Nurses make me sick

[DUDERNGUY]

I am coming back to this forum, after being away for many years, to communicate this message to you:

Are you kidding me? Why is this profession on "blast" everywhere? Every Instagram post has some covid/nursing/hero quote within it. Nurses are now dancing all over tik tok? Do you think this is cool? Do you think this is what professionalism is about? It is to the point where I am almost ashamed of being a nurse; our traditional nurse leaders are rolling over in their graves. Have humility, stop talking bad / complaining about how awful your jobs are. You came into this profession, probably for the $ and cause every other post on facebook influenced you. This is all part of the agenda: flood hospitals with nurses to drive down wages, make working conditions worse, and pay less. Basic supply/demand strategy used by all corporations to make their workers replaceable). There are plenty of good nurses out there, I am sure. I am just disgusted by the profession's turn: Nurses are shaking all their goods for social media; nurses have no respect for their patients and do nothing but talk chit. I am nothing like most of you, I am ashamed of you, have some respect. Be humble, stop fishing for attention on social media.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

I think there are a few things going on: workers in general are disempowered and disrespected, yet it is our labor that creates wealth. Profit? That is the surplus value of our labor. Wages have stagnated and not kept up with inflation and while nursing is in general decently compensated, we work in conditions that take a massive mental and physical toll on us. Add in a pandemic where we are working short on PPE and under even more staffing strain because of the high patient volume that is overwhelming healthcare systems and I think demands for respect, safety, compensation is reasonable. Yes, we are employed while others have been hit really hard by shut downs and layoffs, but from an economic interests standpoint we have more in common with the folks on unemployment and low paying jobs than with the wealthy who are seeing massive increases in wealth during this time. And when hospitals and governments try to mollify us by calling us heroes and angels or whatever, rather than working to address our safety and health, it makes me and a lot of us angry.

I don’t consider myself a hero and I definitely don’t want to be a martyr. But I think nurses who cling do that narrative are doing so out of a need to have SOMETHING in terms of respect. 

I think sharing with a wider audience of other nurses is therapeutic. I follow a few humor accounts on instagram and it’s cathartic to laugh at the same frustrations others have. I think it’s OK to be seen as human, as people who exist beyond caretaking, to see that we try to bring joy in to work during a really, really hard time. I think some of the stuff is in poor taste but that’s social media culture.

I’m more ashamed of nurses who can’t address their personal biases in meaningful ways to provide compassionate care to patients. Nurses who mock pronouns or who get territorial about giving out food when a huge portion of our patient population is food insecure. Who dismiss patients because of their history, like homeless IV drug users can’t also get sick. We have evidence based studies showing health outcome disparities due to racism and then a complete disconnect with why a BIPOC patient might be “challenging” or distrustful of care.

I became a nurse from a history of social justice activism: I want to make a difference in people’s lives and do so in a way where I can see that difference. And I wanted to be able to have a secure and comfortable life. Doing it “for the money” doesn’t need to be on opposition to doing it for the benefit to society especially in such a highly stratified system.

I’m furious that a country with so much wealth chose not to ameliorate the costs of doing what we needed to do to contain the pandemic.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

6 hours ago, DUDERNGUY said:

we need to judge, they are killing our profession. We are in the situation we are in today,with the world, because we let idiots do stuff for to long without saying anything. You don't believe me that our profession is in dire danger:

 

No, you don't need to judge anyone. Who put you in charge to decide who's a nurse worthy of respect and who is not? I have some friends that made a video of some sort one night on break. We had an awful night the night before, coded a young person that never should have died, and they spent five minutes blowing off steam. I would still put my life in the hands of any of them, they're good nurses. If you can take a 30 second snapshot of someone's life and extrapolate that to who they are as a person and a nurse, you've got quite the superpower. As long as their work is still getting done and they're competent nurses, who cares what they choose to do in their free time? Who cares what they post on social media. If you  know that their view is not the same as yours, no one says they are speaking for you. What if a nurse goes out and drinks too much with friends on a Friday night? Is that person also a reflection of the entire profession of nurses? You are painting yourself as the perfect example of an entire profession, hope you live up to that standard every minute of your life. 

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

10 hours ago, HiddencatBSN said:

.

And when hospitals and governments try to mollify us by calling us heroes and angels or whatever,

Don't forget the stale pizza and a coffee mug with the hospital logo on it!

Hppy

[0.9%NormalSarah, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, DUDERNGUY said:

we need to judge, they are killing our profession. We are in the situation we are in today,with the world, because we let idiots do stuff for to long without saying anything. You don't believe me that our profession is in dire danger:

 

I've done my part by warning you all. Where is HR in all of this? Where are nursing leaders?

OP, I originally commiserated with you briefly because I personally find these public displays annoying, but I think it’s a little too far to say they’re killing the profession. Can you really judge a nurse’s whole career by a couple of silly short videos? This is just where I think you turn into a troll that wants to stir the pot. You’re not getting the comments you were hoping for that bash your original post, so you’re doubling down to draw someone in. It’s pretty transparent. 

[0.5GPA, ADN, CNA]

On 12/29/2020 at 5:20 AM, Tweety said:

I saw a Tik Tok video of a nurse mocking management for offering pizza when conditions were bad and I laughed and laughed because I just got a free meal ticket for working understaffed when there was a no show they pulled a nurse from my unit to cover.

I love seeing the nursing humor on this site, and some on Instagram.  I don't have Tik Tok but enjoy what I have seen.

I do cringe a bit at the "nurses are heroes" and crying videos stuff but it sure was nice seeing our profession held in such high regard.

Yes there are some unprofessional nurses on social media.

It's 2020 and nurses are part of the general population that uses social media, so I pretty much disagree with everything you're saying.  I do totally support your right to have an opinion about it and to express it here on social media.  

 

I LOVE free food. I don’t consider it to be a slight like some people do. I work on a COVID unit and understand it is what it is. I work on my stomach. LOL 

I wonder what is acceptable for people who mock it. I get money and staffing being common and I don’t disagree but at the same time that requires money and resources. ? 

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

17 minutes ago, 0.5GPA said:

I LOVE free food. I don’t consider it to be a slight like some people do. I work on a COVID unit and understand it is what it is. I work on my stomach. LOL 

I wonder what is acceptable for people who mock it. I get money and staffing being common and I don’t disagree but at the same time that requires money and resources. ? 

For me it depends on the bigger picture. Does management also listen to staff concerns and advocate for us, have our backs? Does administration? I have worked places where concerns are brushed off but hey here’s pizza and I’ve worked places where management and administration really work to support nursing and the pizza tastes a lot better there. And my current hospital, the way they’ve mobilized to keep us safe and informed and supplied with PPE, the way nonclinical staff and management and our administrators are picking up shifts to help units are runners and taskers...I feel less jaded when they buy us pizza and put up “heroes work here” signs because I see them giving so much more to support us. 

I mean I still eat the unsupportive pizza because cmon, pizza is delicious and it’s better than a kick in the face ? 

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

47 minutes ago, 0.9%NormalSarah said:

 This is just where I think you turn into a troll that wants to stir the pot. You’re not getting the comments you were hoping for that bash your original post, so you’re doubling down to draw someone in. It’s pretty transparent. 

What's the actual "prize" or reward that this gives to trolls? Why is it a positive reinforcer? I'm really curious.

[0.9%NormalSarah, BSN, RN]

15 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

What's the actual "prize" or reward that this gives to trolls? Why is it a positive reinforcer? I'm really curious.

I wish I knew, but it does seem to be a common theme on internet threads with provocative titles. I’m sure you’re here to point out I’ve bought into it, which would be a fair point. ?

[LovingLife123]

I think you came to the wrong place to air your grievances.  I don’t have tiktok, don’t know what a crying video is.  Don’t have Snapchat either.  
 

You are right though, I do this job for the money as I would any job.  I don’t work for free, ever.  And contrary to popular belief, the pay is crappy.  But I have a mortgage and kids, so I need money somehow.  
 

I have yet to see any big stir over these Tokyo’s videos.  These people have a very small audience.  It’s a huge stretch to think they are destroying the profession.  If you are so offended, then don’t watch.  It’s simple.  Most of us don’t.

[macawake, MSN]

41 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

What's the actual "prize" or reward that this gives to trolls? Why is it a positive reinforcer? I'm really curious.

Not commenting on OP but addressing the questions about trolls in general. If you want to understand an internet troll you need to stop thinking like you and instead figure out what kind of personality tends to troll the internet. There is some reasearch indicating that Dark Triad/Dark Tetrad personalities are overrepresented when it comes to making troll posts. If you can wrap your head around the fact that there are people who actually take pleasure from other people’s sadness, umbrage, humiliation or pain then understanding trolling becomes easier. 

[Davey Do]

12 minutes ago, LovingLife123 said:

I think you came to the wrong place to air your grievances.  I don’t have tiktok, don’t know what a crying video is.  Don’t have Snapchat either.  

Or facebook or Twitter.

Doing GIFs are excitement enough for me.

 

 

I really don't give a Flying Fruit Basket what others are doing as long as it's not illegal, immoral, or unethical.

There will always be those who do things in bad taste and I just ignore them and have always attempted to live the life of my dreams.

 

 

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

14 hours ago, DUDERNGUY said:

we need to judge, they are killing our profession. We are in the situation we are in today,with the world, because we let idiots do stuff for to long without saying anything. 

You know what? I am a not-very-conservative, non-Christian woman who is heavily tattooed and in a mixed-race marriage and who has a mixed-race child. I am fairly certain that most people would be quick to judge me for any one of those things or by my appearance, so I make it a point to NOT judge others, especially by such superficial standards as what they post online. Who am I to dictate what makes others happy? Who are you to do so? More love, people. More love. We spend so much time pointing fingers when we really need to look inside and figure out what we are lacking that makes us feel like we are able to sit in judgment of others.