Nurses are the real heroes ?

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    Joe V
    Editorial Team / Admin

    Joe V

    7 Articles; 2,555 Posts

Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

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I just posted the following photo on our allnurses.com facebook page... and someone left the following message:

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Nurses are great but they aren't heroes. Heroes rush into life threatening situations without regard for their own safety. Heroes wear dog tags or badges. That's right, heroes include the members of our military, police officers, firefighters and EMTs. Drs and Nurses are after the fact and provide care from a position of safety. They are not heroes!

Do you agree?

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Hmm.......we usually consider people who rush to the rescue and save lives as heroes, do we not? And are doctors and nurses providing care from a "position of safety" when we're dealing with a 250-lb. maniac who's high on PCP and God knows what else?

That said, I certainly don't think of myself as a hero, even though I've done those things and more. Me, I'm just doing my job. What say you?

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Pah.

My husband is in the military and best friend is in the Police. They both say they couldn't do what I do.

Heroism is different to everybody.

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Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.
VivaLasViejas said:
Hmm.......we usually consider people who rush to the rescue and save lives as heroes, do we not? And are doctors and nurses providing care from a "position of safety" when we're dealing with a 250-lb. maniac who's high on PCP and God knows what else?

That said, I certainly don't think of myself as a hero, even though I've done those things and more. Me, I'm just doing my job. What say you?

Your patients may think otherwise.

Fiona59 said:
Pah.

My husband is in the military and best friend is in the Police. They both say they couldn't do what I do.

Heroism is different to everybody.

Kudos! That's exactly how I see it.

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Specializes in Pediatrics and Med Surf Float.

Who said we don't wear badges? Its called an ID badge ?

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I read this interesting post from a fellow nurse:

About NURSES: Somebody asked: "You're a nurse?!? That's cool, I wanted to do that when I was a kid. How much do you make?" The nurse replied: "HOW MUCH DO I MAKE?" ... I can make holding your hand seem like the most important thing in the world when you're scared. ... I can make your child breathe when they stop. ... ... ... ... I can help your father survive ...a heart attack. ... I can make myself get up at 5AM to make sure your mother has the medicine she needs to live. ... I work all day to save the lives of strangers. ... I make my family wait for dinner until I know your family member is taken care of. ... I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted. ... I make myself work weekends and holidays because people don't just get sick Monday thru Friday. ... Today, I might save your life. ... How much do I make? Probably not as much as other professions, but all I know is, I make a difference.

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When the aids epidemic was new and scary, nurses who would care for those unfortunate people (all of whom had a death sentence and most of whom died within weeks of diagnosis, often suffocating of lung failure on vents in our icus...) were heroes. We did it although our families told us not to, although our neighbors wouldn't shake hands with us, although some of our nurse colleagues were unspeakably horrible to these people, although our pastors or our kids' teachers wouldn't speak to us. Somebody just had to be kind to these poor men and their partners and make their last days on earth as easy as possible. That's heroism.

Heroism is the nurses who cared for the SARS patients when it wasn't known how very contagious it was. some of them died.

Heroism is the nurses who volunteered for the yellow fever wards, for leprosy care, for the 1917-18 influenza epidemic.

You bet nurses can be heroes.

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Specializes in Oncology.

All I ever hear is that the military is the hardest job or police officers. While I don't discredit their hard work and sacrifices in any way, I'd like to see them do my job for 1 day hahahaha. Nobody throws us parades, either.

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Specializes in none.

I'm not a hero, I'm just a guy doing a job for money. If they didn't pay me I wouldn't be a nurse. Getting a little tier of nurse Hero thing.

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Merlyn said:
I'm not a hero, I'm just a guy doing a job for money. If they didn't pay me I wouldn't be a nurse. Getting a little tier of nurse Hero thing.

I agree, but I don't consider police officers or even our current military to be my hero either.

Some people consider their mother, father, or grandparent to be their hero.

Anyone CAN be a hero, but to declare an entire profession is a little egotistical IMO.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

No person who calls them self a hero is a hero. Heroes are the thankless population that do what others would not or could not do in the most dire of times and circumstances. At least that is how I see it. If you classifies nurses as a whole in that group, than go right ahead.

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"Although our pastors...wouldn't speak to us"

WOW!.

The nurses who worked through the early years of the HIV outbreak and took care of aids patients were heroes by any reasonable definition. But what about taking care of patients infected with hepatitis, virulent strains of influenza, and other terrible, easily-transmissible, difficult or impossible to treat transmissible illnesses? How about dealing with patients who cough sputum all over you?

How about the medical personnel who deal with diseases such as Ebola?

Nurses spend a lot of time one sharp-stick away from a terrible outcome. That they show up to work each day is heroic.

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