are southern nurses better educated than northern educated nurse?

PAERRN20 · Nov 4, 2009

Ummm no. I have no idea where the interviewer would get that idea but quite frankly that is rude and not true. The technology should be the same everywhere in the USA- there are medical research institutes in the north and the south.

GilaRRT · Nov 4, 2009

Oh brother, this sounds like the South is just regrouping and war of northern aggression comments I hear from time to time. Truth as I see it (anecdotal, I know), is you have a global crisis consisting of a lack of funding and qualified nursing instructors.

readytoroll · Nov 4, 2009

I am Licensed in Florida and New Mexico. Our equipment was better in Florida, the care is great in both place! I think the reason our equipment was better in Florida is 1. I was in a bigger city and 2. the average income in that area was higher. I think you will find that the divide in technology is more along a city/rural line than a north/south line. As for education being better in the south, I think that is a dangerous generalization and would chalk it up to sour grapes, and I was educated in the south! There a good and bad schools everywhere.

nurse_mo1986 · Nov 4, 2009

Well, I can't speak for all. I personally am from North Carolina and now live in Missouri. I can freely say that healthcare as a whole is much more advanced in N.C. and much more tech. savvy. However, these are the only two states I know, so like I said, I can't speak for all states.

leslie :-D · Nov 4, 2009

the type of equipment that hospitals have, has absolutely nothing to do with location.

there are many factors that contribute to the funding any hospital receives.

generally, teaching hospitals will be well-equipped and some that are privately managed.

much of it has to do with how well utilized the hosp is.

a hosp that only has half of its bed filled on a reg basis, will receive less funding than a hosp whose beds are always filled.

as i said, much to consider here...

and absolutely nothing to do with geography.:)

leslie

elkpark · Nov 4, 2009

I have lived and practiced in both the South and North (ran back home to the South first chance I got, both times!) I agree that it's more a matter of urban vs. rural facilities (and financial resources) than North vs. South.

lindarn · Nov 4, 2009

Has anyone worked in a northern and southern state? Someone made a comment to me about that during an interview but I don't know if she was being insulting or what. I know people who were patients tell me that the technology in the south is not great and care was inferior.

True true! The South does not spend its money on any of their schools. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

JayVArn · Nov 4, 2009

What is this the civil war (er war of northern aggression). I would have asked the interviewer to clarify what she meant and then correct her.

readytoroll · Nov 4, 2009

True true! The South does not spend its money on any of their schools. JMHO and my NY $0.02.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington

I am not sure how much money "the south" (which by the way is made up of several very different states all with their own school systems and medical systems) spends on education has anything to do with the College education of nurses, which is funded through the individual paying tuition but anyhow....again dangerous generalization.

I am quite sure a hospital in Nowhere Upper New York has less technology than a major trauma center in Miami or Atlanta just as a hospital in Hicksville, Alabama has less technology than a major hospital in New York. By the way, Nashville is a Major medical hub and it's in the south.

Of the five states in the country that spend less than $6000 per student annually only two are in the south. Three states in the south spend above the national average on their students. The rest are within $1000 of the national average. There are eight non-southern states in the union that average in the same range. A LOT of factors go into what is spent per student. And the Average is for the ENTIRE state it is not a direct reflection of what is spent on each and every student, including most importantly the per capita income in the area. My high school, for example, had all the latest bells and whistles. In fact it still does, my daughter attended last year. 60 miles up the road is a farming community in which the High school only offers basic classes, despite being nearly the same size, they simply don't have the funding. Just the facts.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2009

There are differences, but they are not universal. You also may what to qualify what you mean about care, as well as about what is southern and northern.

I will say that hospitals in the north generally are more technilogically up to date. However, that does not necessarily translate into better care. The vast majority of patients do not need and most illnesses do not require that, and it raises the cost of care.

Also, some times technology is a mixed blessing. Just because we can do it does not mean that we should do it. Should your 80 year old grandma with pancreatic Ca have the latest whipple and the most up-to-date chemo that will probably just make her miserable, or the gentle hands on care with fewer sticks/cuts/tests.

An example: Many facilities have strict parameters as to whether they will do a bone marrow transplant on someone with leukemia...taking into account whether induction/consolidation chemo has cleared the bone marrow, treatment compliance, age, comorbidities, performance status, etc. Research based evidence have demonstrated that doing BMT outside those parameters does not improve survival, and can be detrimental to QOL. Yet I guarantee that many pts leave and find someone with the technology that will transplant them, using state of the art technology. BMT is dangerous, stressful and has serious repercussions for the rest of the pts life.

I have found that being on the receiving end of care in the north and in the south, I received more personalized care, and was more comfortable with care in the south. There was more of a hands on rather than a tech feel to it. But that is also me, and likely d/t my southern upbringing.

I will say as a patient and as a nurse, sometimes the attitudes of the staff put me off. I worked at a top ten facility in PA that requires a BSN now to work in it as well as does state of the art nursing research. The backbiting/cliquishness/rudeness was very disturbing. I saw several nurses (experienced and new) quit after getting eaten alive and spit out. There was an elderly MD looking for a chart once, as a matter of being gracious - I helped him find it and got talked down for it.

I worked in NYC, and routinely dealt with staffers that slept on the night shift and would not "lower" themselves to shower a pt. And complained that when I showered a terminally ill cancer pt, so that she would look good for her last Thanksgiving, that I was "spoiling" her and that the family should pay a private duty to do that for her.

I also worked at one of the Boston (read Harvard) hospitals, where an attending slammed me for my southern origins. She was being introduced to me and ask me where I was from and learned BMT, I said Georgia. She responded with a , "You know ANYTHING about BMT, being from Georgia?". A few weeks later, she wanted them to permanently hire me. The irony.

By the same token, the northern hospitals tend to not tolerate bad behavior by visitors or MDs. I saw badly behaving visitors carried out by security, for things the southern hospitals would require staff tolerate.

By the same token many southern facilities coddle their MDs/visitors and tolerate bad/dangerous/unacceptable behavior from them.

As a general rule, more northern facilities are unionized than southern ones, so there are generally better ratios and more staff benies in the northern ones. Though this also had a certain increase in slack behavior (the nurses that slept for a 2 hour stint each night were in a union facility in NY). Pay rates are also generally higher and there are fewer for profit hospitals.

The other is what is north and what is south? Many people consider Johns Hopkins (consistantly rated top in the country) a southern hospital, others consider int more northern.

The other issue. I worked at the NIH with some of the best medical minds available. And I can tell that, no matter how "educated" someone is, that does not mean that they have any other skills. Some of those scientists were also some of the people most lacking in common sense and people skills that I have ever met in my life.

carolina4 · Nov 4, 2009

There are differences, but they are not universal. You also may what to qualify what you mean about care, as well as about what is southern and northern.
I will say that hospitals in the north generally are more technilogically up to date. However, that does not necessarily translate into better care. The vast majority of patients do not need and most illnesses do not require that, and it raises the cost of care.
Also, some times technology is a mixed blessing. Just because we can do it does not mean that we should do it. Should your 80 year old grandma with pancreatic Ca have the latest whipple and the most up-to-date chemo that will probably just make her miserable, or the gentle hands on care with fewer sticks/cuts/tests.
An example: Many facilities have strict parameters as to whether they will do a bone marrow transplant on someone with leukemia...taking into account whether induction/consolidation chemo has cleared the bone marrow, treatment compliance, age, comorbidities, performance status, etc. Research based evidence have demonstrated that doing BMT outside those parameters does not improve survival, and can be detrimental to QOL. Yet I guarantee that many pts leave and find someone with the technology that will transplant them, using state of the art technology. BMT is dangerous, stressful and has serious repercussions for the rest of the pts life.
I have found that being on the receiving end of care in the north and in the south, I received more personalized care, and was more comfortable with care in the south. There was more of a hands on rather than a tech feel to it. But that is also me, and likely d/t my southern upbringing.
I will say as a patient and as a nurse, sometimes the attitudes of the staff put me off. I worked at a top ten facility in PA that requires a BSN now to work in it as well as does state of the art nursing research. The backbiting/cliquishness/rudeness was very disturbing. I saw several nurses (experienced and new) quit after getting eaten alive and spit out. There was an elderly MD looking for a chart once, as a matter of being gracious - I helped him find it and got talked down for it.
I worked in NYC, and routinely dealt with staffers that slept on the night shift and would not "lower" themselves to shower a pt. And complained that when I showered a terminally ill cancer pt, so that she would look good for her last Thanksgiving, that I was "spoiling" her and that the family should pay a private duty to do that for her.
I also worked at one of the Boston (read Harvard) hospitals, where an attending slammed me for my southern origins. She was being introduced to me and ask me where I was from and learned BMT, I said Georgia. She responded with a , "You know ANYTHING about BMT, being from Georgia?". A few weeks later, she wanted them to permanently hire me. The irony.
By the same token, the northern hospitals tend to not tolerate bad behavior by visitors or MDs. I saw badly behaving visitors carried out by security, for things the southern hospitals would require staff tolerate.
By the same token many southern facilities coddle their MDs/visitors and tolerate bad/dangerous/unacceptable behavior from them.
As a general rule, more northern facilities are unionized than southern ones, so there are generally better ratios and more staff benies in the northern ones. Though this also had a certain increase in slack behavior (the nurses that slept for a 2 hour stint each night were in a union facility in NY). Pay rates are also generally higher and there are fewer for profit hospitals.
The other is what is north and what is south? Many people consider Johns Hopkins (consistantly rated top in the country) a southern hospital, others consider int more northern.
The other issue. I worked at the NIH with some of the best medical minds available. And I can tell that, no matter how "educated" someone is, that does not mean that they have any other skills. Some of those scientists were also some of the people most lacking in common sense and people skills that I have ever met in my life.

So very very true... hospitality will never go out of style down here (; If I was on my death bed I'd rather a nurse from GA but, like you said, that's probably d/t my upbringing down South!!

btw, that's so sweet a/b the little lady on Thanksgiving (: