Why can't I be a nurse?

NCgirl · Nov 23, 2003

I know it can be a little irritating. I went to work in CVRU/SICU after graduating to get my required experience for anesthesia school. I was only 21, but looked about 16, literally. Imagine the families comments when they came in to see "dad" after CABG, and it looked like a child was recovering him! I just explained that I graduated from HS at 17, went to college for 4 years, and that 17+4=21. They just couldn't believe I was intelligent enough to be recovering openhearts at 21. Should've seen the looks on their faces when I told them the only reason I was really there was to get experience for anesthesia school!

candiceRN2B04 · Nov 23, 2003

i know exactly what you mean. i just turned 21 and i will graduate in may.

i always get the "youre too young to be my nurse" attitude especially since the majority of the other students in my class are older. i just smile and inform my patients and their families that since i have always known my calling i wasted no time in going to school to accomplish my goal. by the end of the clinical day my patients dont want me to leave and tell me i will be a great nurse. hang in there and enjoy the fact that you look so young - it will mean alot in a few years. just yesterday i was shopping with my mother who is 43 and i called her mom. the cashier couldnt believe she was old enough to be my mother and was even more shocked to hear she also had a 25 year old and 2 grandbabies. that made her day so oneday it will make yours too

Liddle Noodnik · Nov 23, 2003

Originally posted by Cali
Have any of you young nurses had the problem of patients and/or their family members assuming that you aren't or can't be a nurse just because you appear to be young.

We were all 21 at one time and had to deal with the same thing. :)

I am almost 45, I'm 4'11", I look like I'm 25 some people say. One even saw me from down the hall and said, "Who's that little girl down there?" LOL!

What I've learned is not to be too proud, and I DO do things that housekeepers, aides, phlebotomists do. They ultimately don't care as long as they get the care they need.

One guy I treated when I was a 5 year nurse in chemical dependency STILL calls me his "counselor" when introducing me (we see each other in public often). I've told him otherwise but now it's become kind of a joke between us.

So anyway, just do your job professionally and they'll be saying, "This girl (woman) took such good care of me!" And that's the best thing to hear!

EvilJen · Nov 23, 2003

im 19 (nearly 20!), but i do look younger. all my mentors have so far comented that i ceem to young to be training. i think its funny. most of them look so stressed they look a lot older. i have a twin as well and if we go out together, every one thinks hes well older than me. sometimes it gets annoying but i kinda like it as well.

LilgirlRN, ADN, RN · Nov 23, 2003

I'm 43 and still get the same thing, I still get carded sometimes if I order a drink. At my age I think it's wonderful, at your age I would have probably thought it an annoyance too. I suppose it's upsetting to not be seen for what we obviously are or mistaken for what we aren't in our own mind. Why do I find it so upsetting when I go to Walmart the other shoppers think I work there? I've tried to figure that one out, I don't own a blue vest, I don't have a name tag on. People just walk up and say where's the Castrol 10W30? I shrug my shoulders, they say sorry, thought you worked here and go on. Next time I'm gonna ask them why they thought I was an employee, lol

Gompers, BSN, RN · Nov 23, 2003

This is so funny because the same thing happens to me. I've never been offended, I just think it's a hoot. I'm under 5 feet tall and look pretty young, even though I'm 27. I work in NICU and always introduce myself to the parents, but it seems a lot of their visiting family members come in and then stare at me while I work. A few times they've outright asked me if I was doing a special high school course or something! Yeah, a high school course where I'm left in charge of your 500 gram niece/nephew/grandbaby, etc. Sure. :chuckle

EyesForward · Nov 23, 2003

My 'little' sister is a surgeon (an ENT), and is asked no less than 10 times/day how old she is. She's 39, but weighs about 115 lbs, stands about 4'4", and has looked way younger than her age since she was a nurse when she was in her 20's, and everybody thought she was 13. She says it is a constant aggravation to have people ask her "do you mind if I ask you a personal question?", to which she replies "39" without waiting to hear the question. One story I'll try not to forget is when she was on the floor, and asked a nurse if she may have a something or another from the locked cabinet, to which the nurse blurted impatiently "and WHO are YOU?" to which my sister replied "Dr. ___", which brought a swift apology.

Dixen81 · Nov 23, 2003

My 22 year old son looks like a very young teenager. When he was in Basic Training in the Air Force, sometimes his instructor would say, "Does your mommy know you're here?" He hated it. :chuckle

KailuaNurse · Nov 23, 2003

Totally know what you are going through. I am 23 and look probably around 15 years old. I work in the PICU, and often times parents will ask me my age, and will be surprised that I went straight through college after highschool.

The funniest thing that happened to me, is that I went to a movie with my boyfriend recently. On the way of going to our respective theater, the usher taking our tickets asked me, " Are you old enough to see this movie?" :roll "Uh, yeah, do you want to see my driver's license?" I replied. Of course my boyfriend got a good laugh out of that one.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Nov 24, 2003

KailuaNurse, the same thing happens to me! When I was a senior in high school, about 17, I got "carded" buying tickets to a PG-13 movie! I was like, "Sure, let me get my DRIVER'S LICENSE!"

P_RN, ADN, RN · Nov 24, 2003

:D Enjoy it while it lasts!!!!!

I got carded til I was 35! Then.....oh it's too painful to remember....Now my 35 y/o daughter is facing not looking 13 anymore. Oh me oh my.

4loveoflife · Nov 24, 2003

Something similar happened to me not too long ago, when I was working in a ltc facility over the summer. During a short break, I pulled out my BIO notes for review. One of the LPN's said, "Oh, You're still in school?" Of course she had no idea that I was 26 and in nursing school, not knowing a thing about me, she assumed I was in high school, I guess. "Still in school?"

I guess I should shrug it off as most suggest, but it does bother me too! I have a long blonde ponytail and that does not help me look anymore mature. I have often thought of cutting my hair to look more "adult". I want to be respected and not looked at like a kid, darn it! Afterall, if you look closer you will see the makings of crow's feet and frown lines, I swear it. And I feel as if I have earned these wrinkles that aspire to oneday be.

But what can we do? Enjoy it while it lasts, you say? I have come to realize yeah, thats about all we can do!