Tired of ppl who says that you are not a real nurse cause you dont work in a hospital

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Ok so yesterday I had a converstation with one of my good friends who is currently studing to be a nurse.She knows I recently started to work as a home health nurse.So yesterday she makes this totally ignorant comment that home health nursing is not "real nursing " and that true nurses (and best nurses) work in a hospital setting ir ltc setting and she also said that home health nurses dont do too much,according to my friend we only take a persons blood pressure and that is all:mad: Forgot an assessment skills,forgot stress of making important decisions on your own (no help around),forget setting up the meds and making sure that patients takes their meds,forgot teaching patients about their conditions and procedures,forgot about good customers skills (since patients are in their own home and tend to have more attitude.I'm not a real nurse because my patient is not septic and about to code any minute now.:devil::mad:

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Doesn't sound like a very good friend...

Actually, if she's only studying to be a nurse, how would she have any idea what a home health nurse does? I vote for ignoring the comment and letting her figure nursing out on her own :up:

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Don't let her get to u. I do home health as well and I "ve been in plenty of stressful situations. I will share one with u so u know that doing Home Nursing is not easy, I was taking care of toddler and her mother made the comment that she thought she could do my job on any day of the week, she did not know why they pay the nurses so much if they (do nothing).Well when her daughter started to have Seizures she froze and did not know what to do. When I took action and made sure her daughter was safe and then directed her to take her to the hospital she understood that my purpose was not to be at her home to do "nothing". Instead she learned that I was trained to act rationally to the situation and was prepared enough to not panic and get her daughter to the place where she would be treated and safe. She would request me to care for her daughter and came to understand that it was the training we obtain as nurses that saved her daughters life.

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Don't let her get to u. I do home health as well and I "ve been in plenty of stressful situations. I will share one with u so u know that doing Home Nursing is not easy, I was taking care of toddler and her mother made the comment that she thought she could do my job on any day of the week, she did not know why they pay the nurses so much if they (do nothing).Well when her daughter started to have Seizures she froze and did not know what to do. When I took action and made sure her daughter was safe and then directed her to take her to the hospital she understood that my purpose was not to be at her home to do "nothing". Instead she learned that I was trained to act rationally to the situation and was prepared enough to not panic and get her daughter to the place where she would be treated and safe. She would request me to care for her daughter and came to understand that it was the training we obtain as nurses that saved her daughters life.

Yep,I also had a caretaker of one of my patients making a comment that the patient doesnt need a home health nurse cause he is fine:rolleyes: and what is my purpose of being there,hmm yeah..mind you the patient was taking expired meds,didnt have a hot water running,or working toilet for that matter,was straining and was forced to remove some of his feces digitally,his pulse was about 50 and had sores on his r and l legs (all from scratching his legs cause it wa so dry) and the feet also were in a bad shape-flaky dry skin.but no according to the caregiver the patient didnt need a home health nurse:rolleyes: Some ppl....

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Is she aware that approx. 45% of "Real Nurses" do not work in a hospital? Registered Nurses

Realize she is a student, and has a lot to learn about nursing. Ask her if she thinks her MD is not a real MD because he doesn't work in a hospital saving lives all day.

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Specializes in ED.

I've often compared home health nursing to practicing medicine in the field. You never know what you are going to run across and you often have to make split second decisions.

Home health - not for sissies.

meredith

(i should add here that I don't work HH but my very good friend is a hospice manager and my only HH experience is going with her on a few visits.)

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Specializes in home health, dialysis, others.

I've done ICU, Acute Dialysis, med-surg, and more. The one area where I had to use all of my training all of the time was HOME HEALTH.

Wound care? You name it, I've done it. And I'll put my wound-vac skills up with anyone's. Wrapping legs? Clients ask me to teach the other nurses how to wrap them snug enough to stay up, not so tight that the circulation was cut-off.

Diabetes? Sticking fingers, giving shots, teaching, teaching, TEACHING.

COPD? CAD? IV Therapy? Been there, done that!!!

Assess, Assess, Assess. And doing all this while surrounded by people, pets, and, too frequently, uninvited multi-legged guests.

I loved every minute!!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Your friend doesn't understand the job of a home health nurse at all. There just is no answer for her until she knows what she is talking about. Patients in home health go septic, too! Or they are heading for the drain and the home health nurse can't call the rapid response team or go ask their charge nurse what to do. It's a huge amount of responsibility. I like it because of that, actually!

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Ok, I'm not a real nurse. Since I'm not a real nurse I won't be able to go out today and draw labs and change the dressings on the stage IV sacral wound, insert a Foley catheter and change another stage IV sacral wound, change the dressing on my diabetic patient with foot wounds, change out the IV bag for my q12 hour vanco drip, draw PT/INR labs, or teach my patient the correct foods to eat so your food will digest instead of dump with your s/p esophogectomy.

SInce I'm not a real nurse, maybe the student can come take care of that for me since she knows it all....

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Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.

I agree with what everyone has said to you so far. I've done home health, and I wholeheartedly concur that it definitely is NOT for sissies!

Ignorant people make ignorant comments. See if you can take her on a day's worth of visits sometime...I'm sure she'll change her mind real quick. Plus, it would be a great learning experience. I still remember my clinicals with a home health nurse...I loved it!

Don't let it get to you...I've heard the same thing said about nurses that work in LTC, about nurses who work in the OR, etc. etc.

Anyone that works as an RN/LPN in ANY setting is a real nurse!

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

When I was new, working in the the ER, I looked down on other nurses. Eventually I realized that I could no more replace a med/surg, LTC, or home health nurse than they could replace me. I suppose with enough time and training we could do each others job, but each nursing position is a link in a chain. No one link is better, worse, or more or less important than the other.

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Specializes in Tele.

she sounds jealous much...

I have a good friend who does home health for an affluent family, she's an LVN and going to RN school, her classmates talk trash about her not having skills or being a real nurse...guess what? according to the state of California, she's a nurse...jealousy, jealousy, jealousy...

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