Nursing Arrogance

[Flowerchild6065]

This morning I read a Facebook post by Allnurses: "I firmly believe that 'too stupid to live' should be a diagnosis."

This post is receiving 'likes' and 'shares'.

I'd "like" to take this opportunity to not just passively read such a post, but really consider the message.

Is this post a favorable representation of the nursing profession?

Do we want to encourage this type of thinking among our peers?

Is this how some view our fellow human beings who have entrusted their care to us?

Is this really about nursing arrogance?

May I counter such thinking? (I love to read the definition of a word to be reminded of its full beauty)

Humility - acknowledging that acheivement results from the investment of others in my life

Meekness - Yiedling my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve

Self control - rejecting wrong desires and doing what is right

Altruism - unselfish regard to the welfare of others

Empathy - The ability to share and understand the feelings of another

Compassion - investing whatever is necessary to heal the hurts of others

Advocate - the act of pleading, supporting or recommending

and then..... there is basic Kindness

Such a post does not leave me in judgement of the patient, but the nurse.

"The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality." - Florence Nightingale

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

While I agree that some of the FB stuff is questionable at best, and perhaps intentional click-bait.

That said....

Meekness - Yiedling my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve

NO. No, no, no, no, no. The word "meek" by itself, in my opinion, is NOT a favorable quality for a nurse. One can be kind and empathetic, but a nurse also needs to be STRONG. Looking at that definition, that is why many nurses have come to believe that they shouldn't take lunch or even BR breaks, and that sick people have an excuse to assault us. No. I am not meek and I encourage no nurse to be meek.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

GAH - not the fluffy bunnies and Angels of Mercy brigade again. I can think of sooo many more adjectives than those.

This type of stuff just frosts my cookies. It is so pervasive. Like those pictures of physicians in their serious "doctor poses" as opposed to nurses all smiling like loons. GAH.

[Daisy4RN]

Biblical definition of meek:

The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submit to God; who can bear insult; are silent, or return a soft answer; who, in their patience, keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. These meek ones are happy, even in this world. Meekness promotes wealth, comfort, and safety, even in this world.

That being said we are all human and agree that we all vent at times but should not be on facebook.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I think "arrogance" is too strong a word to be used here. The fact that something like too stupid to live made it from AN to Facebook is no big deal IMHO. The general public isn't going to be aghast at the idea that we're human like everybody else and we have a sense of humor. They don't care enough to get their knickers in a twist over it, and if a few people do...well, life is tough. I have long been an opponent of the meek, angelic nurse stereotype (yes, I read that thread too) and don't see what all the fuss is about. But that's just me.

[Feelgood RN]

This type of stuff just frosts my cookies. It is so pervasive. Like those pictures of physicians in their serious "doctor poses" as opposed to nurses all smiling like loons. GAH.

I'm going to find some more of these posts. It's long past lunch and I'm hungry. Cookies sound wonderful! I'll grab some fluffy bunny posts...mmm...bunny.

[Wuzzie]

I think the admin team might like to know that the FB comments are overwhelmingly negative and it is reflecting very badly on AN. There is even mention of other AN posts to FB that people found equally offensive. This is horrible advertising and reflects poorly on the site and those of us who support it.

[purplegal]

I can almost guarantee you it's said with sarcasm or humor, or like others have said, a way to vent, and that any nurse would not actually advocate for such a diagnosis. Does it go too far? Perhaps for some people. Facebook may not be the best place for it. But, we've all said things out of frustration that may not be the most politically correct, and probably isn't worth getting too offended over.

[Irish_Mist, BSN, RN]

This morning I read a Facebook post by Allnurses: "I firmly believe that 'too stupid to live' should be a diagnosis."

This post is receiving 'likes' and 'shares'.

I'd "like" to take this opportunity to not just passively read such a post, but really consider the message.

Is this post a favorable representation of the nursing profession?

Do we want to encourage this type of thinking among our peers?

Is this how some view our fellow human beings who have entrusted their care to us?

Is this really about nursing arrogance?

May I counter such thinking? (I love to read the definition of a word to be reminded of its full beauty)

Humility - acknowledging that acheivement results from the investment of others in my life

Meekness - Yiedling my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve

Self control - rejecting wrong desires and doing what is right

Altruism - unselfish regard to the welfare of others

Empathy - The ability to share and understand the feelings of another

Compassion - investing whatever is necessary to heal the hurts of others

Advocate - the act of pleading, supporting or recommending

and then..... there is basic Kindness

Such a post does not leave me in judgement of the patient, but the nurse.

"The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality." - Florence Nightingale

So basically, we are supposed to be Mother Teresa personified? No, thank you.

[elkpark]

The more references I hear to allnurses threads turning up on Facebook, which I intentionally choose not to patronize, the less interested I become in continuing to participate here. I have no interest whatsoever in anything I post here turning up on Facebook without my knowledge. I think the site should explicitly inform participants here that that is a risk they are taking.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I think the site should explicitly inform participants here that that is a risk they are taking.

It is mentioned in the TOS, but we all know how many people just click agree without reading.

[h=3]Social Media Sharing[/h]ALLNURSES.COM is a public site and is indexed by Google and other Search Engines on a daily basis. If there is something you are concerned about being public knowledge, you should not be posting it on ALLNURSES.COM or anywhere online.

We occasionally share posts from ALLNURSES.COM on our Facebook page(s). No personal details are shared. What we share is publicly available on ALLNURSES.COM. We share the link to the page, any image found on the page, and a brief context from the page.

I get the whole posting on FB to increase readers, but I think there should be caution in what is posted. Several of the photos posted lately have been a bit offensive- the one mentioned in the OP, the one about best patients being sedated, and a few others. I removed AN from my FB feed quite some time ago, and hadn't visited it since until this post mentioned it. And I didn't even bother with the other associated pages.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I'm going to go look at the FB page for allnurses.

BRB.

(edited to add . . . I went, I looked, I'm reading. Oh dear.

[OldDude]

I'm a Cave nurse, I don't understand these things!