All this talk of professionalism and being respected by doctors makes me sick.
I am a professional. I am a nurse. My job is to diagnose and treat human responses to illness (care for the sick). I also educate patients, assess their physical condition, and rehabilitate them. Society considers an RN a professional position, so I am a professional. I am not a doctor, I don't work for a doctor; I am not a doctor's assistant. I work for my hospital and my nurse manager.
A doctor is an academically prepared individual who diagnoses and treats medical problems in human beings. We use doctors in caring for patients who have medical problems. We need their medical orders (orders for the patient--not orders to us as in "ordering" us to do something), because we can't legally administer medical interventions without them, why? because we are nurses not doctors!
I'm in the profession of caring for people, especially sick people, and in my case especially sick people with cardiac conditions. So, naturally I have problems with the nurse practioner being considered an "advance practice nurse." In reality they are a doctor's assistant. Our professionalism does not come by being more like a doctor but by being more of a nurse.
I respect doctors, but then I respect patients as well, and I respect strangers on the street. Doctors are not nurses, and I feel they are missing out on the greatest spiritual vocation available. If they think they are above me, professionally, then they are as misguided as the nurse who thinks he's not a professional if he can't write a prescription for amoxacillin.
Please don't go there. If I had the problem of professional low self-esteem, then I would accept NPs as nurses--just like you do. I do not. So, even though I said "We" I was only trying to be nice. It's really you who think of the MD-nurse as advanced that have the problem.
But, on to bigger and brighter things.
OK, I won't go there anymore, enough other people are doing that for me. I am bowing out of this b/c I don't believe in hitting my head against a brick wall. You are narrow-minded, and I really no longer care what your opinion is of me, of nursing, of NP's etc... You have ceased to make any sense to me, so TTFN! :)
Alright don't get upset, I was not referring to 75 percent of the nurses out there, I'm just referring to 75 percent of the ones I've come across in my clinicals. My classmates and I have been treated pretty badly by the nurses we've had to deal with. I have tough skin, I'm not talking about nurses that are hard on us, I'm talking about nurses that are just mean at heart. Why go into nursing, I don't understand. I'm just saying we've been pretty disappointed in the types of people that actually feel that nursing is a good field for them. Nursing and teaching are the two career fields that I feel you should not go into if you have even a single cold unfriendly bone in your body. If you do, but you want to work in medicine and are good at biology....be a lab tech. Hopefully my experiences will get better, I'm not complaining about the job...I know what I want to do and I know that I'll make a good nurse, I've just been a little surprised at what I've seen some nurses get away with doing. Really you shouldn't be offended if you know you're a decent compassionate nurse, I'm not talking about you. I'm at a good hospital and hopefully I've just had bad luck with who I've had to work with. That's not even what this post is about....I was just responding to something someone said in a previous reply about all nurses being compassionate....just not true. But hopefully the majority are. However, being a nurse does not equal being a compassionate person.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I am sure you heard this before Ashley, but it bears repeating...
wait to make such harsh judgements til you walk that proverbial mile in their shoes.
nursing is not a bowl of cherries and somedays, it is just pure hell. you can't possibly know this too well, not being a nurse yet. you only get a small glimpse of the reality being student or even as a aide, if you are.
i am truly sorry you are being mistreated by nurses where you are doing clinicals; there is no excuse for out and out mistreatment. but 75% are this way? really....
I still say weigh your decision to become a nurse carefully. Your attitude is showing you may not like it. Good luck.
Alright don't get upset, I was not referring to 75 percent of the nurses out there, I'm just referring to 75 percent of the ones I've come across in my clinicals.
If 75% of the nurses that you have contact with are bad....you might want to decide whether YOU should be in nursing school or not.
All this talk of professionalism and being respected by doctors makes me sick.
I respect doctors, but then I respect patients as well, and I respect strangers on the street. Doctors are not nurses, and I feel they are missing out on the greatest spiritual vocation available. If they think they are above me, professionally, then they are as misguided as the nurse who thinks he's not a professional if he can't write a prescription for amoxacillin.
OK, I'm done:)
First that nurse should learn how to spell Amoxicillin.
Bottom line: nurses are professional caregivers. Physicians are professional healers. You have to have both or you will not have effective elimination of physical suffering. There is the M.D. and the R.N. That is the modern medical model in every culture and country. Everyone else is an adjunct to those two people. The NP, the RT, the PT, OT, the PA, the CNA, the PCA, the Resp Therapist, the dietitian, the housekeeper, all of these could be done by the RN or the MD, but RNs and MDs are hard for society to produce in sufficient quantities to keep patient load small enough to allow this.
IMHO [/b]
OMG:eek: You really have to much time on your hands......
As an LPN, that wasn't mentioned as someone that was adjunct to the GOD's, I have to say, you are just really talking without saying anthing at all that is valid or important. Certainly has caused quite a good arguement here.
Most posts are by people that don't even have a clue as to what your original post is trying to say. Healthcare is advancing, and with that more positions are opening up to women, more opportunities, more money, more glory.....
I really don't understand how me making negative comments about nurses that I don't feel treat me or their patients right or have negative attitudes about their job means that I shouldn't be in nursing school. I'm sorry I don't think it's ok for a patient to sit in her own urine for an hour while she's pressing her nurses's button...or for a patient to not get their pain medication on time. This makes me a bad nurse? I've only been doing clinicals for two months, I already said that it could just be the group that I'm dealing with, there are hundreds of other nurses at this hospital. I'm glad you guys are so quick to tell us nursing students to change our profession when we get a little frustrated with our experiences instead of supporting us. I'm in nursing school because I want to be a nurse, bottom line. This is what I'm here to do and what I can't wait to do. I sure would appreciate it if everyone would stop getting so defensive over nothing....unless you are one of the nurses that I'm talking about. Maybe next time you have a frustrated nursing student come through....just some advice....you've all been there, you could maybe just say 'hey, I promise, we're not all that bad...it'll get better just hang in there' not 'alright you shouldn't be a nurse get out of nursing school'. Thanks. I'm not complaining about the job or the patients I've come across, just a few bad apples that shouldn't be nurses themselves because they just seem miserable. I really don't see where I went wrong unless you think it's ok for a patient to sit in her own urine for an hour. If that's true, then you should check your career choice. Not me.
I agree with you that there are some nurses who are not doing the job right, and there is nothing wrong with saying that. I also have been doing clinicals for only about 2 months, but a lot happens at a hospital and you can catch onto things pretty quickly. And there definitely are some great nurses out there... just not every single one.
75% sounds like HER problem, not the nurses. it may be a matter of glass half full versus half empty thinking ya know.
really it's about attitude i am thinking.
ITA Deb. And student nurses and new grads who come into clinicals with attitude may not receive a real warm welcome. Personally I have a tendency to ignore 'em and let 'em self destruct.
I don't think it can be said often enough: students don't need to criticize practicing nurses . Ya don't get to criticize til you've walked a mile in our duty shoes. Not without getting called on it.
Students learn ivory tower nursing. WE practice in the real world. There is a BIG diference.
I have to agree with Deb and Mattsmom, Ashley. You have to of been there and done that before you can criticize. Do I think that leaving a pt in their own urine for an hour or not getting a pain pill into someone ASAP is okay, NO!! However, have I done it?? I am sure I have. Again I am not saying it is okay but as you will find out, you are one person...It is not uncommon for everyone of your pts to need something at one time, top that off with families, MDs and therapies and the plate gets very very full at times. One thing I will say that I am sure I will get concurrence on from others is that when you are a student and have 2-3 pts, you truly can deliver excellent care and be timely ..multiply that by 3 or 4 or 5 and you do as much as you can as fast as you can which leads me to the next point...An hour is a looooong time when you are doing clinicals..an hour feels like 5 minutes when you are running your *&^*%^% off on a floor or in the ER...is it fair to the patient?? NO! But that is the truth of it, unfortunately. I guarantee that there will be shifts when you have kept no one happy and you will have not of delivered the care as you would of liked to of...however you do the best you can...Erin
hoolahan, ASN, RN
1 Article; 1,721 Posts
OK, I won't go there anymore, enough other people are doing that for me. I am bowing out of this b/c I don't believe in hitting my head against a brick wall. You are narrow-minded, and I really no longer care what your opinion is of me, of nursing, of NP's etc... You have ceased to make any sense to me, so TTFN! :)