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Thanks so much for your responses!!!!!! It's what im going to use to write my essay. Really good insights here! In class our Professor was challenging us with the same questions: Whats the difference between a 'nurse' and a 'registered nurse'? etc this was great thanks for the FYI cherry. why cant we nurses just agree with one title aka nurse or RN hehe. Here another one: so why is it that we have advanced nurses? i thought becoming a nurse was the end? is there really a need to differentiate between a RN and a advanced nurse? a nurse is a nurse is a nurse...right? nurses may say 'but advanced nurses study more etc ' but if thats the case and if there is such a high need for advanced nurses (im presumming) then why dont we just make it the norm for all RN to be trained in 'advanced nursing'?. hehe i feel this may conjure up a great debate but i welcome it (havent braced myself for it) but nevertheless ready :) hey thanks for that, i never knew some countries 'copywrite' the title nurse to RNs. Awesomness at its greatest :)

ok maybe i need to clarify. the scenario went a bit like this: we were looking in a newspaper and we found adverts for cleaners and professional cleaners what is the difference between the two? same goes to nursing: u dont need a qualification to 'nurse' but what makes these 'nurses' different to 'RN or professional nurses excluding the fact one has a qualification and the other doesnt....(sorry i dont know LVP LPN im from new zealand we only have RN and enrolled nurses haha LVP sounds like L&P which is a NZ drink lol)

Hello fellow nurses, here's a simple question (i think): what is the difference (if any) between a nurse and a professional nurse (RN). Please exclude the obvious fact that one has a qualification and is registered to a governing body but look soley at the foundations/functionnings of both. here's another question: would making all RN to NP professionalise nursing? Oh here's another one: NP and I were looking at buying books for our service off the internet. We both didn't recognise it at first. She was offensive but I found it more facinating onced we recognised it. Here is what we recognised: "Nurse Dictionary $100" "Medical Dictionary $200" "Nurse stethoscope $20" "Medical stethoscope $50". "Health professional and Nursing dictionary $230" (sorry these are estimated prices). Now: why do we need a nurse or medical dictionary? why cant they just make a "health professional dictionary". Are nurses and health professionals really that different? why are nurses stethoscopes cheaper? arent both nurses and medical equipment used for the same purpose? Then there is the medical diagnosis and nursing diagnosis. Is seperating the two professions important so much so that we have to have 'different' equipments that measure the same thing and look the same for each profession? Really interesting. I'm neither PRO nursing or PRO doctors. I believe every health professional (including nurses :) ) are essential to a persons health. Esp. these days when individual patients are more complex. Great to get your feedback on this. Enjoy the day with a smile on your face...even if you have to force it :)

HAHAHAHAHA murse! Hey brotha!! Yeah i heard of murses! but here in our school we refer them to 'the world without nurses- your left with murses i.e. medical doctors that have to be nurses as well' as for sister! lol i been using sister to girls lately but I always have its not until i came into nursing it was used more often...which is wierd..but i dunno it probably had something to do with past nurses or something! Male nurses = great CPR! lol I wish I had a mate that knew martial arts now...imma bit of a wus

Amen sister! Unless your private but then not everyone is lucky to get private healthcare. Argh! I just want better work conditions! In the USA you have magnet hospitals? sorry if I got that wrong its just that our lecturer commented on magnet hospitals...its kinda like some accreditation hospitals get that appeals to employees?? is that right? someone correct me please. In NZ we only have one magnet hospital and the criteria for magnet hospitals are GREAT!! what are people's views on magnet hospitals. And if you are working in a magnet hospital are there any differences to hospitals that are not magnet? What are the criteria for magnet hospitals? From what I gathered it was like someone looking for the best hotel...you look at how many star ratings the hotel is would give you a fair idea of what service is expected from it...

I fully agree! Its better to have a preceptor that gives back constructive criticisms rather than criticizes! Understanding is a must too! The clinical lecturer that I liked the most had the following characteristics: 1. praises what I did well! 2. offered constructive advice on what I did not so well. 3. opened the floor for questions/debate 4. approachable 5. knew her stuff!! 6. was strict but really understandable. hopefully that helps, great work for being a preceptor! I cant wait to become one too!! YAY

Plenty of time sister!! I been dating my partner for awhile now while studying. I think it would be hard to be in a relationship while studying rather than when your working. If your course is similar to mine its more like a 5 day a week 9-5. It be great if your boyfriend supported you more through your studies! Get him to test you etc. 3 day twelve hour shifts? Plenty of time! that just leaves 4 full days to fool around! :) hopefully this helps and good luck with the studies!

oh and least stressfull..common now..it would be nurse educator LOL thats gotta be less stressful i think? Anyways, the NE on our ward does nothing but 'research' and 'teaches' nurses LOL i want his job!!!

mental health! it's only rewarding when you see the clients recover! but thats like one person in a million! It appears to be less fulfilling like general medical or surgical where most of the time 'in an ideal world' patients fully recover and live their life to the fullest but mental health is not like that. SOmetimes its like walking around and around in a circle and sometimes healthprofessional become mentally ill themselves BuT GOOD PAY THO here in New Zealand

Hello again, No Im from New Zealand and our lecturer was genuinely surprised with our response! I could still see her face it was like we hit her with a mountain because she wasn't expecting such an answer! Doctors can go on strike for better pay and conditions and they get what they want for example at our local public hospital doctors get free parking and free lunches! All they do is swipe their i.d. badges and they get what they want! Whereas nurses, no, they don't even get a top up of bread or coffee in the small dinner rooms (some wards are even lucky to have a closet as a dinner room). It is great to hear your stories! Keep them coming please I would like to tell my fellow students of what other countries in the world are doing! hahaha the nursing boys were asked what will happen if nurses went on a year strike...my mate answered "then there will be murses!" lol med students and nurses combined together. ps. AMEN to that post that wanted to hear an AMEN!!!

Hello, This a quick thread and was wondering if I can get an international perspective on nurses on strike. In class we were learning about management and the lecturer (who wasn't an RN but worked as HR in a hospital) told us "Nurses are the most employed healthprofessionals in the country...you outnumber all other healthprofessionals...you want a pay rise..will you go on strike?" Majority of the class said it would be impossible for 100% nurses to leave the ward (Union and non union). The lecturer asks why that is? Simply because no one would care for the patient. The lecturer was amazed by this answer then she said so if I was in government and I didn't give you a pay rise even though more people were getting sick you still wouldn't strike. Yes, we answered. She was shockingly amazed with our answer. Not only were nurses powerful in numbers but we were also very vunerable to exploitation. Is it possible to have 100% nursing strike? We had junior doctors go on strike..what a joke that was because no one really noticed however the media played out that the hospitals would fall apart..which it didnt because every other healthprofessional (nurses, consultants, healthcare assistance etc) all worked together. There's not much junior doctors anyways to make any difference. I don't want to strike but if I have to strike I would make sure that my patient gets the care they need urgently and maintained by the family and other healthprofessionals rather than ditching patients like the jnr doctors. What's the international view on nurse strike?

Hye Airforce1, It's real sad to read some of these posts! The bullies on here are registered nurses? What happened to caring and understanding? Clearly you had a problem but I don't believe blasting you out of the waters is ever appropriate or professional. Some of the ppl. who post should watch where they bold or CAPTIALISE their phrases! Did your course not teach you about using fonts in school and how people interpret them? So for all of thpose people who were real blunt and obnoxious...i hate to be your patient. Learn to treat your collegues the same way that you would care for your patient...with understanding and empathy. As for airforce1 - I hope you do find your answer quick and don't worry you still got plenty of time to think about it. I love some of the suggestions posted here amongst the bluntly arrogant ones... 1. do one paper per semester so you can work and study at the same time. 2. its not experience vs education its more experience with education. It sounds like your a competent student academically try and have the clincal compentencies behind you too! You'll be much sort after if you can match your academic skills with your clinical skills! I believe you can do it and we need more ppl like you! Hope your studies go real well as I said before think about that after you graduate and hit the floor because you never know if you were half way through your masters you probably won't like the field you studying to be in anways. Cheers

hey, im just reading through all of these comments and yes i do sometimes get cynical with patients BUT i remember they are sick and are most probably not like that when they are well and with that thought it kind of 'calms' me. Just to clarify, i am being more cynical to healthier people in the parks and all because if you think about it...you only care for people who have issues..so all you see are issues... is there are way in detaching from this? its difficult because these 'issues' are what is in society so its hard to not be cynical to those smiley faces you see :) back to the link that was given earlier and it helped alot thank you. Your philosophy is great nursemiike! it sounds like me! :)

thanks for that!:)

Thanks much! I will start talking to my professors and other class mates about how they coping with it. Yea, I agree, I better get this sorted because the last thing I want is this to affect my practice however, thank you for your advice it means heaps.