Is this true of nursing?

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Today a high school student shadowed me since she wanted to know what I do at my job (I am a community Nutritionist). She wants to become an RD but in my heart I was wishing I could convince her otherwise to pursue something like nursing. RDs are paid very poory. I currently make abour 40K with 7 years experience although I have a 8-5 job-no weekends, no holidays, flexible schedule including work from home if you choose to, but I still cannot get away from the idea of nursing. I saw this post from another RD and I wanted to know if this is typically what nursing entails. This is what she had to say:

"My sister is also an RN. I would never, ever, ever do what she does. Her work is physically hard. She makes good money. Better than me. My hours are better. Her pay is better, but she deserves it. Wipe a few butts, girls, with stool stuck on all sides. She would agree. I use my mind and she does labor. She likes what she does. I like what I do. It takes a very special person to be a nurse. An RD can be physically as involed as she wants to be. I look, without problem, but don't touch and don't want to."

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Yes, it's true, but it's not a "gross" job to those of us who love it. We see helping people wipe their butts as doing something the pt cannot do at the time, so we help......HOWEVER, it's only a small part of what we do. We are also responsible for their lives, as action or inaction can result in pt harm. Nursing is an exciting field, and those who think that all we do is wipe butts is dead wrong.

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I use my mind and she does labor.

re rd vs nursing- i am not agreeing with above statement.

yes- rd uses their mind.

but yes- nurses use their mind on mental, emotional, intellectual, spiritual levels...

as well as intensive physical labor.

i honestly don't know what goes first when we burn out-

our backs or our brains.

leslie

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Yes, it's true, but it's not a "gross" job to those of us who love it. We see helping people wipe their butts as doing something the pt cannot do at the time, so we help......HOWEVER, it's only a small part of what we do. We are also responsible for their lives, as action or inaction can result in pt harm. Nursing is an exciting field, and those who think that all we do is wipe butts is dead wrong.

I totally agree. One may never understand how important nurses are until you become a patient yourself and need help with some of the most basic things like those mentioned above, and then a nurse does it with a smile on her face, making it look like it's normal and nothing to be embarassed about. It makes me love nurses even more---especialy the polite ones who are always smiling.

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Today a high school student shadowed me since she wanted to know what I do at my job (I am a community Nutritionist). She wants to become an RD but in my heart I was wishing I could convince her otherwise to pursue something like nursing. RDs are paid very poory. I currently make abour 40K with 7 years experience although I have a 8-5 job-no weekends, no holidays, flexible schedule including work from home if you choose to, but I still cannot get away from the idea of nursing. I saw this post from another RD and I wanted to know if this is typically what nursing entails. This is what she had to say:

"My sister is also an RN. I would never, ever, ever do what she does. Her work is physically hard. She makes good money. Better than me. My hours are better. Her pay is better, but she deserves it. Wipe a few butts, girls, with stool stuck on all sides. She would agree. I use my mind and she does labor. She likes what she does. I like what I do. It takes a very special person to be a nurse. An RD can be physically as involed as she wants to be. I look, without problem, but don't touch and don't want to."

Maybe you should do what this high school student did and shadow a nurse for a day or two. Then you probably will realize how blessed you are. I know many nurses who make the same money as you do or not much more, and they work like dogs for this money. I got away from bedside after 2 years of doing it, and I still have nightmares about it. No money will make up for this abuse. Sorry to sound so negative, but I wish I knew about nursing as much as I know now before I traded my office job to the glory of nursing.

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:flmngmd::flmngmd::flmngmd:nurses are not mindless

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Why does "butt wiping" always have to come up?

Someone asked me why I wanted to leave a high-paying career to wipe butts. This makes me very angry.:banghead:

What's so wrong with "butt wiping"? Why do we have to justify it by emphasizing what a small part of the job it is?

I hope that people who think we are nothing but "butt wipers" someday become helpless and require peri-anal care, and that a professional nurse provides it for them with the efficiency dignity they deserve.

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Why does "butt wiping" always have to come up?

Someone asked me why I wanted to leave a high-paying career to wipe butts. This makes me very angry.:banghead:

What's so wrong with "butt wiping"? Why do we have to justify it by emphasizing what a small part of the job it is?

I hope that people who think we are nothing but "butt wipers" someday become helpless and require peri-anal care, and that a professional nurse provides it for them with the efficiency dignity they deserve.

I think butt wiping comes up because most people hate to deal with bodily functions, and nursing has more of it then probably any other profession.

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I would add that not all aspects of Nursing are labor intensive. Yes.. the majority of it is, but there are areas of nursing that are not as physically demanding. Teaching, research, legal nurse advisor, insurance nurse, maybe working in a doctor's office (yes, busy, but not like ER, etc.) It's not all grueling physical work, just so you know. :clown:

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Specializes in Neuro/Trauma SICU.
Today a high school student shadowed me since she wanted to know what I do at my job (I am a community Nutritionist). She wants to become an RD but in my heart I was wishing I could convince her otherwise to pursue something like nursing. RDs are paid very poory. I currently make abour 40K with 7 years experience although I have a 8-5 job-no weekends, no holidays, flexible schedule including work from home if you choose to, but I still cannot get away from the idea of nursing. I saw this post from another RD and I wanted to know if this is typically what nursing entails. This is what she had to say:

"My sister is also an RN. I would never, ever, ever do what she does. Her work is physically hard. She makes good money. Better than me. My hours are better. Her pay is better, but she deserves it. Wipe a few butts, girls, with stool stuck on all sides. She would agree. I use my mind and she does labor. She likes what she does. I like what I do. It takes a very special person to be a nurse. An RD can be physically as involed as she wants to be. I look, without problem, but don't touch and don't want to."

Is this suggesting that we don't use our minds?!?!?! Maybe I am being defensive but thats how I read it. If I don't think at work my patients can die in minutes. I hope thats not what the poster was saying.. :madface:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.

http://www.dietitiancentral.com/mb/thread.cfm?TID=1904

That's a link to the original topic the OP is speaking of. It's nice to see that in some ways our contributions are respected as being more valuable to the patient even though I get the impression that they believe that nursing is not as rigorous academically as dietary. I'm always interested to read what goes on in other disciplines. I had no idea that the field of nutrition was so cutthroat, lol.

To the OP: if she doesn't want to be a nurse, for goodness sake don't push it! Nursing should only be pursued by those who really, really want it. She'll find her way in time.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
Is this suggesting that we don't use our minds?!?!?!

No she wasn't "suggesting" it, she was saying it outright.

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