Don't know if I've ever posted before today (been a member for a while), but a post in another thread prompted me to respond to it and to post this. I've spent the last few years preparing for a career change into nursing and am in my first semester as a BSN student, and I'm irritated. I am NOT bashing nursing as a profession, but I am dismayed at the constant whining and complaining as well as the lack of any trace of intellectual curiosity that I have found in my short time around the profession among many BUT NOT ALL nurses. The #1 complaint among nurses that I have seen is a lack of respect by other health care professionals. You want to know why there is a lack of respect? Read on. In my short time, I've been around amazing nurses (bright, dedicated and excellent in what they do), but there are far too many that should be doing some else. Here's why nursing gets less respect than it should...
1) Constant whining. Nursing school is too hard, floor nursing is too hard, etc. News flash: most professions are really hard. Nursing isn't special in that regard. Medicine is brutal. IT, my former career, is cut throat. School teachers often have a miserable jobs. Cops work bad shifts and put their lives on the line. The list goes on an on. People that whine about nursing would whine no matter what career they are in.
2) The nursing culture. The claim of nursing being a "caring profession" (as if med techs, rad techs, RT's, etc. aren't caring), yet there is constant bashing of "bad" patients that are "noncompliant." In addition, many nurses go out of their way to humiliate students and new grads, talk about each other behind their backs, call physicians and other providers incompetent, and are in general rude, sour and bitter. Yet nursing is supposed to be the "caring" profession.
3) The nursing culture part II: Running around the hospital with balloons, teddy bears, flowers, whatever on your scrubs says to your colleagues, "I don't have a brain."
4) Nursing education. Learning to "diagnose" a patient with "Ineffective coping mechanisms related to disturbed transpersonal energy field" sounds like a bunch of hooey to a lot of people. Why? Because it is. It too screams, "I don't have a brain." Thankfully such stuff is only in the textbooks and not in the real world.
5) Feminization. I have heard ad nauseum that traditionally, physicians are men, nurses are women and that accounts for much of the disrespect. I actually agree. Ironically, many more women now are entering all health fields traditionally dominated by men (pharmacy, medicine, etc.) but there's barely been an uptick in the number of men going into nursing. Why? See #3 above for starters. Here's some other reasons. The local Sigma Theta Tau chapter at my school has brown and pink for their colors. The local CC has a teddy bear wearing an 1800's nursing hat and a big heart on its (her) chest (that'll make males race to apply to the program). Which, BTW, also screams, "I don't have a brain."
6) Lack of intellectual curiosity/knowledge. See #3 and #5 as well. One of my instructors this semester (who is a licensed pediatric nurse practitioner) could not answer a question as to what a lesion is. A nurse during my clinical last week did not know the difference between a H2 antagonist and a proton pump inhibitor, yet has been nursing for 20 years. My clinical instructor (with an MSN) "corrected" me and explained that myasthenia gravis is an intestinal disorder. I'm guessing they are like the students I had in my science prereqs that hated science and were just glad to get them done so they could apply to nursing school - never mind the fact that the sciences are the foundation of all modern health care practice. Would you go to a doctor that hated or was bad at science? What about a respiratory or physical therapist? Do everyone a favor - if you hate or are bad at science, spare your future patients and find another career.
In short, there's got to be a change in nursing culture for the profession to be respected.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
wow, some of ya'll are downright mean. it's no wonder the op has the thoughts she has if those around her have the same attitude as many on this board have. please go back and reread the op without the tudes, (remember when you thought nursing was nobel), have we all become so jaded that newbies are not entitled to their opinions??
i see a little eating of the young here...
i think you need new glasses.
someone comes onto a nursing board and announces that she's a student but she knows all about what's wrong with nursing and how to fix it and she knows this because she used to be an it professional -- come on now! of course she's going to get negative responses.
no one here is "eating young". we're responding negatively to someone who so clearly wanted negative responses that she practiclly jumped up and down screaming "hit me! i dare you!"
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i'm not preoccupied with it. i'm explaining my impressions to you since you've persistently inquired.
i know that they are not specifically male perspectives. but in my personal experience, wherever i have seen a disdain for all things considered "feminine" expressed to such an excessive degree, as the op has expressed, it was always a decidedly male perspective. it's just a hunch. i've said twice now that i could be wrong and in doing so i am recognizing your point. i'm not trying to prove anything. i can't. and neither can you. only the op can.
i guess you've missed all those "women are catty, backstabbing b***hs and i'd rather work with men any day" threads. most of them are started and perpetuated by women who hate their own gender.
i guess you've missed all those "women are catty, backstabbing b***hs and i'd rather work with men any day" threads. most of them are started and perpetuated by women who hate their own gender.
i dont hate my gender..i actually have a best friend of 15 years..we talk on a phone daily and i mean really daily..i also have few other friends who i meet occasionally for a coffee who are girls,i also have a few guy friends.with that said i was one of the posters who said she prefer work with men..i really dont know why you cant just grasp the idea that a lot of women are jealous,back-stabbing and love to gossip...this is an undeniable and a true,proven fact..but from your previous post i have a feeling you must be one of those hating women--i see you display a lot of hate toward good looking nurses and new grads.arent you the one who always start threads "why does she thinks they hate her because she is beautiful,why new grads think nurses eat their young...please get off your high horse just because you have been a nurse for x amount years doesnt give you right to belittle and disrespect new grads..believe us when we tell you that a lot of us are treated poorly by a experienced nurses,otherwise we wouldnt come here to complain.n
i guess you've missed all those "women are catty, backstabbing b***hs and i'd rather work with men any day" threads. most of them are started and perpetuated by women who hate their own gender.
nah...i was there for one of them at least....in most cases, per my own experiences, i do prefer to work with men. but that doesn't equate to me hating women. i like women just fine...but if given a choice, i'd probably choose to work with men.
but i see your point. the op could be a woman. i just got the general, fleeting impression otherwise.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i dont hate my gender..i actually have a best friend of 15 years..we talk on a phone daily and i mean really daily..i also have few other friends who i meet occasionally for a coffee who are girls,i also have a few guy friends.with that said i was one of the posters who said she prefer work with men..i really dont know why you cant just grasp the idea that a lot of women are jealous,back-stabbing and love to gossip...this is an undeniable and a true,proven fact..but from your previous post i have a feeling you must be one of those hating women--i see you display a lot of hate toward good looking nurses and new grads.arent you the one who always start threads "why does she thinks they hate her because she is beautiful,why new grads think nurses eat their young...please get off your high horse just because you have been a nurse for x amount years doesnt give you right to belittle and disrespect new grads..believe us when we tell you that a lot of us are treated poorly by a experienced nurses,otherwise we wouldnt come here to complain.n
or, since i've never met most of the posters, you could say that i display a lot of disdain toward new grads who think the only reason they cannot get along with their co-workers is that the co-workers are all jealous of their great beauty. which is true.
Wow, this thread is getting some posts! I still feel it comes down to why individuals TRULY go into nursing? I worked my way up the ladder, going from CNA, scrub tech, LVN and finally RN. I went to school in CA and I was able to work/orient as an Extern while awaiting my license. Co-workers that had worked with me for years treated me differently to say the least. The nurse who oriented me as an RN in L/D was a male nursemidwife from Australia. He was very tough and brutal with me, yet explained to me that "this is the real deal, when you do something you are affecting 2 lives, you dont have your instructor to run behind". I resented him at first, yet when I was done with orientation I was told by Dr.'s, pts, that I was a "strong" nurse. He never bullied me, yet like I wrote earlier he didnt let anything slide! When an emergency situation came up, I was able to get through it and after 8 months of being on my own I was given the role of Charge RN.
Coming to MS was a reality check with co-workers though......The nurses I worked with apparently felt "threatened" by my experience and treated me with such horrible attitudes. I didnt have a problem with the Dr.s, they were actually great. Anyone who works L/D knows that if the Dr.s dont like you, you are out! I took enough of their "behavior" until one day I confronted them one by one! Didnt really have a problem with them after that, the sad part was they felt I was Miss Know it all because I did things that they were not trained to do. My response: "if you know a different method that is acceptable, and I dont know it, I will ASK you b/c as nurses we never stop learning something new". Whenever I was training a new grad I was rigid, yet not in a hateful way, and one of the first questions I would ask, "what made you want to become a nurse"?
Although I do agree that lack of professionalism is seen alot in nursing, I think you should keep this list and look back on it when you have worked as a nurse for a few years. I see alot of "idealism" in your argument, something I had in my younger years as a nurse. With time, I do hope you dont become "whiny" , "dumb" or decide to wear "teddy bears " on your scrubs. I believe the work nurses do now is so overregulated that sometimes you have little chance to breathe, let alone think. This is why maybe some of the nurses could not answer your questions. It is not that they are dumb per se....it is that they are victims of their own environment, an environment that fosters not thinking through what you are doing. I admire your willingness to be different but dont judge before you have stepped your foot in the mud. Ive worked in many places as a travel RN and have the perspective of how nurses act or dont act in many hospitals. At the end of the day, you are only accountable to yourself. I have stopped judging and have been more about the job itself and establishing myself as professional.
I dont hate my gender..I actually have a best friend of 15 years..we talk on a phone daily and I mean really daily..I also have few other friends who I meet occasionally for a coffee who are girls,I also have a few guy friends.With that said I was one of the posters who said she prefer work with men..I really dont know why you cant just grasp the idea that a lot of women are jealous,back-stabbing and love to gossip...this is an undeniable and a true,proven fact..but from your previous post I have a feeling you must be one of those hating women--I see you display a lot of hate toward good looking nurses and new grads.Arent you the one who always start threads "Why does she thinks they hate her because she is beautiful,why new grads think nurses eat their young...Please get off your high horse just because you have been a nurse for X amount years doesnt give you right to belittle and disrespect new grads..believe us when we tell you that a lot of us are treated poorly by a experienced nurses,otherwise we wouldnt come here to complain.n
Good Grief. Now HOW would Ruby Vee KNOW who's beautiful and pick on them for NO reason? It wouldn't matter if you were an old hag with 30 years experience; if you had a nasty, know-it-all attitude someone will surely let you know.
Some advice....listen to what some of the experienced members have to say you might get a clue.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I have a feeling you must be one of those hating women--I see you display a lot of hate toward good looking nurses and new grads.Arent you the one who always start threads "Why does she thinks they hate her because she is beautiful,why new grads think nurses eat their young...Please get off your high horse just because you have been a nurse for X amount years doesnt give you right to belittle and disrespect new grads..believe us when we tell you that a lot of us are treated poorly by a experienced nurses,otherwise we wouldnt come here to complain.n
You are unreal.
I truly wish you luck with your job search and new job. You are surely going to need it, honey. Because, as someone just recently said in another thread "wherever you go, there you are."
How on earth would anyone here know which posters are attractive? You could be a hairy man living in his mother's basement playing D&D, for all we know.
Off-topic: As the seemingly resident pattern spotter, I will say that Ruby Vee does appear to have a bit of an axe to grind on that particular subject. It has been a pretty consistent feature in her posts, at least the ones I've read lately...I don't know why of course...but it is a little creepy.
What's up with that, Ruby?? You're creeping me out here! =P
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Off-topic: As the seemingly resident pattern spotter, I will say that Ruby Vee does appear to have a bit of an axe to grind on that particular subject. It has been a pretty consistent feature in her posts, at least the ones I've read lately...I don't know why of course...but it is a little creepy.
What's up with that, Ruby?? You're creeping me out here! =P
Probably because there has been such prolific fodder lately for said ax-grinding.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
i think you need new glasses.
someone comes onto a nursing board and announces that she's a student but she knows all about what's wrong with nursing and how to fix it and she knows this because she used to be an it professional -- come on now! of course she's going to get negative responses.
no one here is "eating young". we're responding negatively to someone who so clearly wanted negative responses that she practiclly jumped up and down screaming "hit me! i dare you!"