Received this email today and I am steamed!!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I received the following email today from a RN/friend that I worked with and I am ticked! I cannot believe that this is making its way around the world wide web. At first I thought that they had just misused the word experienced and graduate. Or that perhaps they should substitute "experienced" for "burned out" or "incompetent" and "graduate" for "competent". Then I thought this email serves absolutely NO good purpose. It is just another symptom of the bigger problems in Nursing (have you seen one of these for drs? firefighters? police officers? etc?)

The email::angryfire

>Are You a Graduate Nurse or an Experienced Nurse?

>

>A Graduate Nurse throws up when the patient does.

>An experienced nurse calls housekeeping when a patient throws up

>

>A Graduate Nurse wears so many pins on their name badge you can't read it.

>An experienced nurse doesn't wear a name badge for liability reasons

>

>A Graduate Nurse charts too much.

>An experienced nurse doesn't chart enough.

>

>A Graduate Nurse loves to run to codes.

>An experienced nurse makes graduate nurses run to codes.

>

>A Graduate Nurse wants everyone to know they are a nurse.

>An experienced nurse doesn't want anyone to know they are a nurse.

>

>A Graduate Nurse keeps detailed notes on a pad.

>An experienced nurse writes on the back of their hand, paper scraps,

>napkins, etc.

>

>A Graduate Nurse will spend all day trying to reorient a patient.

>An experienced nurse will chart the patient is disoriented and restrain

>them.

>

>A Graduate Nurse can hear a beeping I-med at 50 yards.

>An experienced nurse can't hear any alarms at any distance.

>

>A Graduate Nurse loves to hear abnormal heart and breath sounds.

>An experienced nurse doesn't want to know about them unless the patient is

>symptomatic.

>

>A Graduate Nurse spends 2 hours giving a patient a bath.

>An experienced nurse lets the CNA give the patient a bath.

>

>A Graduate Nurse thinks people respect Nurses.

>An experienced nurse knows everybody blames everything on the nurse.

>

>A Graduate Nurse looks for blood on a bandage hoping they will get to

>change

>it.

>An experienced nurse knows a little blood never hurt anybody.

>

>A Graduate Nurse looks for a chance "to work with the family."

>An experienced nurse avoids the family.

>

>A Graduate Nurse expects meds and supplies to be delivered on time.

>An experienced nurse expects them to never be delivered at all.

>

>A Graduate Nurse will spend days bladder training an incontinent patient.

>An experienced nurse will insert a Foley catheter.

>

>A Graduate Nurse always answers their phone.

>An experienced nurse checks their caller ID before answering the phone.

>

>A Graduate Nurse thinks psych patients are interesting.

>An experienced nurse thinks psych patients are crazy.

>

>A Graduate Nurse carries reference books in their bag.

>An experienced nurse carries magazines, lunch, and some "cough syrup" in

>their bag.

>

>A Graduate Nurse doesn't find this funny.

>An experienced nurse does

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Specializes in ICUs, Tele, etc..

Sorry this has upset u alot...Though I think the joke is basically geared for nurses that have been in Nursing for a long time....there's a little humor in it, personally, I laughed when I first read this awhile back...Because I could relate myself to the ''experienced'' nurse....It didn't bother me one bit, but now I guess a new grad would see this as a bad joke...

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This was also posted here.

It's a joke. Just a simple joke, not intended to be taken seriously by anyone.

I know for a fact that docs have some similar jokes going around about med students and interns.

Most professions have similar kinds of jokes.

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Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.
Sorry this has upset u alot...Though I think the joke is basically geared for nurses that have been in Nursing for a long time....there's a little humor in it, personally, I laughed when I first read this awhile back...Because I could relate myself to the ''experienced'' nurse....It didn't bother me one bit, but now I guess a new grad would see this as a bad joke...

I agree...some of it is pretty cynical...and some of it was kinda funny. All in good fun.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Depends on what it originated from. Was the person that wrote it purposely trying to put nurses down? Or were they typing it as a joke?

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Specializes in Cardiac.

My mom sent this email to me. She is an ER nurse x 20yrs. I thought it was pretty funny. And yes, I have seen similiar ones that were catered to different fields. I was in CT with my pt and I read one for radiology. My fav part is "A Graduate Nurse doesn't find this funny.

>An experienced nurse does"

I love it!

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I think it's funny (I must have become an experienced nurse;)). Some people, like me, use dark humour sometimes.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Sometimes things can just strike us the wrong way. Most of it seems to be pretty tongue in cheek. It's more like an "inside" joke among nurses I think. Unless your RN friend was trying to agitate you on purpose I'd say keep it or delete it. It's only funny if YOU think it is.

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Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.

I thought it was pretty funny, and I'm just a nursing student. Does that make me an experienced nurse?

It's just a joke. I don't think it's supposed to be a laundry list of facts about nurses. :rolleyes:

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I saw no harm in it. It's just a joke. Don't take it to heart! :)

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I'm a graduate nurse, and I found it hilarious and much of it is true! I look for every opportunity to laugh at myself. Nursing is far too stressful a job to take it so seriously you can't have fun with the wacky way we all behave sometimes. Clever, clever, clever.:chuckle

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Specializes in Trauma, MICU.

As a student nurse I find this e-mail extremely funny!!! :rotfl: I can totally see myself in most of the student nurse situations!!!!!

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