Nursing curriculum needs more respect!

[MICU RN]

Reading all these post makes me realize that I was not the only one who thought that nursing school was very hard. However, now being a nurse for 4 1/2 years, it sad to realize that the only people that seem to have a glue how tough it is are our fellow nurses. The public including other health care professions don't seem to realize just what we go through. As a matter of fact, I think most think it is easy and anyone could do it. I think many people still think that all one really has to do is care and be willing to do alot of dirty work ( clean poop, clean wounds ect.) to be a nurse. Maybe if other professions realized how tough nursing school is they would also realize that our pay is really below par and in some cases insulting. For example, in some southern states new BSN nurses come out making 15-16.00 dollars a hour. I mean that is a joke, I can't tell how many times I have heard my fellow new nurses make comments like " I made more money a hour waiting tables while I was in college than I do now as a RN" that is sad. Nursing is very hard job and will still get very little respect as a profession. We need to let the public know how hard it is to become a nurse and why everyone is not able to become a nurse. Nursing is very paradoxical, it is very hard to become one, but yet we are treated as if anyone with a high school degree can become one. Does anyone else feel like this or is it just me?

[enlite]

Yes!!! Im of the opinion that many nurses are ungrateful and often expect the patient and the general public public at large to give them respect bcecause of the academic, physical , and emotional rigor of nursing school. People, respect will be owned by the manner in which you practice nurisng. Stop following doctor's orders blindly. Use your nursing education and experience to implement , patient-focused independent nursing interventions. Most nurses are functioning at the technicain level. And you expect high salaries? You will be paid for what you do now, not what you have done. No matter how rigouros your past endeovors might have been.

[enlite]

Yes!!! Im of the opinion that many nurses are ungrateful and often expect the patient and the general public public at large to give them respect bcecause of the academic, physical , and emotional rigor of nursing school. People, respect will be owned by the manner in which you practice nurisng. Stop following doctor's orders blindly. Use your nursing education and experience to implement , patient-focused independent nursing interventions. Most nurses are functioning at the technicain level. And you expect high salaries? You will be paid for what you do now, not what you have done. No matter how rigouros your past endeovors might have been.

[nell]

Originally posted by MarnnaRN

If you are so upset with your career, get a new one, wait tables, go back to school for something else.....

Yep! That's exactly what I and maaaannny other RNs are doing!

I am sick and tired of being treated like something between a nun and a waitress except as a nurse, I can't make a mistake and I'd better catch everyone else's too.

I'm sick and tired of having to do everything from the lowly washing of beds to highly complex procedures. The latest in our facility is that when security comes through on their rounds, they have to sign a logbook with the date and time and we have to co-sign it. I work in an intensive care unit and had one of these guys come to my patient's bedside and shove the logbook in my face to sign while I had my hands full and was dealing with a potentially life-threatening problem. The suits have added babysitting security to our jobs!

I am sick and tired of having the responsibility, education and skills to respond to life-threatening emergencies requiring that the right choice be made instantaneously - but not getting any recognition from the public or hospital administration.

Originally posted by ICUBecky

...were you all ignorant to the salary and job descriptions of nursing before you went through a nursing program?

Actually, yes I was. I entered nursing as "a calling". It never occurred to me that I could end up being a single parent and be stuck struggling to find child care for nights, weekends and holidays. I was young and single and didn't need to feed and clothe anyone but me. I was very naive. After all, around that time I also married a jerk...

[Q.]

Strangely enough this is a very old argument.

I read this in the literature:

Some nursing practitioners argue that inadequate care of patients is a result of the nurses' compliance with excessive "expectations" of administrators, physicians, directors and supervisors of nursing which leaves them insufficient time to care for patients according to a professional conscious. Frustrated and dissatisfied, some nurses plead for more workers to help them; others work still harder to comply with the "expectations" while attempting to care for patients at the same time; still others leave the active practice of nursing entirely. Conversely, less frustrated nurses view compliance with these "expectations", excessive or not, as the nature and purpose of their jobs. Another of these arguments ascribes the inadequacy of patient care to nurse's preoccupation with procedural activities prescribed by doctors and administrators.

In other words, we will gain respect when we start recognizing that we are responsible for how our profession is viewed and treated. We are complacent and allow this to happen. Until all of nursing understands that we are NOT simply there to "care" for everyone, and that our ultimately goal TO provide good care is our OWN needs as a profession, we will never gain respect.

Oh, and the above quote was written in 1973.

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

Yes, Suzy, you are right. But what can we do about it? How can we get the nurses who "lay down and take it" to stand up and do something about it?

[Q.]

This seems to cross-over from the "victim" thread.

Sadly, until nurses stop falling into that role, we can't do a thing about it.

[smg]

I am a student right now and I work part time as a waitress. My hourly pay is $9.76. Most nights I will make about $200 or so in tips. I also work on Thursday and Friday nights. But the pay is good.

What I am hoping is that nursing will be more of a rewarding career.. not just about money (please don't get me wrong money is good also. )