I'd like advice and tips on how to better handle the following type of scenerio better.
I was talking with my mom and several of her sisters the other day. Turns out one of my aunts (not present that day) is going to start a surgical tech certificate program. I knew about this because my aunt had discussed it with me, knowing that I'm going to school to be a nurse. Anyway, one of my aunts didn't know that I knew about it. So she tells me that Aunt Mary is going to become a "surgical nurse in only 8 months." So anyway I said I think that it is fantastic that Aunt Mary is going to become a surgical tech. Then another aunt said no...surgical nurse. So I explained that I think it's great what she's doing - I was just pointing out that Aunt Mary's program isn't a nursing program, it's a surgical tech program. I said that each program is deserving of respect in their own right - they are just different. So it goes on, and I hear things like "she'll be working in the operating room - helping with the patients. Of course she'll be a nurse." To which I said, again, "each is a separate profession deserving of respect. We have many different professions in the hospital such as respiratory therapy, speech therapy, etc. Nobody is better...I'm just saying the jobs are different..she's not going to be a nurse, she's going to be a surgical tech. Legally a nurse is someone who is a licensed LPN or RN." Then I explained that it is such a serious issue that the state board of nursing prosecutes anyone who holds themself out to be a nurse and isn't a licensed nurse.
Well it ended in a ruckus with one aunt saying I was acting superior to Aunt Mary "who is going to be a surgical nurse!" So I grinned and said "Oh so anyone - read female - in scrubs who works in a hospital helping doctors -read god-like males - is a nurse then?"
I'm sure I'm not the first to have this sort of conversation. Any tips or extra special ways of explaining this? I should mention that I call (to myself, nobody else!) one of these aunts NE. As in National Enquirer. She thinks in those terms. Not the brightest bulb. She gave me the hairy evil eye the rest of the night. What surprised me is that two of my other aunts seemed mad at me for clarifying that Aunt Mary is going to be a surgical tech and not a nurse.
