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Went to a "career fair" recently, which really was just a college recruiting event for RNs. There were, unfortunately, a large number of my graduating cohort there as well. Many of the ones I spoke with were working in Private Duty Home Care as well. However, I was struck by how they said it. Like it was the armpit of nursing and something to be ashamed of. I am proud that I am a private duty RN and I was annoyed when they would get that grimace or you could see the effort to control an eye-roll. The only reason I want a hospital position or any institutional type position is because I need some years of acute care bedside experience in order to be a viable NP. More importantly, I need to try it just to KNOW if I should even invest that much money at 45 to become an NP! Maybe I stop at the BSN and then do specialty. Guess what? I still need X amount of bedside acute care experience to specialize. So, it's a means to an end, but I digress. I don't get it, private duty is the ORIGINAL nursing. Why so much disdain? It just annoys me.
I thought Medical-Surgical was the armpit of nursing? (I can say this because I'm PROUD to be one. Well, not an armpit, but a M/S nurse).
You know how nursing is a pecking order. If you don't work ICU, NICU, OR or ED, then you just plain suck in the eyes of the nursing world. And we wonder why we can't seem to organize the 3 million of ourselves and elevate nursing to what it should be. We can't even play nice in the sandbox and respect other specialties.
Be proud of what you do and PHHHHHHT to everyone else..
It takes a lot of creativity, critical thinking, and multi-tasking. It really is its own specialty!
Yes it is! and I'm not a PD nurse. Again, nurses need to realized that EVERY area is specialty, even med/surg, lol.
I get sooo tired of nurses having to defend what they do, if they aren't in the popular/cool crowd. It is just soo wrong. There is a need for ALL of us!!
I thought Medical-Surgical was the armpit of nursing?( can say this because I'm PROUD to be one. Well, not an armpit, but a M/S nurse).
You know how nursing is a pecking order. If you don't work ICU, NICU, OR or ED, then you just plain suck in the eyes of the nursing world.
And we wonder why we can't seem to organize the 3 million of ourselves and elevate nursing to what it should be. We can't even play nice in the sandbox and respect other specialties.
Be proud of what you do and who you are and PHHHHHHT on everyone else..
You are so right. I am just learning this about nursing. I came to it from a business background and no healthcare experience. Nursing is weird. One moment you see a bazillion nurses leading a charge for change together, and then you can see those same nurses tearing others nurses down. I guess it's just the human condition.
The only bad thing about PDN is finding enough hours/stability. Otherwise, I have learned a lot. Mostly how many families suffer quietly dealing with diseases most people will never hear about in their lifetime.
I have been asked by another nurse "when are you going to leave pdn and become a REAL nurse?"
i thought about this thread at work yesterday morning
as i pull up to the residence, i see the mother standing in the door
"i'm so glad you're here", she says as i enter the residence
she reports the trach sounds "dry" in spite of lavage x2
Mickey button is protruding more than usually and hasn't peed all noc
so within the first hour of my shift i changed a trach, changed a Mickey
button, placed a straight cath and did an irrigation
what was that slogan - we do more by 9AM than most people do all day
Jenn55e
29 Posts
It takes a lot of creativity, critical thinking, and multi-tasking. It really is its own specialty!