My inner snowflake

[Emergent]

When it boils down to it, I really wish that nursing was less blue collar and more decorous and professional. Some of my colleagues sound and act like rowdy high school kids. They forget there are patients in the rooms and loudly socialize at the nursing station.

They form immature cliques and and engage in lowbrow social posturing, making ribald remarks. A few of them make egregious grammatical errors in every day speech.

I'm hardly a prudish stick in the mud, but if nursing is going to be a true profession we need to start acting like college educated, white collar people who don't spend our down time in bars...

[malamud69, BSN, RN]

Interesting observation this OP would have made if it did not seem so limited in its scope. Having come from a world of construction workers and having witnessed some of the most gracious, calm...grammatically correct and professional people in that world nothing I've ever seen even in the most intense Hospital ED... Critical Care Unit excetera excetera ...basically everything that was mentioned above has ever crossed my mind as being "too much" or "unbearable". Seems like a thick skin needs to be grown here...the reality is having been around the block a few times that I have seen poor decorum poor grammar excetera in every Walk of Life I don't care what color your collar is blue white purple brown...(sorry for any grammatical mishaps im attempting a hybrid talk text)😁

[nurseletDZ]

...but I do spend my down time in bars

Me too ^_^

I kinda like how nursing is somewhere between blue and white collar. Light blue collar?

[nurseletDZ]

I read the term "gentrification" in another thread and wonder if nursing is going through this.

I don't think you can *exactly* apply that term to this concept, technically speaking, but I totally see what you mean. With all the hospitals trying to get Magnet status they are hiring lots of new BSNs (including me) trying to change the culture of the nursing staff.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I read the term "gentrification" in another thread and wonder if nursing is going through this.

De-gentrification, more like. In the old days (starched white uniforms, no cartoon-print ill-fitting scrubs) there was a head nurse who kept everyone in line. No one needed a bachelor's degree to understand the concept of professional decorum.

So unless that's part of the college curriculum, or management is prepared to enforce professional behaviour, don't expect anything to change anytime soon.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I was with a pt once when we heard loud laughter coming from the Nsg station. I said "sounds like someone is having fun."

She replied " They should remember that their pts are NOT having fun."

Another time I had 2 lovely older ladies in an semi-private telling me that they couldn't sleep at night because the nurses were so noisy and lone night they actually thought the nurses were having a party it was so loud. They said they didn't complain to the night nurses because they were afraid of retaliation.

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

I agree. I had a coworker who is otherwise very nice play a youtube video loudly at the nurse's station, over and over again. She sang along with it and I was just like...what is happening? Another one would read gross stories he found on the internet. We don't have to speak the King's English, but my goodness play your music at home or in the car. Another reason I want to leave this floor.

[audreysmagic, RN]

While it's nice to have fun at work, there is a need for some decorum.

That's the issue of finding the fine line. There IS one, and too many people not only cross it but rollerblade right over it without ever seeing the line. My crew is known to be offbeat - we definitely have fun at work - but we know when to pull it together and be professionals...and what's fun and what's just not for work. That distinction does seem to be disappearing and it's unfortunate. And every time I hear it just blamed on "the younger generation," I do sigh a little. Yes, some of these people are young, but I've seen people with kids my age engaging in this same behavior. I'm 33...I strive to be a COB someday, but still working on it. ;-D

[audreysmagic, RN]

Also, you really have to know your environment. What's appropriate for one unit might not be for another. Some behavior is just never work-appropriate, but you can have a different approach with, say, adolescent psych patients vs adult ICU patients (and vice versa!). And it's up to a professional nurse to know that difference and adjust depending on where they are.

In that vein - please, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT attempt to use teenage slang with the adolescent psych patients to be "cool" if you're just gonna use it wrong. I see it, usually from well-meaning folks who think it'll help their rapport, and it just comes off like:

[dexilna, ADN]

The classist undertones of OP's post is kind of nauseating. Just because a person has a "blue collar" job, doesn't mean they're automatically loud, rowdy, and obnoxious. Some of the rudest, most vulgar people I've met are your "white collar" suits...

[LetLoveNReasonUnite]

I really feel like nursing should have some sort of aptitude test to gain entry into nursing programs - college and university programs. Great grades don't necessarily mean you'll be a great nurse, so I don't think more baccalaureate nurses would equal more professional behaviour. I think it takes a special kind of person to be a nurse. Nursing is a highly respected profession. We have big shoes to fill!

[BSN16]

Just went to a co-workers (RN) birthday a few weeks ago at a bar...the crowd consisted of many nurses, our intensivist, and a couple hospitalists.

Although i conduct myself professionally at work, i didn't sign my life away at nursing school. I'm a nurse not a nun. As long as i'm not breaking any laws or jeopardizing my company's name i don't see a problem.

[audreysmagic, RN]

Just went to a co-workers (RN) birthday a few weeks ago at a bar...the crowd consisted of many nurses, our intensivist, and a couple hospitalists.

Although i conduct myself professionally at work, i didn't sign my life away at nursing school. I'm a nurse not a nun. As long as i'm not breaking any laws or jeopardizing my company's name i don't see a problem.

Agreed. I do cosplay at comic/sci-fi/media conventions frequently; it's a fun hobby, and I keep it fairly modest due to personal preference (though on my off time, not representing my employer, it would be my right if I wanted to show a little skin). It IS fun seeing the look on someone's face when I'm chilling in line in a Sailor Moon costume and someone I've struck up a conversation with asks me what I do for a living... A lot of people don't see it as something a nurse would be interested in, but this nurse is. We all have the right to cut loose and have fun on our off time. I think the problem comes in when some people act at work the same way they would at the bar.