Why is it...

[mattcastens]

Why is it that nurses take everything so damn personally, totally ruining the chance for constructive conversation?

I am refering to the constant degredation of every thread into "us versus them".

The "Nurse Impersonators" thread had fallen to a constant barage of insulted CNAs and MAs, while my old thread about education and professionalism quickly went on to a full-fledged battle of "I can do skills as well as you can."

It's pathetic, really, and exactly the reason that nurses will always be the underdogs. No one, not the public, nor physicians will ever truly respect a profession that is constantly at war with itself.

What a shame.

Nurses used to have so much to offer ... now it's just backstabbing and arguing.

[Jenny P]

Matt, first of all, it was nice to meet you last night; I would have liked to talk more, but you disappeared really fast after the class. I hope you enjoyed it.

Secondly, I think there will always be conflict when people take comments personally. Whether or not the people starting the thread meant their comments to be harmful, the responders took them that way. There is such a blurry line across the edges of the different job descriptions; and nurses have always done so many of the different tasks that sometimes it is difficult for us to even identify what the other people do. I also think that there are members who forget that not everyone here IS a registered nurse; and this may be part of the problem.

I don't think that this bodes ill for the profession; but I do feel that we do have to stop the fighting and put-down remarks. Until all nurses start taking control of their own practice, we will be viewed as ineffective- or as underdogs. And I don't think we have to put down other health care workers to build ourselves up either.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Some of the problem is that RN's are jack of all trades in the hospital. So we do a lot of tasks that others do (without a lot of training) and it is easy to generalize and think "I could do that too." I think the physical acts or tasks we do are not too hard, but the thinking of cause and effect, prioritizing, and dealing with varying needs and concerns of special needs patients, coordinating dept's needs with pt concerns, all those things take place on the fly and invisibly in your head while you are running around doing relatively simple tasks. So, if it looks easy, it must BE easy Everyone thinks they can do what an RN does, and some could, but I would wager that only 20-30% of the LPN's I know could make a good RN, but 70% could make a bad one, and the rest don't want the extra work.

I think when we are talking about, say LPN's taking on RN work we are talking about GOOD results, and when LPN's talk about it they are thinking " I could do it just as well as that BAD RN, why are they dissing me" So they get offended. And who could blame them. I know a few BAD RN's that are of no more use than a stump in the road.

Also when we talk about RN's being professionals and say, CNA's not being. I think of professional as being a legal definition- self regulating body, organized, etc. So some say professional when they are talking about quality of work, and some, like me, say professional referring to the legal definition. So there is a misunderstanding there.

[rjlrn95]

I agree w/you Matt. There is too much in-fighting here. I go for days and weeks and don't even log on because it has gotten so bad--We're not allowed to have an opinion anymore.

I still love the site and I keep hoping it will get better--if we could just "work" together imagine what we could accomplish.

[pandora]

I know what you mean. I sometimes stay clear of this board for weeks because I get a bit disheartened at the way things can degenerate into 'them -v- us'. The nurse impersonator thread showed promise at first, but soon got into 'who wears what' (as if it matters!) and who makes most money. It's a pity.

[mattsmom81]

While I acknowledge that some posters can get 'hot under the collar', can I make the point that if nurses just sit back and say nothing, our professional roles may be engulfed by these impersonators? Don't mean to sound paranoid here, but think about it. What will nurses be doing in 20 or 50 years if PCA's and MAS proliferate and are allowed to take our jobs without a fight?? I think we need to come together, be proud of who we are, and promote OUR profession. 25 years ago hospitals were mostly non profit and we never saw a PCA or MA or an EMT where a nurse practiced. An RN, LPN and CNA ran a team of 15 patients and did an excellent job IMHO. Now you may see one nurse supervising a group of ULP's in an ER or a hospital ward. One nurse for 30 or so patients! I think it's a little scary personally. Today, I would not place a loved one in a hospital unless I stayed with them to supervise their care. And I have.Seriously. Because I suspect who the care staff will be, probably ULP's in scrubs with no ID badge, talking to patients and families like they are nurses. Sorry guys, they aren't. I won't overlook that to just 'get along". But then I've always been a little radical