"...Nurses are Doctors SKIVVIES"

[studentdan]

"Why do you want to be a nurse anyway? They're doctors skivvies!"

:devil::devil::devil:

This was what a friend of mine said to me while I was at the bookstore buying some books on Nursing.

I just laughed it off there and then but it only really hit me while I was at home reading the nursing skills book I bought. It has made me so mad that I needed to come straight on here and vent!

I don't think in anyway shape or form that a nurse is a doctors skivvie. Nursing is a profession in its own just as medicine is a profession in its own right.

People [he included] obviously think nurses are hired by doctors! UGH!! I'm that mad right now I can't continue writing this..!

He's in college studying to be an English teacher..

Skivvy: a female domestic servant who does all kinds of menial work. It's used as a slang word sometimes in the UK and Ireland.

[leslie :-D]

Skivvies are either underpants or kitchen drudges by every definition I've heard.

that's why i didn't understand the title of this thread...

all i could envision was, "nurses are doctors boxer shorts" and i was sitting here, like huh????

then the "huh???" quickly changed to "eeewwwwwwwwwwww".

but being their handmaidens is just plain amusing.

leslie

[Moogie]

I'm so glad other posters cleared up the meaning of "skivvies". I looked at the original post and thought, "Nurses are doctors' UNDERWEAR?" OP, ya scared me there!

I wanted to be an English major when I was in high school but my mother discouraged me because she wasn't convinced there would be many jobs. She urged me to go into nursing, which I rejected completely because I thought I wasn't interested. Then, in my senior year in high school, I worked in a nursing home and enjoyed the people and the work. When I went to college I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but applied for the nursing program as soon as I realized how much I missed taking care of people and how much I really wanted to go into nursing.

I've heard a few digs over the years about being a nurse, but not from anyone whose opinion I've valued.

ETA: Leslie, GMTA! Eeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwww, indeed!

[caliotter3]

All I have to say is that at my 10 year high school reunion, my classmates that went on to be English majors are now unemployed in their desired field of teaching or whatever, and I'm quite happily employed in a profession that's rewarding in many ways.

Wish I could say the same. I might be a nurse now, but the employment picture isn't so peachy. Didn't become a nurse just to have to preface the title with "unemployed" all the time.

[David13, MSN, RN]

Your friend seems to have a very antiquated image of nursing. When he becomes an English teacher, does that mean he will be the Principal's "skivvy"?

I hope that his image of nursing is not held by the majority of the public. However, many people who have no personal contact with health care professionals base their opinions primarily on the drivel put out by the media and entertainment industry.

I am hoping the image of nursing as a subordinate profession to medicine will someday fade away completely. Unfortunately, the OP is proof that old stereotypes still abound.

[Music in My Heart]

See what happens to the nurse who fails to catch a doctor's mistake.

Or, if you happen to be in Kermit, Texas, to the nurse who reports a doctor's mistakes.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

I told my gynecologist I was going to be a nurse, and she asked me "why nursing instead of going to med school?". Um, because I don't want to be a doctor?

My family asks me the same thing, most annoying is, "But you're smart enough to be a doctor." Yes, most nurses are smart enough, but we want to be nurses. Like being a nurse is a step down from being a doctor. It drives me nuts sometimes.

I get this too and my reply is "Do want YOUR nurse to be a dumb*ss?" . Gets them every time. They should be grateful that many smart people decide to become nurses.

[50caliber]

When I was in college getting my bio degree, we use to clown on econ majors since that is the default major for those who can't hack engineering or the sciences. We had friends who were english majors and we gave them a hard time for it. They do write very good papers though. Each to his own I guess. No need to get worked up over what somebody else said.

[steelcityrn, RN]

When I went to school to become a registered nurse, 54 people started in the class. upon graduation, 11 were left. Its funny how people laugh at becoming a nurse like its a walk in the park. I say become a nurse first, then you can talk about graduate programs.

[ONCRN84]

I went back to my highschool during my freshman year of college and in conversation with my old chemistry teacher, I mentioned I was going into nursing. He said "why not be a doctor? You're smart. don't sell yourself short by going into nursing." Uh... I don't want to be a doctor. I don't like them. I COULD have... but I didn't WANT to...

[diane227, LPN, RN]

People ask these kinds of questions because they have no idea what nurses do. I would like to invite these people to come spend one 8 hour shift with me and then they would understand that I and all nurses are not the handmaiden to ANYONE.

[countryboy]

I went back to my highschool during my freshman year of college and in conversation with my old chemistry teacher, I mentioned I was going into nursing. He said "why not be a doctor? You're smart. don't sell yourself short by going into nursing." Uh... I don't want to be a doctor. I don't like them. I COULD have... but I didn't WANT to...

If you don't like doctors, then why did you choose this field because you obviously have to interact with them in some capacity?

[hearts895, RN BSN]

The things I have to say when ppl. ask me why I didn't have the guts to go for med school & chose nursing instead:

"Behind every good doctor, is a great nurse"

"Doctors treat the disease, nurses treat the patient. I want to treat the patient"

"I'd like to graduate within 5 years!!! I don't want to be 30 at the youngest when my career gets rolling"

"Nursing school & pre-nursing is so insanely stressful already - I love myself enough to not put myself through anything worse!"

"I have no desire to take physics and calculus pre-reqs etc. like a pre-med student - I just want to learn the biology end of things and skip to the clinical stuff (in N.S.)"