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?

My kids were called to (respectively) a PhD in physics and a job in nuclear engineering. Ben Bradlee was called into journalism. Thomas Edison was called into inventing. Pete Townshend was called into rock. I got called in to critical care, and then other cool things in nursing.

I don't personally see a higher power involved in any of this, so perhaps it's the "called" word that's got the bad connotation.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

So here's my simplistic take on *my* nursing career.

I was sick a lot as a child and was very self-conscious and introverted. My mother was a nurse and she always had ways to make me feel better.

I really liked the 'old folks' in my town because they were nice to me , too, who didn't feel they had to pick on me the way my school-mates did.

When it was time for me to get a job, the first one I applied to was as an NA at a nursing home. I liked old people. I liked being nice to people. I liked making them feel better even if it was just for a little while. It brought me out of my self-conscious shell. It was very satisfying. And it made me like myself and feel I had value.

I asked the nurses a lot of questions and they essentially told me to quit bothering them and go to nursing school. So I did.

I figured it was a good job that suited me okay and that since people always got sick I would always have a job.

I didn't think much about the money, I was just glad to be getting a paycheck, and as long as I could keep my nose above water and pay my rent I was fine.

I still like old folks. I still like helping sick people. I still like making people feel a little more comfortable, and it is always nice that they are glad to see me.

Me, me, me! Imagine that!

After a brutal childhood I could turn it all around and fulfill my vow to myself when I was 9 years old: I'm NEVER going to treat people the way I've been treated! So, by doing for others I have helped heal myself.

A calling? I don't know about that, but I definitely feel this is where I belong.

Everything else is peripheral.

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What gets me is the absolutism of some from the "nursing is a calling" crowd. As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients. Just because I and others "got into it for the money" doesn't mean that we don't enjoy helping people or that we all hate our jobs. It's not as though the only thing keeping me from pouring my patients' meds down the sink and kicking back all shift in the break room is fear of losing my job. We provide quality care because we want a paycheck and because we care about the patients under our charge. The two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

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Specializes in critical care.
What gets me is the absolutism of some from the "nursing is a calling" crowd. As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients. Just because I and others "got into it for the money" doesn't mean that we don't enjoy helping people or that we all hate our jobs. It's not as though the only thing keeping me from pouring my patients' meds down the sink and kicking back all shift in the break room is fear of losing my job. We provide quality care because we want a paycheck and because we care about the patients under our charge. The two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

This deserves applause. I wholeheartedly agree!

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Specializes in CVOR, CVICU/CTICU, CCRN.
What gets me is the absolutism of some from the "nursing is a calling" crowd. As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients. Just because I and others "got into it for the money" doesn't mean that we don't enjoy helping people or that we all hate our jobs. It's not as though the only thing keeping me from pouring my patients' meds down the sink and kicking back all shift in the break room is fear of losing my job. We provide quality care because we want a paycheck and because we care about the patients under our charge. The two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

OK, I said I'd get off the ride, but it seems like this thread is now more about the actual topic rather than, well, the OP.

The payment for services rendered is what "work" is all about, but having a passion for what you do is not the same as feeling "called" to something. I truly believe that the overwhelming majority of nurses (exceptions exist in every field) have a passion for compassion and will go to the mat for each and every one of their patients in terms of being their advocate. Personally, I whisper a prayer before each shift for guidance and wisdom as I provide my care (and an extra dose of patience for the old guy who keeps trying to pull out his foley and all other attached lines). Does that mean I feel like a higher power called me to the bedside? Absolutely not. I simply want to be the best at what I do, regardless of what that happens to be.

Well said, BrandonLPN!

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What gets me is the absolutism of some from the "nursing is a calling" crowd. As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients. Just because I and others "got into it for the money" doesn't mean that we don't enjoy helping people or that we all hate our jobs. It's not as though the only thing keeping me from pouring my patients' meds down the sink and kicking back all shift in the break room is fear of losing my job. We provide quality care because we want a paycheck and because we care about the patients under our charge. The two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

This, exactly. I didn't dream about being a nurse since I was a little girl and am predominantly going into it because it's flexible and pays well, but also because I like to help people, like science and variety, etc. If money were the only motivation, there are other fields that pay far better (but I would hate doing).

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Specializes in critical care.
As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients.

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
[ATTACH]18027[/ATTACH]

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

You mean the guys that sang, "I want a new drug"/

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
What gets me is the absolutism of some from the "nursing is a calling" crowd. As if the only possible options are being an ascetic angel of mercy vs a money-hungry sociopath who secretly hates his patients. Just because I and others "got into it for the money" doesn't mean that we don't enjoy helping people or that we all hate our jobs. It's not as though the only thing keeping me from pouring my patients' meds down the sink and kicking back all shift in the break room is fear of losing my job. We provide quality care because we want a paycheck and because we care about the patients under our charge. The two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

Thank you for putting into words what I have felt since I first stumbled into becoming a nursing major as a college freshman because she didn't know what other major to pick.

Fast forward 12ish years (holy crap).....I really am glad I got into nursing.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
[ATTACH]18027[/ATTACH]

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

OMG, I wish I could like this a million times. If possible, the book is even more bizarre, with his weird tangents about Huey Lewis and hair product.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Does higher calling include my boss calling me to come in?

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