people seem uninformed....

ChrissyLove123 · May 18, 2011

I think unless you have friends/family in nursing, you just don't quite get it!! I am not a nurse just yet, but I am in a BSN program. I have an 8, 6 & 4 year old & I LOVE it when people say to me "Well, you're going to school, but you don't work." (Follow me around for a week & rethink that one!) LOL

♥ & respect to the Nurses and future nurses. :)

BookwormRN · May 18, 2011

Along these lines...a few weeks ago, I was outside a Pt's room and saw a family member figure out how to work the over-the-bed table. Then she said, "Look, I could be a nurse!" I wanted so badly to go in and have a heart to heart conversation with her...

Oyis · May 18, 2011

I think we need to enlighten the public about us. Nursing is not a second class profession. We re not meant for dirty jobs but to make our patients comfortable.

nurseineleven · May 18, 2011

I have been working on being a nurse for several years. The longer it takes, the more comments I get. For exampe my sister in law said I should be content to sit out on the porch and sip coffee. Her stupid brother said his late wife was burned out immediately after getting a nursing position. I DONT need to hear this and so I avoid them and I avoid EVERYONE because being a nurse is important to me. I am early 50's and I have more than decade to work and I am not going on disability income and I dont expect support from my DH forever. I am doing this to honor my late mother who was a nurse after WWII and they would practically push women into nursing. She and my aunt went to the same nursing school but neither made a long term career of nursing. I have the warewithal to do this or I would have given up. I dont wish to be a physician either.

bookworm78910 · May 18, 2011

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

We pass pills and wipe butts in between gossip and Bon Bons at the nurse's station. I think what's important is that we know and remember what it took to become and takes to stay a nurse, and that we have encounters in our work which cause us to continue to try to make a difference. I didn't become a nurse because of what people thought of me, and it doesn't bother me much that they don't understand why I did.

twinkletoes53 · May 18, 2011

oh yes. i worked in a huge (eventually expanded to 85 beds) level iv nicu for 30 years, until severe arthritis and a vestibular loss nearly killed me. it was quite common for me to have friends/fellow nurses who work with adults say to me "you must have such an easy job. all you do is sit around all night and rock babies." :bby:

uh, yeah. ok. after i do their hourly v/s, draw abgs and labs; titrate their pressors, draw up and administer the 10 iv meds. due on my shift; talk to the family, who is freaking out b/c their newborn is on an oscillator with bilateral chest tubes, and 8+ iv drips running, do my charting...maybe if i'm lucky take a quick break... you get the picture.

after a shift i prayed to god to give me the strength to limp out to my car and not fall. sometimes i laughed the comments off. sometimes i just wanted to strangle people.

i don't think that if we had them follow us around on a typical 12 hour shift, it would make a difference. maybe they'd get the picture? :hdvwl:

p.s. btw, now i can devote all my time as a devoted :anmllvr: to my three senior dogs. one is deaf, and newly diagnosed with cancer :cry: ; one has been treated for heart failure for 2 years:redbeathe; and one terrified one that i rescued from a puppy mill 3 years ago. :paw::sofahider

laramyy · May 18, 2011

There was an episode of This American Life where a group of dancers lost the lottery to a group of nurses. She said something to the effect of "Oh, look at us we change bed pans and poop all day. We deserve the lottery." Ira Glass replied "...and save lives!" Thank you, Ira!

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · May 19, 2011

Meghan, I've said for YEARS nobody cares what nurses do/have to do until they themselves or a close family member/friend have to go into hospital, even then they don't get it. Nobody gives a s**t what nurses do even when they are really ill. BUT if nurses go on strike, then everyone condemns us for being mean and keeping patients from being cared for & hospitals not being managed properly!

I can't talk to my family at all re nursing stuff. They look blankly at me with a vague expression, and think I make all my stories up. I don't even exaggerate my stories.

I get immune to it. Most people are ignorant re their health, life, or their medical care. Let them be ignorant. The way I think of it is: mate, if you WANT to keep eating McDonalds and fried food, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, become 250kg or more, then it's more employment for me!

Some people you will never change, & they won't get what we do, trust me so I don't bother worrying about it anymore.

ADD: in the old days, when I was a nurse assistant, we got called 'bumwipers' & unfortunately that perception hasn't changed.

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · May 19, 2011

I don't try to explain my profession to someone who has the misconception that I wipe butts and pass meds all day while filing my fingernails and chatting it up with my co-workers during my lengthy "down time".
I go about my day feeling good about my chosen profession. I try to give 110% everyday that I work, and thank my lucky stars that I am healthy enough to work in this demanding field.
I feel good that I can take care of my patients to the best of my ability, I take pride in the fact that my patients trust in my care, I feel privileged that I can learn so much in one day simply by being a nurse, and I am happy that I can come home and leave a bad day AT WORK.
Someone else's opinion of my profession is about as concerning to me as what someone thinks of the shoes I wear. They are entitled to their opinion, and I am entitled to my comfortable yet battered Danskos. Either way, I am COMFORTABLE.

What a fantastic post - just what I was thinking!

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · May 19, 2011

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.

Don't worry Whispera! Nobody would come to my graduation and I didn't attend. They didn't see the point in attending a graduation for someone who was 'only finishing nursing school'. So I don't bother with those people now (some of them are family members). I just smile, say G'day, and go my happy merry way! It used to hurt but it doesn't now. Oh and BTW, NONE of my family has graduated from university except me - and I'm darn proud of it, so don't get too down about it. It's YOUR achievement, not theirs.

ShayRN · May 19, 2011

On Easter, my aunt (also an RN) and I were trading work stories at the table. Among much laughter from our family members, who can't believe the crap we put up with, her brand new son-in-law said, Man, you guys just put my job into perspective. We are educating one person at a time.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · May 19, 2011

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?

Nope.

Then again, do ANY of us really know what another profession does, in depth? Police officers and teachers have the same complaints, along with any other profession I can think of.

To me, it is a futile topic. People don't need to know what I do to understand me or be in my social circle. If people really care about you, when you tell them "there is more to it than med passes and baths"...they will take your word on faith...if they don't, I wouldn't sweat that either.