i'll probably get flamed to the moon and back for this but..

[elijahvegas]

does anyone else get tired of hearing (from other SNAs/hopefuls/vets) what we nurses are "suppose" to be like ?

i read through thread after thread of how if you're not "compassionate to the core" and "really into nursing" and all this other stuff, you won't do well in the program or as a nurse in general.

is it really that big of a deal that some use the profession as a fallback option, or as a way to get by while trying to pursue something they'd really wanna be doing, without having to work something that provides just above minimum wage to make ends meet ?

i often hear people being scolded because their "heart" isn't in nursing, and for taking a seat away from others who "really" want to be there. Are any of us less deserving because we went through the same prereqs as everyone else but were competitive enough to actually secure a seat ? Is this something i should apologize for ? Should we be barred from applying simply because we have different prospects for the horizon ? Say med school ? or a field outside of healthcare altogether ?

Is it wrong to consider this profession a job ? one in which i will do my best to do well as i would with any other endeavor ? I go in with an attitude to make sure all of my duties are done, everyone is accounted for, and everything is the way it should be from the time i arrive until the time i clock out. Does it make me a bad nurse that i don't cry with a patient when they're going through a hard time ? Please dont take this as an implication as me directing negative or rude comments towards the patient. I'm attentive, and consoling, but i'd rather not have my emotions tie me up in knots to the point where i start to make clinical errors, which in the end is truly the most important thing to me.

Don't mind me, just my Tuesday morning rant for the day. I'm curious to see who else feels like this. I know im the minority but i can't be the only one

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

If I am ever a patient in the hospital, I would rather not have a nurse caring for me who is in the profession as a "fallback option". Because if that is the case, it will show in how you do your job. If this is truly the case with you, jonnyvirgo, please get a desk job with an insurance company, where you will not deal with patients in person.

No, it doesn't show in how you do your job -- at least not so I've ever noticed, working as I have for three and a half decades with nurses who are in it as a "calling" and those who are in it as a fallback option. If you're the sort of person who is lazy and cuts corners, you'll be lazy and cut corners, calling or no. And if you're the sort of person who believes that a job worth doing is worth doing well, you'll do it well.

[KY RN]

My true calling is laying on my RV couch and travelling the world. Since I do not get paid for this, I am a nurse. I think that most of the people who say they have a true calling, would say something much different, if they weren't getting a pay check for this "true calling.";)

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

haven't been ignoring anyone just been busy ^^ i didnt expect this post to get so explosive lol

im still currently certified as a paramedic, but i took a hiatus from work to give nursing school my full effort.

Nursing was always my career path after some thought. I had no healthcare exp so i didnt really know what to expect, which led to me try out EMT school. but it was so..basic and lackluster that i advanced to medic school. there i learned a handful of skillsets that in a hospital setting pretty much docs are only allowed to do (well technically speaking, docs are the only ones that are allowed to do anything without anyone elses discretion, another minor peeve of mine) but out on the field.

with medic school, the objective was always clear and cut to me. i knew what my aim was, and i knew how to get there. see the symptom, treat the symptom. nursing is a whole new way of looking at a patient, one that im still trying to adjust to, and one that reorganizes everything that formerly was a priority to me. im still struggling to make it make sense. thats somewhat where this post extends from. im constantly feeling like the bad nurse because im more preoccupied with treating the patient rather than babying the patient.

i just didnt realize the drastic difference in each of these medical professions. and i dont mean paramedicine vs nursing, i mean everything as a whole; from cnas all the way up to RNs and all the guys in between. I always figured it was all centered around medicine. We do what we can for the patient obviously, but our primary goal is to treat em. but im looked at as less of a nurse because id rather push meds and titrate drips than to make a bed ?

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

If I am ever a patient in the hospital, I would rather not have a nurse caring for me who is in the profession as a "fallback option". Because if that is the case, it will show in how you do your job. If this is truly the case with you, jonnyvirgo, please get a desk job with an insurance company, where you will not deal with patients in person.

prime example of my original post. what a fallacy. if i wasn't born with the idea of being a nurse then im not going to do my job well ? i have plenty of friends that are in fact attending lawschool after nursing school, or going to med school afterwards. being a nurse in case life doesn't pan out the way you planned isn't at all unheard of. but i guess anyone who wants to be prepared for the worst will make a crappy nurse right ?

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

ill agree its very impractical. i can only reasonably see 2 reasons why one would preface medschool with nursing school and thats A. nursing school really fortified the desire to follow a medical model vs a nursing model or B. you really had no idea what you were getting yourself into after being/becoming a nurse, and youd like to try something new. but to understand the difference between the 2 and decide this is the way you wanna go seems utterly inefficient to me to say the least

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

i feel this way wholeheartedly. probably the summation of my post. can't i be a good nurse without all the extra fluff? how do people find this so impossible ?

[TraumaSurfer]

i feel this way wholeheartedly. probably the summation of my post. can't i be a good nurse without all the extra fluff? how do people find this so impossible ?

As it was explained before to you in the other discussion, you need A&P, pharmacology, microbiology, ethics, patient safety, psych, sociology, nursing clinicals etc. You can get by without these, unfortunately, as a Paramedic but not as an RN.

Maybe if your attitude towards RNs had not be so **** poor and the "complete autonomy" bragging you have done as a Paramedic along with saying an MA is just the same as an RN, some might not be so critical of your statements. This would probably include your fellow students and educators who have had to listen to your rants in person.

You just can't change your stripes after so many negative comments towards nursing as a profession.

You are also only at the beginning of the 2nd semester of a nursing program. You probably have not even seen enough to know a nursing model. Also, the medical model for Paramedics is limited since it is basically a written protocol system and with anything outside of that you must call for orders. Become a PA and then you can talk medical model. But, you again will need to take "fluff" courses like all the sciences, maths and ethics.

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

im having a great deal of trouble following the train of thought here.

Are you saying that im too stuck in my paramedic way of thinking ? how do the cultural backgrounds fit at all into this ? my class of 90 is 75% white, and the 25 is split into african american (theres like..10) hispanic, and what ill label as "other" to save time. i dont really know what you mean by the world being 'tight as a few paramedic students' either. In that class i was the outcast as well, as it profit little to pursue the career with no intention of firefighting. EMS separate from Fire is pretty hard to come by these days.

but the bottom line appears to be this whole "job" thing, that seems to have struck a nerve with most. So ill address that i guess. to me, anything that isn't end game is a "job". this is somewhere im going to be until i dont have to be here anymore. i dont think theres anything wrong with looking at it that way. I arrive, do what needs to be done, do it right, and move on. Where i end up will be my career. Regardless of if it requires a degree or not. Being a manager at burger king requires an AA. Id still consider that a job like any other, even though some people would take their managerial position more serious. i wouldn't. thats not where i plan to stay, its just where i am. and i have no choice but to make it work and make it work right until im able to leave.

i understand people devote so much more (time effort money personal life) than others, and feel offended that i can look onto something that they cherish so much without the same gravity of it all. I dont mean to offend, and i definitely dont look down on what nurses do. im sure i have more than a handful of misconceptions of the profession, but all in all unless im overtly negligent, inefficient and downright callous, none of this would ever play into how well im able to do my job. If i keep my mouth shut (which i do in school and clinical, only my study group of 3 other people are aware of how i view things, all of which actually agree with me to most extents) then no one would bat an eye at my performance. but when contrasting ideas become vocalized, all of the sudden the nurse is not safe around patients and need to be monitored. The idea is laughable.

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

As it was explained before to you in the other discussion, you need A&P, pharmacology, microbiology, ethics, patient safety, psych, sociology, nursing clinicals etc. You can get by without these, unfortunately, as a Paramedic but not as an RN.

Maybe if your attitude towards RNs had not be so **** poor and the "complete autonomy" bragging you have done as a Paramedic along with saying an MA is just the same as an RN, some might not be so critical of your statements. This would probably include your fellow students and educators who have had to listen to your rants in person.

You just can't change your stripes after so many negative comments towards nursing as a profession.

You are also only at the beginning of the 2nd semester of a nursing program. You probably have not even seen enough to know a nursing model. Also, the medical model for Paramedics is limited since it is basically a written protocol system and with anything outside of that you must call for orders. Become a PA and then you can talk medical model. But, you again will need to take "fluff" courses like all the sciences, maths and ethics.

eh..youre making a number of inaccurate assumptions thats calls for me to halt any desire to proceed with this discussion.

furthermore, is my argument now invalid simply because its coming from me ? Would the idea be more receptive had it came from someone who hadn't made "****poor remarks towards rns"? i dont see how my personal attitudes effects the validity the initial topic of this post as a whole. I guess everything i say now is coming from a poisoned-well. I think there's a word for that.

[LisalaRN99, BSN, RN]

I am one of those nurses who feels that I had a calling, although I did not come into nursing until a second career. Once I did take up nursing, I knew I had done the right thing and never looked back. Now is it to say that I love, love, love my job every day? No, as a matter of fact, I do not like many aspects of the jobs in nursing because they are jobs in hospitals with employers for whom patient care is a profitable business and we the nurses are the grunt soldiers. I love the profession of nursing and I do not allow my distain for the managers affect my patient care. Many people come to nursing because it is a good job for the money and if it is a means to another end then God Bless You! Just remember to take care of the patients while you are still a nurse.

[TraumaSurfer]

eh..youre making a number of inaccurate assumptions thats calls for me to halt any desire to proceed with this discussion.

furthermore, is my argument now invalid simply because its coming from me ? Would the idea be more receptive had it came from someone who hadn't made "****poor remarks towards rns"? i dont see how my personal attitudes effects the validity the initial topic of this post as a whole. I guess everything i say now is coming from a poisoned-well. I think there's a word for that.

I don't have to make assumptions. I posted some of your own words in quotes. The rest can be found under your activity profile. You have practically posted you diary on this forum.

Now, the lesson to learn here is about open forums and social media. It is not that difficult to identify you by all the info you have posted. Consider the internet your new permanent record and is fair game for future endeavors.

Yes, the remarks made by those who have offered honest answers without prejudice against nursing in their reasons are viewed differently.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Nursing was always my career path after some thought. I had no healthcare exp so i didnt really know what to expect, which led to me try out EMT school. but it was so..basic and lackluster that i advanced to medic school. there i learned a handful of skillsets that in a hospital setting pretty much docs are only allowed to do (well technically speaking, docs are the only ones that are allowed to do anything without anyone elses discretion, another minor peeve of mine) but out on the field.

Not quite the case. Depending on the state nurse practitioners can be autonomous. In the little town I live in our sole health care provider is an NP. She runs her own clinic and has admitting privileges at the local hospital and she isn't the only one. She is a friend of mine so I know about her situation. She does not have any sort of physician supervision.

with medic school, the objective was always clear and cut to me. i knew what my aim was, and i knew how to get there. see the symptom, treat the symptom. nursing is a whole new way of looking at a patient, one that im still trying to adjust to, and one that reorganizes everything that formerly was a priority to me. im still struggling to make it make sense. thats somewhat where this post extends from. im constantly feeling like the bad nurse because im more preoccupied with treating the patient rather than babying the patient.

Everything you want is available in nursing. As much or more autonomy than paramedic. You will have to work your way there, but at least you will be making more money. I am full time rapid response nurse. I have more autonomy than I ever had as a medic in a rig or helicopter, with more resources.

but im looked at as less of a nurse because id rather push meds and titrate drips than to make a bed ?

I don't understand this comment. What do you think nurses do if not push meds, titrate drips AND make the bed? I push and titrate meds and drips every day. I also initiate drips on my own, with out specific physician's orders on protocols and standing orders. Based on your comments I don't think you have a good understanding of nurses and our scope and certainly don't seem to understand the different fields available.

One other factor is where you live. Some states are high nurse autonomy states, and some states are not. One example of a high autonomy state is Wisconsin, and example of a low one is Minnesota.