I think it's only fair that I choose to end it as well.

Now we're done...Peace!

when the old nurses leave..

nursing didn't really start to be sucky until the new nurses came along, if you think about it. It was pretty sweet back when *we* had control of it.