As a student nurse I have been quite bipolar. Going through phases of loving nursing and phases of hating nursing. I have come to understand that this is a basic part of nursing. You either accept it or get out. One will have times of euphoria and one will have times leaning towards wanting to kill oneself.
I have come to retract much of my prior ideas and beliefs of nurses and nursing. I used to have a really negative view of nursing as a profession and though I have not totally shifted to a positive view, I have greatly embraced nursing as a profession and as a calling. Furthermore, I have come to greatly respect the body of knowledge that is entrusted on the "ideal nurse." But one particular issue I have, is the lack of awareness and understanding of this knowledge, both on the part of the public and on the part of the nurse herself.
Let's start with the knowledge itself. I am in nursing school and I hear all to well students comparing themselves and other nurses to doctors. I absolutely hate this. Any student or nurse who feels the need to compare themselves to a doctor does not understand the profession. An RN is an RN. We are called RN's as apposed to MDs for a reason. Because we do a DIFFERENT JOB! By no means is an RN and MD.
All too much I hear students saying "they expect us to be doctors." This drives me nuts. This saying is completely derived from laziness as well as a lack of motivation and respect for the nursing profession. This statement honestly makes me so furious! Knowing your anatomy and physiology, basic principals of immunology and microbiology and histopathology constitutes a well versed health care professional, but by no means does it constitute a physician.
Whenever a peer of mine tells me that they expect them to be a doctor, I just say "So you know the medical-school curriculum enough to compare it to the nursing school curriculum?" People come into nursing thinking that it's a quick way to making money and financial security, not even giving thought to what a nurse does or what a nurse is. Then, when they're expected to memorize the difference between rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus they complain that they are being trained as doctors! Plain laziness if you ask me.
It is clearly taught to us, in numerous classes, the scope of practice of a nurse and what a nurse can and cannot do. Furthermore, the duties and responsibilities of a nurse is clearly defined as well as the duties and responsibilities of an MD.
Another saying I hear a lot is "the material is too hard! I'm a nurse, not a doctor." Yes, the material is heavy. No, it's not the same as you learn in medical school. Stop comparing.
A major problems in nursing arise when nurses compare themselves when there's nothing to compare themselves to. Nurses compare themselves to physicians and end up feeling inferior, inadequate and resentful towards other health care professionals. It's like comparing a computer to a car. There is some minor overlap (the computer that controls the car) but for the most part they are separate, autonomous entities.
So what about this knowledge, why do nurses need to know it? Well, for one they can act as primary or secondary health care providers. They are available in outpatient, inpatient, and community settings. Most of the time, the nurse is the initial health care professional to conduct an assessment on the patient. It is this reason why a nurse needs to have a strong knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology, to be able to identify serious conditions, what is wrong with the individual and what kind of immediate interventions are needed.
Furthermore, nurses have to be able to council patients, advise them on what to do and be able to assist them in disease management and treatment. How is a nurse going to do this without knowledge of the disease process and treatment?
Nurses are expected to have strong science backgrounds. In fact, the ability of a nurse to assess, diagnose, manage and treat diseases have been well recognized across North America with the implementation of programs like Primary/Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Doctor of Nursing practice and PhD in Clinical management which all focus on heavy medical diagnoses and treatment.
So what I hope to articulate from all this is nurses are not doctors. They have their own, well defined body of knowledge as well as their own, well defined responsibilities. Nurses that feel the need to compare themselves to doctors need to understand their own profession. They need to have a better insight on what makes a nurse a nurse and what purpose a nurse serves in the grand scheme of things.
I will leave you with something interesting to ponder. Why is a patient admitted to a hospital? To formulate a diagnosis? Well, no. A doctor just needs the patient's symptoms and blood and can do the rest in a lab or office while the patient waits at home. People are admitted to the hospital because they are unstable and thus, they need nurses AND doctors. Now the thing to ponder, what happens when you take nurses out of the equation? Would a hospital be the same? Think about it.
I dont mean to be critical but I must defend your comment. RN's do not in any way, shape or form believe they are MD's however once you have gone through nursing school and have been successful at passing your state board and become a floor nurse you will see just how much responsibility is placed on a Nurse. In my years of nursing not once have I heard a nurse make this statment. However I do remember being a student and as student nurses you really think you know everything until you get out there and realize you have hit the tip of the iceburg. Please wait until you graduate and work for a while before you become so critical of what you believe to be a competition. There isn't one nurse that I know or have worked with that has ever, ever indicated this in any way. I will tell you however nurses spend an enormous amount of time with patients and if you are a good nurse the Doctors trust your opionion a millions times over and often times whether we can diagnose or not alot of the decisions made by a Doctor are as a result of a good nurse. Please don't take offense to this because I myself hate to say I told you so, but when you are in the shoes you will understand.
I do want to add I wish you all the luck in nursing school and in your future. Nursing school is very difficult and rightfully so we have alot of resonsiblility. I love being a nurse and have such pride in the respect and trust I have earned by my fellow Nurses and Doctors. Nursing and the medical field is a calling and I really want to say if it's just the money people are out there for, choose another profession we continue to need good nurses. I value my fellow nurses that are in it because they see it as a calling and really care. Nurses really do save lives.
I agree 100%! I worked in a nursing and rehab facility and believe me as busy as I was I loved my job I was supervising at the time I cannot tell you how many times I ordered tests for people and they came back positive. The Doctors where grateful to me because I took alot of the load off there shoulders. They just needed to call and let me know what medication they wanted to prescribe. None of us are perfect not even the Doctors. However, my advise to anyone who is afraid of the Doctors or hear all these horror stories is just do your homework. Know what you want and need and know the facts before you call them. Doctors hear from hundreds of people everyday and just like anyone they don't want to deal with things that are a waste of time on the job. I know many Doctors that are just plain jerks just like any other person can be but for the most part I have always had there respect. Nurses are an integral part of the medical field. I'm sure everyone has there story of how they made a life or death difference in a patient. We just all need to stick together.
Steven, just didn't get your point. You've stated over and over again that an RN is an RN, and an MD is an MD. But you failed to say specifically what your point is. In my 20 years of nursing, I've never heard an RN being compared to an MD, so I'm interested in hearing your specific meaning. Thanks.
Steven, just didn't get your point. You've stated over and over again that an RN is an RN, and an MD is an MD. But you failed to say specifically what your point is. In my 20 years of nursing, I've never heard an RN being compared to an MD, so I'm interested in hearing your specific meaning. Thanks.
You know I'm really not sure I understand either I have been trying. I said in a previous comment I have never heard this either. I feel like this is a way of taking sides but I just don't know who's side is being taken. I just never hear a nurse say they should be the Doctor. I will tell you though when I worked in the transplant department of the hospital I had many new Doctors asking me for advise and I didn't take it as I was a MD. I took it as anyone does when you are in a new profession. Doctors are told just like anyone else nurses can be your best friend. There are some nurses that because of there experience and years in the field often times can tell a Doctor whats wrong with the patient, that is a huge complement to the nurse. We are just team players that should be on the same team because we need each other when it comes to the care of the patient. To the new nurse you sound like you have mixed feeling about nursing please realize it is a very rewarding and admirable job if you are in it for the right reasons.
The article was director towards nursing students, as was emphasized =).
I don't expect you would hear this upon graduation! Unfortunately, more and more idiots are graduating. My mom is dean of Nursing at a university here, and she shakes her head at the quality of students that she has to allow graduate to meet quotas. But the program philosophy has changed so much from being med based to being "humanistic" and using humanistic as an excuse to make the course work easy.
But I don't imagine many people complaining in the states. For the most part states still operates the old way of nursing, the diploma RN which is more hands on than the theoretical perspective that a university is SUPPOSED to give. And I (as well as my mother who teaches nursing) find that students are unable to handle it and are saying that they're being trained as doctors.
Point of this post being, great that you haven't heard people say it! But unfortunately, I have. Numerous times. And not only me, but my profs have address this issue, too, saying that students are complaining about this too much. AND my mother hears this a lot too from students, saying that they feel they are in medical school.
There is more to life than what you see. Keep that in mind .
Well I just want to say I again never hear this comment as well as some of the 20 year veterans I have talked with. I am honored to have graduated from a school that started out with one hundred and ten students of which only apx. Sixty five made it through. It was sink or swim there and we didn't get any life preservers. I personally think this should be the criteria because nurses have a huge responsibility. I really don't know what University your mom works for nor do I want to that's private.The school I went to prided themselves on not pushing people through but graduating good competant new nurses that where ready to take the state exam with success.I know a lot of nurses and new nurses at that and have also had a variety of experience and I'm not the new kid on the block. Anyway there is far to much to worry about when you are in nursing school. Once people start working the roles are clearly defined for anyone that doesn't know. That is when a person realizes what an important role they have and how much they are valued or not.
Well I just want to say I again never hear this comment as well as some of the 20 year veterans I have talked with. I am honored to have graduated from a school that started out with one hundred and ten students of which only apx. Sixty five made it through. It was sink or swim there and we didn't get any life preservers. I personally think this should be the criteria because nurses have a huge responsibility. I really don't know what University your mom works for nor do I want to that's private.The school I went to prided themselves on not pushing people through but graduating good competant new nurses that where ready to take the state exam with success.I know a lot of nurses and new nurses at that and have also had a variety of experience and I'm not the new kid on the block. Anyway there is far to much to worry about when you are in nursing school. Once people start working the roles are clearly defined for anyone that doesn't know. That is when a person realizes what an important role they have and how much they are valued or not.
Did u ever think maybe the people that are making these statements are the ones that are having a hard time making it?
I've heard this complaint too, in my PN class - though not as much as you seem to - and I just have to say to myself that those who go out of their way to do everything they can will find they success, and those who don't will fall.
I'm afraid you cannot speak on behalf of the sum 1.2 million nurses that populate the world.
Ontop of that you cannot presume to know what another nurse (or even individual for that matter) feels and/or thinks. You can only interpret. This is a basic topic covered in nursing school itself!
So for you to say that no nurse feels this way is laughable, as this statement implies you are omniscient and have the ability and authority to dictate what other individuals feel and think. These traits alone would make a really awful nurse, I would hate a nurse that thinks she’s omniscient, but that’s my personal point of view.
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harleypinkno15
43 Posts
I dont mean to be critical but I must defend your comment. RN's do not in any way, shape or form believe they are MD's however once you have gone through nursing school and have been successful at passing your state board and become a floor nurse you will see just how much responsibility is placed on a Nurse. In my years of nursing not once have I heard a nurse make this statment. However I do remember being a student and as student nurses you really think you know everything until you get out there and realize you have hit the tip of the iceburg. Please wait until you graduate and work for a while before you become so critical of what you believe to be a competition. There isn't one nurse that I know or have worked with that has ever, ever indicated this in any way. I will tell you however nurses spend an enormous amount of time with patients and if you are a good nurse the Doctors trust your opionion a millions times over and often times whether we can diagnose or not alot of the decisions made by a Doctor are as a result of a good nurse. Please don't take offense to this because I myself hate to say I told you so, but when you are in the shoes you will understand.