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This is not a question about ECONOMIC class/how much you make. I've noticed a fair number of nurses who make the same amount of money are varied in their social class. This isn't a value judgment, but it is visible in the food nurses eat, clothing choices, recreation, and behavior. (My prepatory school educated, Latin and Greek speaking, fair trade, organic eating husband readily points out my lower socioeconomic habits, which I enjoy and am unlikely to change.)
Does social class impact where you work? I've heard nurses complain you won't survive at the major hospital here if you're not a Stepford wife. I've also looked at facilities and thought I wouldn't fit into the predominant culture.
I imagine a lot of people aren't paid well in Mexico.
Well this is offensive surely you don't picture us being a third world country? Doctors in Mexico live very comfortable lives that mirror the ones here in the US. Please do not stereotype us. Life is good for those that have upperclass professions but being a nurse is considered more of a job than a career over there.
Doctors do the hard work. Nurses do what the doctor says and are limited in their scope of practice. They're treating diseases not diagnosing them. Nursing isn't exactly a science it's more common sense than anything provided you studied how to handle the situation and diseases. It's not a prestigious job but it pays well because the decisions they make in their job affect people in real time.
Doctors do the hard work. Nurses do what the doctor says and are limited in their scope of practice. They're treating diseases not diagnosing them. Nursing isn't exactly a science it's more common sense than anything provided you studied how to handle the situation and diseases. It's not a prestigious job but it pays well because the decisions they make in their job affect people in real time.
It appears you don't grasp:
1) the nursing profession
2) the medical profession
3) the definition of socioeconomics
4) the difference in the credentials between nations
I really hope you continue to grow in life, this shell of judgment can't be human.
I imagine a lot of people aren't paid well in Mexico.Well this is offensive surely you don't picture us being a third world country? Doctors in Mexico live very comfortable lives that mirror the ones here in the US. Please do not stereotype us. Life is good for those that have upperclass professions but being a nurse is considered more of a job than a career over there.
Mexico IS a Third World country. But that doesn't mean what you apparently think it does.
In Mexico nurses are looked down upon. It's such a shock to come to the US where the profession is more respected and pay is higher. That being said I still consider it to be a working class profession compared to that of a doctor. It is physical job not knowledged based.
Only if you are a crappy nurse.
Walk into a thoracic surgery unit, a cardiac unit, a neuro unit, a high risk L & D, among many other specialties, and try to do task oriented nursing only, and you will harm patients.
Doctors of course have much more education than nurses, and I haven't seen anyone here try to equate our education or our scope to theirs.
That said, I (and many other nurses who use their "knowledge") have caught mistakes by doctors which could have had fatal consequences. They are not Gods.
The title of the post is about the social aspects of class.
Which table do you sit at in the cafeteria? Money is only part of the equation.
Nurses are interesting because I think we do come from a wider spectrum of backgrounds than doctors.
I remember asking my brother if many of his fellow students in med school if they had worked as CNAs, scribes or other medical related jobs, and he said that many of them had never held a job of any sort. Their parents supported them financially all through college and beyond. My brother worked as a hospital CNA in college and I did CNA work to pay for nursing school.
Social class in America is an arbitrary myth. I grew up outside of the District of Columbia. As the son of a luxury home builder I got to peer in the lives of the some of most affluent people on the east coast. People who attended prayer breakfast with Bush Family but also enjoyed Nascar and drinking beer from the bottle. Some were avid art collectors who had original Andy Warhol paintings donning the walls but still shopped at Target and Walmart. Arab princes with 4 lane bowling allies and professional recording studio in the basement but the living rooms looked like wild kingdom with animals and often feces everywhere. So I'm not exactly sure of your husband's definition of 'lower socioeconomic habits' include. One thing I am sure of is this, the more money you have the less likely you are to define yourself as 'this or that' and and the less likely you are about to give a damn about people that do.
Bedside nursing IS a task based "job". Not a profession the way we are treated. Called off for low census and mandated for overtime when census is high. Short staffed most of the time. We are treated like day labor. Most of out shift is spent performing tasks without enough time to complete them all. There is little time to "think" about what you're doing. Sure you need to know how to perform the tasks and perhaps why but the Doc's order most of those tasks because the have the knowledge to do so (and the authority) A roofer performs tasks and has the knowledge to do it well. If you believe the focus of bedside nursing is knowledge based and not task based, YOU are a crappy nurse,...perhaps delusional as well. Just think back to how many times you've heard the phrase "this is how we've always done it" despite overwhelming evidence based research to the contrary. Or "I know baby powder is bad for the patient, but it smells so good". What many nurses actually do is the antithesis of knolwedge based. Sheesh!
Just think back to how many times you've heard the phrase "this is how we've always done it" despite overwhelming evidence based resear,rch to the contrary. Or "I know baby powder is bad for the patient, but it smells so good". What many nurses actually do is the antithesis of knolwedge based. Sheesh!
Ive been a manager at my last 2 jobs, and each had some questionable practices. We are still in a change process here, but things are changing. When I see something questionable, I ask "why" is it being done that way, and "we've always done it that way," is not an acceptable answer. If someone argues the point, I invite them to present the evidence and we can then revisit it, but it's the new way until then. We are definitely moving down the EBT highway, and best practices are the driver.
Ive been a manager at my last 2 jobs, and each had some questionable practices. We are still in a change process here, but things are changing. When I see something questionable, I ask "why" is it being done that way, and "we've always done it that way," is not an acceptable answer. If someone argues the point, I invite them to present the evidence and we can then revisit it, but it's the new way until then. We are definitely moving down the EBT highway, and best practices are the driver.
Evidenced based, best practice has been a mantra for decades,....I've seen little to no change in actual practice in that time,....unfortunately.
gonzo1, ASN, RN
1,739 Posts
I think the patients whose lives have been saved by me, and most of my nursing friends, would say that nursing is a knowledge based job. I often forget how important our job is until something great happens with a really sick patient. The thing is, in our job we can be titrating several life saving drips, watching for lethal rhythms and checking for air leaks in chest tubes and other assorted things, while cleaning up poopy bottoms and emptying the garbage.
I think I make pretty darn good money too.