Just another misrepresentation of nurses

leslie :-D · Jul 22, 2007

w/o a doubt, the image of nsg is the biggest thorn on my side.

the media depicts us as bimbos.

most everyone treats us like dirt.

the only reason i stay is because my pts seems to like me. :balloons:

i don't know what the answer is.

but i'm 'this' close to giving everyone the proverbial bird.

the only thing in my control is to command respect on an individual level.

and i do.

i'd like to just ignore the utter disrespect.

afterall, it is the ignorant who fail to recognize our value and worth.

since i'm getting older, then everyone else is too.

and so, health will seemingly deteriorate.

one day, these people will need our services.

who will be eating crow then?

leslie

NurseCherlove · Jul 22, 2007

w/o a doubt, the image of nsg is the biggest thorn on my side.
the media depicts us as bimbos.
most everyone treats us like dirt.
the only reason i stay is because my pts seems to like me. :balloons:
i don't know what the answer is.
but i'm 'this' close to giving everyone the proverbial bird.
the only thing in my control is to command respect on an individual level.
and i do.
i'd like to just ignore the utter disrespect.
afterall, it is the ignorant who fail to recognize our value and worth.
since i'm getting older, then everyone else is too.
and so, health will seemingly deteriorate.
one day, these people will need our services.
who will be eating crow then?
leslie

I hear ya. It can be so disturbing! I just try to hold on to the positive comments from those who've "seen the light". Here's another good one I've heard from a patient...."We know who does all the work" (in reference to nurses taking better care of patients than the doctors, as the lady was complaining about the docs).

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 23, 2007

I have been feeling this too - and I'm not even a nurse yet!

What I have noticed, and what gets reinforced every day in clinical, is that our main function is to be a glorified waitress. I was blown away by this. I was muttering about having to spend so much time running for coffee when the nurse I was working with said "doing stuff like that is 80% of the job." I must have had a look of horror on my face. She went on to say "it's my favorite part of the job."

I've been kind of bummed ever since that day. I kind of thought patient care was the priority. It makes me profoundly sad that everyone looks at nurses like they are waitresses. Granted I would be a well-paid waitress, but this isn't what I had in mind when I decided to go to nursing school.

EmmaG, RN · Jul 23, 2007

If I win the lottery, I'm calling in.

"Are you sick?"

"No, I'm RICH!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Well heck. I can dream...

:w00t:

Jilaweez, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 23, 2007

If I win the lottery, I'm calling in.
"Are you sick?"
"No, I'm RICH!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Well heck. I can dream...
:w00t:

:lol2: Right, let's look on the bright side.....we could only hope it would happen to a lucky nurse somewhere!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2007

It basically showed this very brazen, stern woman talking to a nurse saying something like, "And you call yourself a nurse... the bedpans in rooms X, X, and X need to be emptied and Mr. X still needs his enema prep."

Typically, my workday is not guided by verbal orders and instructions that are being bestowed upon me by a 'boss.' The last time I had to work under the close supervision of a 'boss' or 'supervisor' was 3 years ago, when I was a factory worker. I have more autonomy than that! No one has ever given me a verbal directive to empty a bedpan, urine bag, or so forth. Hence, this portrayal of bedside nursing is grossly inaccurate.

Hoozdo, ADN · Jul 25, 2007

What I have noticed, and what gets reinforced every day in clinical, is that our main function is to be a glorified waitress. I was blown away by this. I was muttering about having to spend so much time running for coffee when the nurse I was working with said "doing stuff like that is 80% of the job." I must have had a look of horror on my face. She went on to say "it's my favorite part of the job."

I only wish 80% of my job was getting coffee! What kind of floor are you doing clinicals on? 60% of my job is being a pharmacist/doctor while trying to stay within the nursing scope of practice! My other time is split between doing things a nursing aide could do, charting, and running around hunting up drugs and administering them. I would estimate I spend 0.2% of my time waitressing.

bigsyis · Jul 25, 2007

Saw that commercial, thought that it was STOOPID.

BTW, on the way to work today I heard a commercial for the same lottery that said if you won the lottery today you could send flowers to every patient in the hospital. Nice thought.

NursingAgainstdaOdds · Jul 25, 2007

On the same track...I was watching "Big Medicine" the other day, the more senior partner was attempting to insert a Foley in an anesthetized surgical patient. He couldn't get it in, said something about the meatus being blocked by the foreskin, actually performed a partial circumcision (I was really wondering if consent had been given for that, considering the pt was in for laproscopic bariatric surgery...), and eventually agreed to a urologist coming in. Eventually.

So the urologist comes in, and it's the surgeon holding the member, the urologist inserting the Foley, and the nurse holding an instrument tray. The urologist, of course, gets the Foley in.

Later, to the cameras, the surgeon proclaims that the nurse was not holding the patient correctly, which is why he couldn't get the Foley in the first time. Riiiiiight. It couldn't have been the expertise of the urologist that got the Foley in, it had to be the ineptitude of the nurse which kept it out. :trout:

Yeah, that was a really long, convoluted description. But it annoyed the hell outta me.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 25, 2007

I only wish 80% of my job was getting coffee! What kind of floor are you doing clinicals on? 60% of my job is being a pharmacist/doctor while trying to stay within the nursing scope of practice! My other time is split between doing things a nursing aide could do, charting, and running around hunting up drugs and administering them. I would estimate I spend 0.2% of my time waitressing.

Well I think it's a normal, ordinary, run-of-the-mill med-surg floor. I really think the nurse was being a little bit of a jerk by insisting that I suck up the waitress gig and be happy.

Oh, and today I had a patient's family member point to the thermostat and say "turn the temperature down, will you?" Not asking, not requesting, and not even suggesting politely but DEMANDING that I turn down the thermostat that she could reach herself if she bent at the waist a little bit. I said in my best therapeutic communication style "Oh, was it not working when you tried turning it down?" Mind you, the patient never said anything about the room being too hot. When I asked him if he was comfortable, he said he was fine.

Bookworm14 · Jul 26, 2007

oh, and today i had a patient's family member point to the thermostat and say "turn the temperature down, will you?" not asking, not requesting, and not even suggesting politely but demanding that i turn down the thermostat that she could reach herself if she bent at the waist a little bit. i said in my best therapeutic communication style "oh, was it not working when you tried turning it down?" mind you, the patient never said anything about the room being too hot. when i asked him if he was comfortable, he said he was fine.

that was a great answer! they couldn't complain about you being rude....you were just asking if the thermostat was broken when you really wanted to know if their fingers were broken!!! :lol2: :lol2:

i always think of these great "comebacks" after the fact.