people seem uninformed....

Nurses General Nursing

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it seems to me like some people really have no clue what nurses actually do. as i talk to people about me going to nursing school i get a lot of responses like "oh i didnt know being a nurse was that hard" "i thought they just gave meds and took you to the bathroom and got you stuff". i feel like people should know what nurses actually do and how much they do to get the patient better. we all work/ worked really hard to become a RN and we work really hard at work no matter where a nurse works. Have you guys came across a lot of people like this who really have no clue what nurses do and how hard it is to be a nurse?

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Every single day.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Yes, a good portion of the public is clueless about the nurse's role in healthcare.

We have evolved into an image-based society over the years, so many people get their information from the images they regularly see (House, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, ER, HawthoRNe, Nurse Jackie, etc.). Since television programs usually portray nurses in subservient helper roles, the numerous people who watch TV assume that this is how real-life nurses are.

In addition, some say that we become nurses because we couldn't make it to medical school. People fail to realize that nursing is its own separate discipline and falls under the nursing model of care provision, whereas medicine falls under the medical model.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

My own mother could never stop saying she couldn't understand why I'd want to clean up after people, as if that was the only thing a nurse does. I tried to tell her what nurses do, but she didn't get it. I didn't invite her to my graduation because of this. grumble

I do think we can make ripples in the public understanding of what nurses do. I try to do that when the opportunity shows itself.

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I am not a nurse(yet) but have worked in clinical healthcare for about 5 years. I find that most people in my area have no clue what nurses really do or the difference between nursing and other healthcare professions.

I have also found that most do not care what you do. They trust that the doctors and hospitals will hire people that are competent to take care of them and that is all they care about.

I also think that if you try to explain what nurses do the general public think you are a) to dumb to be an MD or b) trying to exagerate what you do to make yourself look better. It is a sad situation but people in my rural area tend to be closed minded and there is nothing you can say or do to change thier minds.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
My own mother could never stop saying she couldn't understand why I'd want to clean up after people, as if that was the only thing a nurse does. I tried to tell her what nurses do, but she didn't get it. I didn't invite her to my graduation because of this. grumble

I do think we can make ripples in the public understanding of what nurses do. I try to do that when the opportunity shows itself.

And then we have "Hawthorne" and "Nurse Edie"......:devil: (Nurse Jackie!!! The actress is Edie Falco..LOL) my bad...

I would drop dead to see ANY CNO in the ED fighting with the MD's and pushing a gurney....:lol2::lol2::lol2:.....and......believe it or not not all of us "entertain" the phamacist in the closet......:uhoh3:

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Specializes in School Nurse.
And then we have "Hawthorne" and "Nurse Edie"......:devil:

I would drop dead to see ANY CNO in the ED fighting with the MD's and pushing a gurney....:lol2::lol2::lol2:.....and......believe it or not not all of us "entertain" the phamacist in the closet......:uhoh3:

LOL - but you gotta love the "HawthoRNe" to accent the RN part. I haven't seen either show - its so hard to find the scheduled time on the cable channels. This shows my age, but I remember the first time I watched ER and George Clooney was gettin' down with one of the nurses. I thought - when does she have time?

I do think some of the "medical reality" shows give a glimpse into what nurses do. I don't watch them regularly, but did catch an episode of "Birth Day" or something like that showing an L&D nurse that was pretty good.

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ugh! that just ticks me off so much knowing other people not just the ones i have came in contact with about this think the same thing. people think nurses are like glorified waitresses/waiters just coming in to clean the patient up and clean up their messes.

the comuter i agree, tv defintaly makes nurses look like this, when the doctor on tv comes in they get all the praise and the nurse is there to “help out” or “clean up after the doctor”. even though im not a nurse yet i feel like as a nurse we are the ones making the bigger difference we are with the patient constantly taking care of them. and paitents think we are their to just cater to their every need, i know a nurse who works in icu and a patient called her in and asked her to scratch his toe because he had an itch when the man was clearly capable to doing that himself. people have no clue how hard it is to become a nurse and people look at me like im dumb when i say how hard it is. none of us are dumb people we have all worked very hard to get into nursing school and make it through it.

lillymom: as for the comment about how people think we became nurses because we weren’t smart enough for medical school omg that drives me up a wall. i am still in school but i became a nurse because i love my patients, i love taking care of them, getting to know them more, being there with my patients more than doctors are, i love medical stuff an doing the daily duties of a nurse; a lot of us probably could have gone on to be doctors but did we want to no.

whispera: im sorry your mother had feelings like that and you weren’t able to invite her to your graduation, hopefully people will start to realize what nurses actually do .

heidi the nurse: i do agree some shows out there do give a better light into what nurses do; i was watching 16 an pregant on mtv for a few minutes and they actually showed exactly what a nurse does in l&d great even though it wasnt about nurses they did capture it and i could definiatly tell that was what a ld nurse does.

great comments guys! hopefully maybe over the years people will learn what nurses actually do!

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Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

[sarcasm]Pass pills and wipe butts. That's all nurses do.:lol2:[/sarcasm]

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Specializes in cardiac, oncology.

I have also had patients, esp elderly women, who think I can't assist them to the bathroom, they will tell me "it's not your job dear, get your nursing assistant".

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Specializes in LTC, Med-Surge, Ortho.

People will always be misinformed as long as there are commercials who only spotlight the doctors, like they are doing everything for the patients. I love the Johnson and Johnson commercials as well as Bayada Nurses because their commercials really show appreciation for us and within seconds, they give the public a glimpse of what nurses really do especially in emergency situations. When nurses week comes around May of every year, every hospital or large medical organization who use nurses, should find a way to produce a commercial or even have a news reporter record a day in the life of a nurse, on the days i don't feel appreciated by management, doctors or other staff, knowing that I've made a difference in the life of my patient makes it all worth it!!!!:yeah::nurse:

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.
We have evolved into an image-based society over the years, so many people get their information from the images they regularly see (House, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, ER, HawthoRNe, Nurse Jackie, etc.). Since television programs usually portray nurses in subservient helper roles, the numerous people who watch TV assume that this is how real-life nurses are.

I really like Scrubs, I feel like they usually do a pretty good job showing the nurses doing what nurses do! Obviously they're shown shootin the breeze at work in an unrealistic way (I think most shows based on a workplace are like this) but there were some good examples of nurses performing procedures and advocating for their patients on that show (mainly from Carla)

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