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.
First off.. when you have 50 patients, who all want tylenol at the same time, while you have a clogged g-tube that wont budge, and the pharmacy guy is waiting for you with narcotics, and you still have HS blood sugars to do, and a couple patients still waiting for their meds and the night nurse is there ready to count.. don't say I am not allowed to complain. I am allowed to complain. In fact, I am entitled to it when I have 50 patients to give pills to.
Second.. The color or print or style of my scrub top does not in any way mean I am brainless. I care about my patients and make sure I give them the best care I possible can.
Third.. Nursing School? Don't judge unless you have walked in each of our shoes.
Oh and FYI... The day before Easter.. I wore a Easter bunny scrub top. Bug Off
What's so funny about this, sarjasy, is that here you are, exhibiting the exact personality deficits you are so critical of. Only a few months in and seeing a pattern emerge, a problematic pattern...And how do you respond? By jumping on a message board and pointing fingers. I don't disagree with you in many respects. But it's clear enough to me that your approach is petulant.
What do you suppose is the idea underlying the actions and words of those who complain about nursing image but do nothing constructive to change it? That it's someone else's problem and someone else's responsibility to fix it.
The reason why your experience makes or breaks the respectability of your perspective, is because unless you've been at ground zero enacting change with your actions, working diligently with patience, respect, and humanity for those in the environment you're trying to change, your words mean jack.
Put your convictions to the test. Perhaps then you will have something constructive to impart, something real people can use. Then, come back and start delegating responsibility.
Honestly, I would encourage any young person that has a natural knack/gift of the biological sciences to pursue other fields. In fact if you are that science brilliant, I would ask you why you are in nursing school and not living up to your full potential?Maybe I'm wrong.
First, I don't think nurses need to be science gurus. Just proficient. What bothers me though, is that you are suggesting that if you are really good at science, then somehow by going into nursing you're not living up to your full potential? I know you don't mean it to be, but isn't that an indirect insult to nursing? Don't we want those that are very good in science in the nursing profession? Aren't we all about evidence based practice and understanding not just the psychosocial needs of the patient, but how that relates to the physiological and biological? What about nurse practitioners and CRNA's? Don't those require heavy science proficiency and ability?
But for you to say that people who are not good at science should look elsewhere for a career is dead wrong because there are many of us who are living proof that great nurses can be made from hard work and determination.
I stand by my original statement, though your point is well-taken. This isn't nursing 50 years ago. Nursing now demands an understanding of micro, chemistry and especially anatomy and physiology. I personally don't want a nurse that simply does something because they were taught to without knowing why they do something. If you pull A's and B's in the sciences, even if you have to kill yourself to do it, you've demonstrated a good enough understanding. Besides, in my OP, I referenced those that showed a disregard for the sciences, or at least that is what I meant to convey.
BTW, thanks for actually addressing the actual points that I made in the OP, rather than diverting this into a thread about "experience" (as if my experience or lack thereof had anything to do with my local honor society using pink on everything).
BTW, thanks for actually addressing the actual points that I made in the OP, rather than diverting this into a thread about "experience" (as if my experience or lack thereof had anything to do with my local honor society using pink on everything).
What's so funny about this, sarjasy, is that here you are, exhibiting the exact personality deficits you are so critical of.
There is a major difference between pointing out problems and complaining. Secondly, I am having this discussion in a closed circle - there is nothing in my original post about nurses complaining to nurses. In fact, that is needed to unload stresses of the day. We all need that. It's also about the volume.
What do you suppose is the idea underlying the actions and words of those who complain about nursing image but do nothing constructive to change it? That it's someone else's problem and someone else's responsibility to fix it.
Which is precisely why I started this thread.
The reason why your experience makes or breaks the respectability of your perspective, is because unless you've been at ground zero enacting change with your actions, working diligently with patience, respect, and humanity for those in the environment you're trying to change, your words mean jack.
Then answer the same question I've been asking that no one has answered -- when nurses in this thread with years of experience agree with me, do you discount them too?
Secondly, what does experience have to do with the fact that schools use teddy bears in their marketing material and how that discourages male applicants? Or how does experience have any relevance to the fact that flowers on scrubs make nurses look unprofessional and unintelligent to other health care professionals (Don't believe me? Ask around).
'Running around the hospital with balloons, teddy bears, flowers, whatever on your scrubs says to your colleagues, "I don't have a brain."'
I'm one of those colleagues and you don't get to speak for ME. That attire, particularly common for peds nurses, may scream brainless to YOU but to me it says 'approachable and nonthreatening'. Heaven forbid the 3-year old client you're trying to serve might think you're lacking in intellectual rigor...
Specializes in M/S, Tele, Sub (stepdown), Hospice.
Secondly, what does experience have to do with the fact that schools use teddy bears in their marketing material and how that discourages male applicants? Or how does experience have any relevance to the fact that flowers on scrubs make nurses look unprofessional and unintelligent to other health care professionals (Don't believe me? Ask around).
Experience has nothing to do with schools using teddy bears as their way of marketing. Join your school's nursing association & do something to help change the image you think they're sending.
It's your OPINION about flowers, etc. on scrubs making nurses look unprofessional & unintelligent. I don't care if 10,000 people agree with you, it's just your opinion, it's NOT fact. I rather have an intelligent nurse wearing balloons on her scrubs caring for me than a moron in black scrubs. I honestly don't get why you care so much about nurses, or whoever, wearing colorful scrubs. Who cares?!?!?!?!?!? Seriously
Secondly, what does experience have to do with the fact that schools use teddy bears in their marketing material and how that discourages male applicants? Or how does experience have any relevance to the fact that flowers on scrubs make nurses look unprofessional and unintelligent to other health care professionals (Don't believe me? Ask around).
So call the school's administrator and voice your concerns. Put up or shut up. If you want to see a change, try talking to the people who can make that happen instead of berating a bunch of strangers.
What are you afraid of? That your intrinsic disgust for the population you see as representative of the profession will shine through to them the way it shines through here? This is a safe place to vent, though, right? You're smart enough to know that your venting here isn't likely to do anything more than **** people off, so what's this really about?
WilburW
81 Posts
I absolutely love being the proverbial fly on the wall. :beer: beer does go with popcorn, right?