An article passed my way last night written by an East Carolina University student arguing about the availability of birth control in the student health center.
http://theeastcarolinian.com/?p=1138
What was really disturbing wasn't thebile spewed towards women taking responsibility for themselves (advocate for birth control or not, I'm not here to argue that one). It was that this young man is a senior in the nursing program.
The article was slightly sanitized on the site, but it was captured for all eternity on the internet. I suggest reading it (if you can stomach it!).
http://rebekahtodd.tumblr.com/post/10814214583/east-carolinian-releases-outrageous-column-on-birth
That's right! This young man is going to be entering our ranks in a few short months!
Someone who believes that a woman who engages in sex is actually a prostitute.
Someone who wants to be in an industry around a large majority of coworkers that will be offended when he insults them for having a ******** (but he uses the real word).
Someone who wants to be a nurse, but doesn't know that his case of the sniffles is going to be treated with fluids and rest.
If you were a preceptor and one of your students acted like this, what would you think about their ability to provide adequate and equal care? Would a nursing instructor think he was sleeping in his nursing ethics class and not paying attention to the section on triage in his textbook? More importantly, if young Ben Cochran passes his NCLEX and is licensed, what is a nursing manager going to think when she googles his name before the interview and this is the number one hit?
If he becomes a nurse someday, I'm going to be ashamed on behalf of my gender. I apologize in advance to all of you ladies.
ETA: I forgot to mention that I don't believe the apology in the editorial. His Facebook page shows him gloating about receiving all of the attention and hate mail.