OK. I had an infamous thread going that challenged the notion that nursing is a profession. If you are REALLY BORED, go ahead and read it.
Since then, I've had a bit of an epiphany. I couldn't help but wonder "What was the bug up my butt about it anyway?" and "Why is it so important to convince others of this?" Well, you ever get that wonderful brain fart syndrome going after working a night shift? The next day, you are trying to recall a well known relatives phone number or someone's name you should remember, but you don't. Then, out of the blue, a little while after you stop thinking about it, it comes to you. Thats what happened to me. I stopped stressing over it, and I was all of a sudden able to put my finger on it. The orig. thread touched on it a bit, but in an indirect manner.
In the orig. thread, I rambled a lot about the personality types who "Consider nursing an image instead of a career/job" and all the lovely nurses who preempt every statement with "Well, I'm a nurse and I think................." as if it makes a difference (Seriously, I once answered someone who said that "Well, I'm a nurse and a former landscaper and former student and former brick layer laborer and former grocery bagger and I think................). It was as if I were trying to describe some sort of individual who was bad for nursing, but I couldn't put my finger on "The Issue".
So, finally, today, all the little separate details that were somehow wrong in my eyes came together to make sense.
Nursing is a profession. It does combine intellect with physical labor, and neither one can be successful without the other. It does have it's theory, although I don't agree with most about what said theory is. In fact, that was what the epiphany was about:
Seems nursing theory has been a bit diluted by our "leaders" who came before us AND, most of all, our current leaders. Care plans that no one reads, diagnosis that have no use no matter how far you stretch reality to say they are used and numerous other things that, in reality, are simply ideas borrowed from other fields and renamed. No wonder no one else considers us professionals if this is the best we can do. Many of the things wrong with nursing theory today have one thing in common though: They all take us away from the beside and put us in front of a chart/computer. The mechanics of the theories are followed through from an administrative angle, and are meant for people away from the bedside. NURSING OCCURS AT THE BEDSIDE.
The problem with "nursing theory" is that it is often written by those who consider themselves above bedside nursing. Hence the theory that flows from them, inevitably, really doesn't have much to do with "bedside nursing". But, is not bedside nursing the point? Do we nurse our patients back to health, or do we "nurse" paperwork?
Consider, for a second, nursing before paperwork and impressing administration became so important. Do you think for a second the nurses of old, the ones who nursed back when there were no computers or anything...............weren't "nursing"? Did their patients lack in some way because they didn't jot down in some chart how their care reflected "Age specific needs" or how they "Interpreted the pt. reaction to illness"?
I say, profoundly, "NO". In fact, I'll follow with, they were probably better off. A little less time talking and self important chest pounding and a little more time doing the things that help (dressing changes, help with ambulation to avoid falls, taking one's time passing meds to avoid errors). THAT IS NURSING.
Our profession suffers because we hang ourselves. The people who rise through our ranks and hence represent us to the decision makers often, along the road to progressing in their careers, pick up some sort of disdain for bedside nursing. It's "remedial" and "meant for the ancillary staff". If this is the face of nursing that the public and the decision makers see, is it hard to believe such a low value is placed on what we do and that we often feel the need to call our jobs "thankless"? Our very own leaders from within the field, unfortunately, are often in their position of power because they have worked hard to distance themselves from bedside nursing. Nothing wrong with that, if you don't think it is your niche, you are better off elsewhere. What I do have a problem with is when our leaders forget their roots and why they are where they are. If there was no need for the staff nurses, there certainly is no need for administrative/managerial nurses. They forget their roots, begin to believe and buy into the business side's way of thinking and take on an air that nursing is for the ones who don't get it.
Why this phenomenon occurs is a mystery to me. Might be because, the nurse found out they truly hate bedside nursing and want nothing more than to never have to hear "Nuuuuuurrrrseeee, I want dilaudid/a bed pan/need tissue handed to me" again. In their efforts to distance themselves from clinical/bedside nursing, they unintentionally take on a holier than thou air. Or, it might be that, for fear of being replaced, once they get into the board room meetings they join hands with and take on the attitudes of the business minded. Regardless, the lack of respect for our profession isn't going away any time soon BECAUSE IT STARTS AT THE TOP OF OUR OWN PROFESSION.
I now do believe nursing is a profession, and I'm talking about "Nursing", not board room meetings or care plan evaluating. We can not be replaced. As a "remedial" nurse who still believes my best work is done at the bedside, I will be continuing my my education soon. Why? Because I want a more well informed opinion on who our leaders should be and more say in who they are. Maybe someday I'll be in a position too where I can be the face of the profession, but I don't plan on forgetting my roots.
heron, ASN, RN
4,631 Posts
You have a point ... but I don't personally think that concerns over experience had much to do with the change. If memory serves, it came about as the for-profits started taking over the industry in the late eighties to early nineties. That's when staffing got cut and CNA's were largely eliminated on many acute care units.
Case management got big when they realized that they threw the baby out with the bathwater. Having bedside nurses doing the job, however, was costly ... more nurses, more overtime or both ... and behold - a new job description for a nurse who could case manage an entire unit on salary, because it was not direct care.