Ok..so this has been bothering me a lot, but yesterday I had an encounter with a PT and now this is starting to get to me. Just a little rant..and I'd like to know if anyone else feels this way and how you deal with it.
Little backround on me: I'm 22, and def. look younger then I am. I worked for 2 years as a student nurse aide, 3 months in PA as a RN on a peds/med-surg floor, and now im here in Texas doing Peds home health. I have had my fair share of experiences, and although I know im not an expert, I'm most certainly not a novice. Therefore..it bothers me when people never take me seriously that I'm a nurse.
Yesterday I took my patient to PT, and the PT and I were talking, and she asks about me and my backround. And so I tell her, and shes like " Oh you must be a LPN then.." (NO disrespect meant to LPNS here WHATSOEVER!) No ma'am, I'm an RN, yes I have my bachelors, yes I went to school for 4 years, and yes I have experience ( Now i didnt tell her that, just told her that I was an RN, but thats what I wanted to say).. she just seemed so shocked..and shes not the only one who is shocked that I'm a RN. She was kind of just the last straw since this wasnt the first time..
I've had lots of people seem to not take me seriously that I'm a nurse, and this frustrates me. I just hate when people find out I'm a nurse and say- not ask- they say "you must be an LPN then". I worked hard for my bachelors..ugh..just ask me what I am and i'll gladly tell u! With each new job..I pretty much get asked how old I am every time...
So..after this rant, since this has been on my mind all day..I feel better.
Does anyone else experience this? I want to be taken seriously..not looked at like I must not know much about nursing since I look younger and therefore have no experience. I'm really just curious as to opinions and what you all think..
I dont want to stir anything up,but I'm just frustrated and needed to vent. thanks for responses in advance! :)
I'm nearly 29 years old & have been an RN for 6 months now. A lot of the time people ask me "So when are you graduating from school?" or "You look about 20, right?" I don't mind it too much because I think I'm getting to the point where I wish I were a bit younger! :) But I can see your point that you want to be taken seriously. Fortunately for me, the same people who think I'm much younger than I really am still do listen to me and follow my advice.
Specializes in Peds Cardiology,Peds Neuro,Pedi ER,PICU, IV Jedi.
Ok..so this has been bothering me a lot, but yesterday I had an encounter with a PT and now this is starting to get to me. Just a little rant..and I'd like to know if anyone else feels this way and how you deal with it.
Little backround on me: I'm 22, and def. look younger then I am. I worked for 2 years as a student nurse aide, 3 months in PA as a RN on a peds/med-surg floor, and now im here in Texas doing Peds home health. I have had my fair share of experiences, and although I know im not an expert, I'm most certainly not a novice. Therefore..it bothers me when people never take me seriously that I'm a nurse.
Yesterday I took my patient to PT, and the PT and I were talking, and she asks about me and my backround. And so I tell her, and shes like " Oh you must be a LPN then.." (NO disrespect meant to LPNS here WHATSOEVER!) No ma'am, I'm an RN, yes I have my bachelors, yes I went to school for 4 years, and yes I have experience ( Now i didnt tell her that, just told her that I was an RN, but thats what I wanted to say).. she just seemed so shocked..and shes not the only one who is shocked that I'm a RN. She was kind of just the last straw since this wasnt the first time..
I've had lots of people seem to not take me seriously that I'm a nurse, and this frustrates me. I just hate when people find out I'm a nurse and say- not ask- they say "you must be an LPN then". I worked hard for my bachelors..ugh..just ask me what I am and i'll gladly tell u! With each new job..I pretty much get asked how old I am every time...
So..after this rant, since this has been on my mind all day..I feel better.
Does anyone else experience this? I want to be taken seriously..not looked at like I must not know much about nursing since I look younger and therefore have no experience. I'm really just curious as to opinions and what you all think..
I dont want to stir anything up,but I'm just frustrated and needed to vent. thanks for responses in advance! :)
:) I totally feel your pain. Years ago (18 to be exact), I was a 17 year old freshman nursing student and boyyyy did I look young. People often mistook me for a "candy striper" or any other form of hospital volunteer. I can't tell you how many patients told me "oh, honey you don't look any older than 13!!" (That's great genes for ya...:) ) So anyway....
With each encounter I realized that as long as I addressed the patient with respect and explained who I was and why I was there, they were more accepting of my youthful appearance.
Just keep doing what you're doing. Professionalism speaks volumes to patients and their families.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Then there's the OTHER side of the coin: the side where you get to be about 45, maybe 50, and you find yourself stymied in your career while younger nurses leapfrog right over you for promotions and educational opportunities.
I know. I have the bad back to prove it.:stone
In my last job, ALL of the leadership positions were occupied by nurses under 45---the overwhelming majority by nurses under 35. (This despite the fact that all of TPTB are over 50!!) Most older nurses, however, were given little or no opportunity even to make a lateral move within the organization, but were either kept in their same positions, encouraged to take casual (meaning non-benefited) positions, or---as in my case---simply put out to pasture. There was no talk of adapting the workplace to accommodate an aging nursing staff, no plans to update the floor layout or purchase equipment that would have made life easier on those of us with old back injuries or creaky joints or failing eyesight. We either grinned and bore it, or complained and suffered the consequences.
I'm sorry if this sounds like sour grapes, but I have a hard time believing that being less than three weeks away from my 47th birthday makes me unfit to work as an RN, and if any of you 'young-uns' think it's easy being an older nurse, please think again........I wasn't born this old, I grew into it. And so will you one day........and when that happens, I hope things will have changed enough so that you never know how I feel now.:stone
Specializes in Case Manager, LTC,Staff Dev/NAT Instr.
Believe me, I totally feel your pain here....not only in the real world but in my personal life as well.
I am 22, look like I am much much younger, AND i have *braces*....
I have lived on my own since I was seventeen, own my car, and I am married. I have served four years in the military, work in the ICU as a nurse tech, and have one year of school left before I get my license. I am at the top of my class and the nurses I work with treat me like I already have my license, because I have proved to be extremely competent. Oh, and I don't walk around with a chip on my shoulder like I am a know-it-all either.
However, I was thrown out of a bar one night because the owner was very rude to me and told me that my ID was fake. When I gave her three more picture IDs, two of which were military issue, she went into a rant about kids my age and threw me out because it was a private establishment and she had every legal right to do so....didn't matter that I was polite, didn't matter that i was legal age, didn't matter that I was their with my HUSBAND wanting to celebrate his HOMECOMING FROM A YEAR LONG DEPLOYMENT.
I also have been attacked on these boards disagreeing with other nurses on certain issues....their reasoning being that I am young and know nothing about said issues. It is really quite frustrating.
I may be young, but I am still an intelligent, articulate young woman with thoughts and oppinions about world issues, nursing issues, and life issues.
Hi I read your post and I can remember the same tx which is dx as STUPIDITY.....my advice is hang in there and continue being positive at 22 its a blessing to be so mature and goal oriented at that age...:)
I do know first hand how frustrating it can be when interacting with people who think you are very young. I am 34 and look as if I am 21 or younger. I am usually very matter of fact with them, but in a kind way. Usually they respond very well to this. I just graduated in Dec with my BSN. I have worked as a tech on an orthopedic floor since starting nursing school and have learned that people are going to think what they want about you no matter what you do. I just maintain my integrity and rely on the confidence I have in myself and my ability to get the job done.
I know how you feel. I am 31 and people think I am a college student and some even think I just got out of high school. I am petite and blonde so I am sure that that doesn't help either. It seems as though just because I am petite, have blonde hair and look younger than my age that I am not taken seriously until I say something that is intelligent (to their surprise). I guess people just assume that I am a dumb blonde. Some of my former co-workers in a law firm were surprised when I told them I had been out of high school since 1992, had a B.S degree, a paralegal degree and was going back to school for nursing. Of course, my mother made sure that I knew how to take good care of my skin - ha ha :) Cleanse, tone, moisturize, and now that I'm in my 30's - lots of eye cream and night cream.
I am 23 and I've had patients ask me if I am 12! Used to bother me not for me but for them because if I were in an ICU I would be a little nervous if some guy who looked my little brothers age walked up and said he was my nurse. Now I just have fun with it to put everyone at ease in the already stressful unit... when someone says I look like whatever adolescent number they pull out I say something to the effect of "Yes, well I'm a child prodigy." Many times they've actually believed me and I have to tell them I am just kidding and assure them I am several years older than I look. :)
I am 23 and I've had patients ask me if I am 12! Used to bother me not for me but for them because if I were in an ICU I would be a little nervous if some guy who looked my little brothers age walked up and said he was my nurse. Now I just have fun with it to put everyone at ease in the already stressful unit... when someone says I look like whatever adolescent number they pull out I say something to the effect of "Yes, well I'm a child prodigy." Many times they've actually believed me and I have to tell them I am just kidding and assure them I am several years older than I look. :)
I'd love to see the looks on someones face, thinkig you were around 12 and then hearing you were a child prodigy. Thats great..
Everyone here has given such great advice-THANK YOU!
I think its getting better now (the age issue) since I've been working with the same patients and have no new patients at this time :) (I work Peds Private Duty)
Plus- my high for yesterday- I have one mom actually requesting ME- and wanted to have our scheduling coordinator switch this months schedule so that she could have me work with her daughter and not another nurse whom she doesnt like as much :) Plus she tells me her daughter likes me more then the other nurses she has.
I was so thrilled after that! I may look young, but this mom thinks I'm great :) Was the highlight of my day :)
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Then there's the OTHER side of the coin: the side where you get to be about 45, maybe 50, and you find yourself stymied in your career while younger nurses leapfrog right over you for promotions and educational opportunities.
I know. I have the bad back to prove it.:stone
In my last job, ALL of the leadership positions were occupied by nurses under 45---the overwhelming majority by nurses under 35. (This despite the fact that all of TPTB are over 50!!) Most older nurses, however, were given little or no opportunity even to make a lateral move within the organization, but were either kept in their same positions, encouraged to take casual (meaning non-benefited) positions, or---as in my case---simply put out to pasture. There was no talk of adapting the workplace to accommodate an aging nursing staff, no plans to update the floor layout or purchase equipment that would have made life easier on those of us with old back injuries or creaky joints or failing eyesight. We either grinned and bore it, or complained and suffered the consequences.
I'm sorry if this sounds like sour grapes, but I have a hard time believing that being less than three weeks away from my 47th birthday makes me unfit to work as an RN, and if any of you 'young-uns' think it's easy being an older nurse, please think again........I wasn't born this old, I grew into it. And so will you one day........and when that happens, I hope things will have changed enough so that you never know how I feel now.:stone
Yep the young eat the old, too, don't they? I feel fortunate---I am past the "too young to be real" stage and yet not "old enough to be put to pasture" part of my life. I sure hope "ageism"---esp against the middle aged and elderly, will dissipate as the Boomers reach their 60s and beyond. It would be HIGH time.
When I was younger I had the same problem. Once, I was in charge of the unit and a patient called the desk after I had been in his room concerned because he thought a kid had been in his room messing with his IV. I had even introduced myself and told him what I was doing! It was very frustrating at the time but now I just laugh about it. Doing a good job and being a compassionate caring nurse will show others your maturity, education, and experience much more than anything else will. Enjoy people thinking you are younger than you are as long as you can!
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spidermonkey
144 Posts
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