This might get kinda long so I will start out by thanking everyone that reads it! As many of you know I am graduating October 1st with my degree in Practical Nursing. My school only has once a year mass graduation ceremonies (every May), I knew that going into the program and totally understood but I was told that EVERY nursing program would have a pinning ceremony, as was everyone else in the nursing program that I have spoke to. So last week my class is told that we will be having our pinning on November 21st, we were given a time, the place, how many tickets we could have so we could plan on who to invite (8 tickets per person), told about parking, what to wear, and what to expect etc. We were all very excited, as you can imagine. So yesterday they come into our class and tell us that everything is changed and our pinning will be October 3rd. Well that sounded great until they told us that we were going to be pinned with the MA students because it is not fair that we get pinned and they don't and that the pinning will be held at 1pm on a Friday, at the school and we are only allowed to invited 2 people. I am a married mother of two kids! How is that fair? Many of us are married or involved and have childern and other family members that have supported us through out this. My very elderly grandma was looking forward to watching my get pinned and to bring her into my old school with all kinds of other classes walking around and being loud just seems for the lack of a better word trashy. So many of us are upset because we feel lied to. How can they expect people to take off work in the middle of the day to attend this?
Then when everyone started objecting to this new "pinning" we are told not to make to big deal of a fuss and shut our mouths or we may lose it all together. As it stands now we are boycotting the "pinning" and having our own after graduation. It just is one more thing to worry about that we shouldn't have to when it has been promised to us from the beginning. Thank you for reading this....any advice or comments or encouragement would help so much at this point!
Specializes in Psych/Substance Abuse & School Clinics.
It is suppose to be your day -- the PNs, NOT the MAs. They paid for their program, your paid for yours. If your class wanted an MA graduation they could have signed up for that program!! I'm sorry that the MAs don't have a pinning ceremony, BUT that is their instructors problem, not the pn instructors. Your instructors should be standing up for their students, rather than the whole school that decides they want to be included in your ceremony. I wouldn't cause a big fuss, but I would remind my instructors that it is suppose to be the LPN class pinning & graduation and the MA instructors should take care of their own classes. Some feel pinning is no big deal & we're all entitled to our own opinions. For me pinning was a big deal because I worked hard to get to that point and earned my pin -- it's part of a tradition that I was proud to be a part of. Sorry for the ranting, but I'm a newbie and feel that you've been royally cheated out of a part of your (paid for!) schooling.
Specializes in Nursing Ed, Ob/GYN, AD, LTC, Rehab.
I would not attend the schools graduation either. I would be very offended that they were going to pin the MA's and that the expect the nursing students to be there as well. As if by some way they were the same thing. MA do not have that tradition and Im not sure why they want to take the nursing one, why not start their own tradition unique to acknowledge the role of the MA.
On a personal note I can understand your frustration. My graduating class wanted it to be in a church and to use religious phrases in the ceremony. I fought hard as an atheist and got most of that corrected. The day is about becoming a nurse. Nothing else, not religion not about MA, its about being a nurse!
I am so sorry this is happening to you. I would be incredibly offended, especially having the MA's pinned with you. It offends me that MA's often pass themselves off as nurses and the public really doesn't know the difference! This just perpetuates this problem for the nursing profession.
I don't know if I would boycott, I'm just not that kind of person. But, it is nice that your class is planning it's own pinning ceremony. It is a really memorable event, and something I will remember always. You all deserve it!
It rather sounds like the school is not giving you alot of choices. I am sorry.
30 years and I still remember our pinning ceremony, each of us holding a lit candle in honor of Florence. Watching our families faces shine with pride as did our faces..
yah, hokey, but somethings are about tradition, about celebrating an achievement.
But in the scheme of things. Congrats on almost being done with school. :clphnds:
Now that we don't get capped pins mark us as nurses. Why is there now a ceremony to "cap" non-nurses? THAT'S what chaps my clams. Of course they should have a graduation. But candles, Florence's prayer, and the moment of conferral belong to nurses, not MA's.
I know that I have already posted a reply, but I have another point that I would like to make.
First, nurses to be, get used to being treated like unimportant, interchangable, widgets. That is what the schools and hospitals want you to get used to so when you graduate, you will be used to not complaining about lousy staffing ratios, lousy pay, benefits, and general disrespectful treatment by EVERYONE!! You will think that it is just the way it is, so get used to it. Is that the way you want to start your nursing career?
My suggestion is, start now making ALOT OF NOISE ABOUT THIS!! You have been the victims of the perennial "bait and swithch". Start practicing your legal rights, (of which you do have), and contact a lawyer to take your concerns to the school. I would go so far as to threatent to sue the school unless they back off on their misguided atempts to make the MA students feel that they are entitled to the same ceremony that has been exclusively for the RN students.
I am not an attorney, but I think that you might have a case. You won't know until you contact an attorney and ask. I am personnaly tired of the nursing profession being pushed aside to make everyone feel better, and make everyones life and jobs easier. When is it a nurses time to stand out and shine? It is not my job, nor yours, to make the MA students feel better about their chosen profession and career. If they want the same perks and recognition, tell them to go back to school and become RNs. It is that simple.
Again, I would not let the school off of the hook. Period. I would go to an attorney and force them to provide you with what was paid for, and expected at your graduation. Make them go back to the original RN pinning ceremony that was originally planned. Why should you settle for less? You will feel a sense of accomplishment standing up for yourselves that you will never get doing anything else. This will set the stage for you to embark on you careers as RNs and becoming politically active and not afraid to stand up for yourself.
This is how nursing becomes the door mat that it is. It starts in nursing school. I have read the horror stories here about nursing school, and how horribly students are treated. This does not happen in any other profession, so why is it happening in nursing? I know that it is hard to get into nursing school, but without students, the school would not exist. And you are paying for this education. They are not providing it for free. Are they? They are not doing you a favor, regardless of what they tell you. You are paying for an education, and I encourage you to stand up for yourself from the get go while you are in school. It will be easier after you graduate if you develop the habit and skills to stand up for yourself when you are wronged.
Too often, nurses are socialized in nursing schools to be "good girls", and not protest and put up a fuss. They are encouraged to bend over and take it. Put up and shut up. It sets the stage that nurses put up with for their entire career! It is the reason why nursing has become the profession with the problems that it has.
Don't be that nurse. Make a stand NOW, and DEMAND that you have the ceremony you paid for WITHOUT the MA students. Period. Let them know that you will take the problem to an attorney and that the attorney will fix the problem for them. Make it a "take it or leave it proposal"!. Make them of offer they can't refuse. JMHO and my NY $0.02.
um Lindarn,,, she is an LPN student....... LPN"S get pinned also just as RN's do. I am sure it must have been typo on your part:D
Sorry! I did not go back up the thread to re re-read it. I just know how insulted I would be if another profession was trying to hijack the ceremony that I earned and paid for and the school was siding with these interlopers.
They have to remind the school that they represent the PN STUDENTS NOT the MA students. Period. And you EXPECT that they will reconsider, support the PN students, or else!
I do remember my pinning ceremony in my diploma program and when we were "Capped". It was a memorable and a tradition, as the school, at the time, was already about 94 years old ( I am dating myself).
I also had a pinning ceremony in my BSN program, and my parents and 80 year old grandmother (now all deceased), flew out from NY to see my pinning ceremony, and then my graduation. My grandmother actually turned 80 while she was in California for my graduation. She made it to 100 years old on May 30, 2007, and passed away last October at almost 100 1/2 years old. It is a memorable ceremony, and one to be proud of.
I will again say, stand up for yourself, and DEMAND that the school return to the original ceremony, PN only, and tell the MA students to make their own ceremony. Again, JMHO and my NY $0.02.
Specializes in ER, ICU, Neuro, Ortho, Med/Surg, Travele.
This is a sad commentary on nursing as a whole. Nursing as evolved from a trade to a PROFESSION! Unfortunately, there are schools and yes hospitals out there who are trying to lump us all together. I started out many moons ago has a CNA and us lucky enough to have the opportunity to become a nurse. I was a fulfillment of a life long dream.
Now, more and more, nurses are being taken advantage of. It needs to stop. When I recieved my pin and my family and friends were there it was one of the most remarkable times of my life.
I hope you and your class are able to have something just as precious. I for one remember everything about my ceremony.
You and your whole class need to stand up and make a statment about this behavior. Nursing school doesn't come cheap. You paid for a service and they are legally obligated to either provide that service or refund your money.
Don't let them walk all over you. I hope whatever ceremony you have is truly wonderful for you and your classmates.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I sure hope that those that choose to boycott do not incur repercussions, however, after thinking about it, I am sure that legally, the school can be in a heap of trouble if they do, in fact, start passive harassment of students that have, in fact, successfully completed the program. The ceremony is more of memories than a necessity, really. I didn't need it myself, so, I didn't go due to my own personal reasons that also had to do with school politics.
In any event, another reason why I advocate for boycotting is that it will show the spineless instructors that they need to advocate for the particular program they are teaching in. It will show the administration the next time that they are messing with tradition and disrespecting LPNs in particular.
Just the other day, I found out that our sister hospital is attempting to implement a uniform change, where they want for the RNs to wear white while their LPNs are to wear beige or maroon. While this sounds petty, this, to me is disrespectful. Traditionally, RNs and LPNs wore white. The difference I am aware of was the cap-the RN cap was either black or dark blue, while the LPN was light blue. If the LPN is medicating and treating patients, yet, are not standing out in pristine white, how would the patient interpet this? And, how would the LPN, who is, in fact, a nurse in her own right with her own scope of practice governed by the same Board of Nursing feel that she is suddenly not good enough to wear white?? It is saying that she is nothing, and that, to me is wrong.
The Medical Assistant may already be mistakenly aligning themselves to the LPN (as we have discussed in SO many passionate threads on this forum), which is already wrong, however, if this group gets to graduate with them, say the same pledge of Florence, carry the lamp, and the whole thing, they, then, further delude themselves that they are in fact, nurses (NOT). Let them make up their own tradition, their own memories to cherish, but don't pee on our legs and tell us it is raining (yeah, I am a Judge Judy fan, folks)!!
The problem is that people are not going to stick together. If everyone collectively says that they will NOT pay graduation dues, not walk, and does not show up, then, there will be too many people to fight. If you have your own ceremony, it will make a statement that nurses (and I mean ALL of us, LPN, ADN, BSN), can collectively make a way out of no way to gain respect for ourselves.
Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.
I know that I have already posted a reply, but I have another point that I would like to make.
First, nurses to be, get used to being treated like unimportant, interchangable, widgets. That is what the schools and hospitals want you to get used to so when you graduate, you will be used to not complaining about lousy staffing ratios, lousy pay, benefits, and general disrespectful treatment by EVERYONE!! You will think that it is just the way it is, so get used to it. Is that the way you want to start your nursing career?
Again, I would not let the school off of the hook. Period. I would go to an attorney and force them to provide you with what was paid for, and expected at your graduation. Make them go back to the original RN pinning ceremony that was originally planned. Why should you settle for less? You will feel a sense of accomplishment standing up for yourselves that you will never get doing anything else. This will set the stage for you to embark on you careers as RNs and becoming politically active and not afraid to stand up for yourself.
This is how nursing becomes the door mat that it is. It starts in nursing school. I have read the horror stories here about nursing school, and how horribly students are treated. This does not happen in any other profession, so why is it happening in nursing? I know that it is hard to get into nursing school, but without students, the school would not exist. And you are paying for this education. They are not providing it for free. Are they? They are not doing you a favor, regardless of what they tell you. You are paying for an education, and I encourage you to stand up for yourself from the get go while you are in school. It will be easier after you graduate if you develop the habit and skills to stand up for yourself when you are wronged.
Too often, nurses are socialized in nursing schools to be "good girls", and not protest and put up a fuss. They are encouraged to bend over and take it. Put up and shut up. It sets the stage that nurses put up with for their entire career! It is the reason why nursing has become the profession with the problems that it has.
Lindarn, RN ,BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
Yes, thank you! When we had to walk a MILE from the main school parking lot under threat of the dean writing us up, when we had to use cramped, dusty classrooms under construction while dental tech, radiology, and respiratory students got prime parking spots and classroom space, with every clinical cancelled at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts, we were told, quite condescendingly by the program director, that "flexibility was a part of nursing." When we continued to protest, we were told brusquely that "these are the rules, and if you don't like them, you can leave." We were paying good cash money out of our own pockets for this, up front! Most of us were doing it working as CNAs cleaning dirty bottoms and stripping wet beds.
And I see your point about being conditioned to expect and accept this in the workplace. I'd hear the same thing when I was told we only had 3-4 staff members or the on-call nurse wanted me to keep working over after a DOUBLE and "be patient."
The coordinator of the schools MA program needs to be working on a ceremony for them. Meanwhile, the Nursing Program Coordinator needs to be giving the student nurses what THEY worked so hard for.
pattylpn54, LPN
141 Posts
It is suppose to be your day -- the PNs, NOT the MAs. They paid for their program, your paid for yours. If your class wanted an MA graduation they could have signed up for that program!! I'm sorry that the MAs don't have a pinning ceremony, BUT that is their instructors problem, not the pn instructors. Your instructors should be standing up for their students, rather than the whole school that decides they want to be included in your ceremony. I wouldn't cause a big fuss, but I would remind my instructors that it is suppose to be the LPN class pinning & graduation and the MA instructors should take care of their own classes. Some feel pinning is no big deal & we're all entitled to our own opinions. For me pinning was a big deal because I worked hard to get to that point and earned my pin -- it's part of a tradition that I was proud to be a part of. Sorry for the ranting, but I'm a newbie and feel that you've been royally cheated out of a part of your (paid for!) schooling.