We really need to do a better job educating the public on our role.

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

We have a blog on our local newspaper's website to talk about local stories and concerns. I go there occasionally, but not to often because to be honest the people on there just get me so darn mad. Here is a recent entry ranting about nurses:

First from a teacher talking about her RN dgter:

I want her to do well, but I guess I kind of regret my decision that would keep me on my feet, multi-tasking all day long, doing my paperwork on my own time, while attending night college classes, because even with a masters' degree, I need hours to keep my license. Can nurses even imagine going home with much of their work in a briefcase, still to be done on their own time?

I've taken my turn with my siblings taking care of my father after an operation. Since his room was right across from the nurses' station, what I saw on night turn at least, is that the nurses spend most of their time at the station, chatting, and I guess waiting for something to happen. (Although when something does require their attention, most seem resentful.)

It just seems like it would nice to sit chatting to adults, compared to keeping up with 25 active youngsters.

I tried explaining to her that many times what is seen as nurses sitting at the desk "chatting" may actually be interns, unit clerks, aides or nurses that may be discussing patient care. Or maybe, it could have been a "slow night." WOW, then the attacks did begin. I am just washing my hands of the whole thing, some people just aren't going to change their minds not matter what. Want a sample of the worst?

How funny , the aids and clerks do mostly all the work for the RN's.. On the midnight turn i know for a fact most nurses are sitting and waiting for something to happen . Midnight turn is a breeze for the nurses and thats why so many prefere that shift

Yeah it is funny how she complained about working so hard . I'm a unit clerk and we work all night with paper work that the night nurses are supposed to do but wont . Its a joke to hear them complaining moving from one chair to another and getting upset when a patient needs them

At least a school nurse is not union and probably works the entire time she gets paid versus a union nurse that can do nothing all day and get protected by the Union. Gee I wonder why (Local hospital) is going bankrupt. The union morans think it is ok to pay someone to take smoke breaks all day

Wonder how they will feel when there are no viable hospitals (or nurses) to take care of them or their loved ones. UN FREAKING BELIEVABLE.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

what a pompus a$$ ! i have nothing else to say :banghead:

praiser :heartbeat

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Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

You are 100% correct! I have been saying this for a long time, but no one is interested! Even the President who praised nurses for the care given to his grandmother, DID NOT INVITE THEM SPECIFICALLY TO THE HEALTHCARE MEETINGS being held in our country's various regions. I just don't get it!

It is all of our dutie's to tell everyone what nurses do, and how it affects everyone! We are the scapegoat for hospital failures as they cut ancillary staff and care diminishes. You can't have a million dollar workup, cutting edge technology, and nurses with 7-8 patients that need soup to nuts with no help. It's just that simple!

M

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.

All I can say is, "wow!" nurses rank #2 of most respected jobs in the US...#1 are nuns!!

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

Sounds like for someone with a Master's degree, she isn't too bright.

First of all, she is forgetting the MAJOR difference between nurses and teachers:

1. Nurses are paid BY THE HOUR and are not on contract.

2. Teachers are paid a SALARY and ARE on contract for the school year.

I'm really sick and tired of teachers (in regular school systems, not colleges) about how their pay stinks.

When I get my job as a nurse, I don't know of any hospital, where I can get 2 weeks off at Christmas, Spring Break, every weekend, Thanksgiving, all major holidays, plus the entire summer, with snow/heat days in between.

They also get a state pension...which the vast majority of nurses will never see.

CRY ME A RIVER!

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The trouble is nobody realizes how much paperwork we have. And anytime we are doing anything that isn't standing at a patients bedside we are not working. If we're on the phone calling pharmacy we're "chatting on the phone" If we're charting at the computer we're "playing on the computer" If we're doing anything at the nurses station we're "just sitting there"

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

OMG - I am soooo on the same page with all of you!

I come from a family of educators (3 generations of K-12 teachers). I'm the healthcare maverick. So I have heard all the arguments --- poor misunderstood teachers (sob). Here in Tx, they really kicked up a ruckus when we began requiring a 'licensure' of sorts for teachers... making them pass a competency exam in order to be credentialed as teachers. They receive blanket COL increases each year, no matter how crappy their performance is. They have the option of either a 9 month or 12 month contract with long holiday breaks. AAARRRGGGHHHHH! Can you see that this is a sore spot with me???

I completely agree - we need to educate the public. Oddly enough, just about the most effective person in this regard is Suzanne Gordon. She's not a nurse, but has devoted much of her career to us. She has written several books about the reality of what nursing is... they are all wonderful. Here's her new web site http://www.suzannegordon.com/. Maybe we could enlist her aid.

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Specializes in Acute post op ortho.

"The union morans think it is ok to pay someone to take smoke breaks all day."

Hahahaha...she misspelled moron ......hahahahaha

Need I say more?

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Do teachers know (or is that now? LOL) whats it's like to work 12 hr hs shifts and not sleep for 3 days b/c the neighbour is mowing his lawn, having a party or doing rennovations. I do shift work and live across the street from a public school. Need I say more? Lets include never seeing you husband or kids at Christmas. mandated overtime, and lets not forget that snow storm when you had to work 72 hrs in a row. And can we forget SARs, MRSA, C Diff, VRE, TB? Are you kidding me. They would last one rotation of night shifts and be admitted with "failure to cope" LOL

And yes, Im related to several

Whiners!

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Specializes in Peds Hem, Onc, Med/Surg.

They should shadow a nurse on a nightshift from the underworld and then see what they think.........

That is the problem with people they never put themselves in other people shoes. Its all about themselves......

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Sandy Summers, the creator of the Center for Nursing Advocacy (now The Truth About Nursing), and her husband Harry have just released a book entitled Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk. Most people's understanding of health care and the nurse's role comes from pop culture: TV, movies, advertising. When you watch a show like House and week after week you don't see ANY nurses at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital it's easy to believe that nurses are invisible and have no place in health care other than to provide a convenient scapegoat when things go sideways. None of the doctors at my hospital ever administer antibiotics (except anaesthesia in the OR) or transport patients to MRI, much less stay and run the scan themselves. Come on people!

This sort of misinformation is also a huge factor in many of the ethical issues we face as nurses - especially end-of-life issues - because on TV everybody is cured. People emerge from months-long comas and are back at work the following week. Heart transplants happen just days after the need is known, and the recipient is back to their normal life in no time... with no sternotomy scar to mar their decolletage when they attend all those fundraising balls. When I express this view, people scoff. But they're the same people who can't understand why Jimbob next door was in the hospital for months after a critical head injury, or why Marysue died on the transplant list.

We all need to take responsibility for educating the public on what we do and how we do it. When you see an op-ed about nurses, such as the OP described, deconstruct it one detail at a time. Be rational and reasonable, factual and frank. Leave the emotion out and your message will carry more weight. Talk about what you do and the things you see to the people in your daily life. We may never be able to counteract the negative press we get, but if we don't try, we have no chance.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
The trouble is nobody realizes how much paperwork we have. And anytime we are doing anything that isn't standing at a patients bedside we are not working. If we're on the phone calling pharmacy we're "chatting on the phone" If we're charting at the computer we're "playing on the computer" If we're doing anything at the nurses station we're "just sitting there"

So true. This is a huge frustration of mine. It seems that if I am not at the bedside, nobody thinks I am doing anything important. Since when is knowing your patient's medical history, labs, imaging results, allergies, medications, etc. unimportant? We're expected to know everything there is to know about our patients the second we step foot on the floor, yet nobody wants to give us the time and space to look anything up. If I have to call the doctor, I need to be able to answer their questions, yet nobody thinks I need time in front of the computer or with the paper chart. We're being hounded about our pain assessments, yet nobody seems to think I need any time in front of the computer. The CNAs that bother to come get report from me demand it before I've even had time to look at anything, yet I'm just supposed to know, even if I've been off for the last three days and know absolutely nothing about my new patients. It's ridiculous.

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