Why do some fairly new nurses talk down about bedside nursing?

[Googlenurse]

I overheard a few coworkers talking about how they do not want to push a med cart at 50. They were particularly talking about us nurses with over 15 years experience who still "push a med cart".

The problem? I love bedside nursing and I can't see my self going into management or working for an insurance company. 
I don't know how to counteract or have anything to say when fellow nurses do this. These were all nurses who have less than 5 years experience. 
 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Tweety said:

I'm even more bottom of the barrel in that I've stayed in med-surg areas the whole time and have a BSN.

I still like floating to the med-surg units sometimes and I am truly in awe of some of my colleagues with 25+ years there. To really love med-surg and be so good at it is an admirable attribute. Your patients are lucky to have you!

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

As somebody who returned to bedside nursing after having both been a manager and then a clinical nurse specialist (in a largely outpatient rôle), I think the key is pay and conditions.

I'm ending my career back at the bedside but I'm paid correctly and have good working conditions. I've got colleagues who've worked here over 30 years without a break (a large specialist cancer centre) and I think if the pay and conditions are right you can do it long term without burning out.

Whilst I very occasionally miss my CNS days, I wouldn't go back to a management position for all the money in the central bank.

That newbies look down on bedside nursing is extremely sad.

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

JBMmom said:

I still like floating to the med-surg units sometimes and I am truly in awe of some of my colleagues with 25+ years there. To really love med-surg and be so good at it is an admirable attribute. Your patients are lucky to have you!

Thanks.  It certainly isn't easy and when we're short staffed (always) and go 6:1 it's extremely tough.  But I guess I'm a glutton for self-punishment.  LOL

[Googlenurse, ASN, BSN, RN]

vintagegal said:

When I was in nursing school, they trash talked anyone who stated they wanted to get more than a BSN. (It was a BSN program). In fact, they constantly would make those students who dreamed about any non-bedside position feel less than. I kept my mouth shut about my goals,  but the truth is I was always drawn to the elderly, long term care, and a more home like setting for my patients. At that time I had no solid direction on where I wanted to go, but I never felt like I fit in as a hospital RN.  I turned out to spend my career in hospice and palliative care, also working in LTC. Fast forward a few years, I never took a bedside position because that was never my passion. I would never get and hold a position that was just a "job". For me it had to be something more.

I went back to school to get my DNP with focus on care of the adult-geriatric client. I want to continue to work in the outpatient setting. There is nothing wrong with nurses who decide that the bedside isn't for them. There are tons of positions out there that need to be filled by competent, qualified, and passionate individuals. 
If you love beside, great! If you don't, that's fine too. We should stop perpetuating narratives that to be a good nurse you have to be down in the trenches of a hospital. I have colleagues that work in addiction medicine and I am very impressed with the work they do for our community. To each their own. If your happy, your happy and that's all that matters.

LTC and homecare are bedside nursing, at least that is what I thought. I could be wrong though. 

[Nurse Alexa, MSN, RN]

I think it comes down to the amount of work that needs to get done with sometimes inadequate resources to get it done. Along with the push for bedside nurses to continue school.

The beauty of nursing, however, is in bedside nursing! The connection you can make with patients and their families is priceless

[Rate your pain]

I've noticed a trend with my kids and their friends—they don't want to pay their dues. They don't want to start out at the bottom and work their way up. They are not very interested in doing any "dirty work" which I guess would translate into cleaning patients, changing them, etc. They perceive this as somehow too "beneath" them. I've heard this from young, new nurses too. They want to do bedside for as short a time as possible and then rush to the more advanced positions. So they speak about becoming NPs before they've done any bedside.
 

it's very unfortunate. Who is going to take care of our patients? I bet this has contributed something to our shortage of bedside nurses. 

I am aware this is a generalization. Thank goodness there are exceptions. 
 

 

[Checkers08, BSN, MSN, RN]

JBMmom said:

They drill it in nurses from the first semester of school that we have to want more. Before students are even done with their ADN they're being hounded about when they'll go back for their BSN. And before the ink is dry they're being asked when they'll get their MSN. 

But if you love what you do then that's what YOU should be doing. It's unfortunate that most people are being taught to look down on bedside nursing before they've even experienced it. They're told that their bedside experience is nothing more than a necessary stepping stone to get them "where they want to be". You don't have to defend your decisions and choices to anyone. Your love for your job will hopefully show them that their impression that everyone has to want to leave bedside nursing just isn't so. 

I teach in an LPN program, and I am always encouraging about whatever path the students want to take. In my last group that recently graduated, one student seemed embarrassed that she wants to "just be an LPN" because everyone else in the class was saying RN, NP, CRNA, etc. It broke my heart. 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Checkers08 said:

I teach in an LPN program, and I am always encouraging about whatever path the students want to take.

I wish that all professors had your attitude about supporting student goals! And I wish that employers and coworkers would carry on that support. No one should ever feel say have to say "just" or "only" when talking about what they want to do, or what they do. Be proud of doing a job well, ALL nurses are important to the patients relying on them!

[beachynurse, ASN, BSN]

Wuzzie said:

Why? Because they're taught in their programs that being a bedside nurse is not enough. 

Or they were expecting not to have to do bedside nursing after graduating with their BSN. I saw a new BSN quit a hospital job day 1 on the unit because she thought that because she had the Bachelor's she would immediately be in a management position. 

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I pushed a med cart for 10 years, on 2nd shift, in one place or another. At the time, the med nurse got a patient assignment only if they were not high-needs patients. Sometimes the charge nurse and I would take care of a high-needs patient together. I never minded med-surg or 'pushing pills'. When the hospitals started going all-computerized, I started doing private duty. If my case was a hospitalized patient, the hosp. nurses did the meds and IV's, and I did all the personal care. To me, regardless of their position or work-choices, a nurse is a nurse is a nurse.