The stigma I am assuming pertains to some feminine characteristics of male nurses? I don't think this is necessarily true. Maybe it is and I don't realize it but I am a third year male nursing student who has also played two years of Junior A hockey and been a personal trainer for five years has a girlfriend and has never been questioned about any type of femininity. haha One of my good buddies is also in my class and he plays Division I college hockey. I would say that around 25% of the nurses I work with at the hospital are male and they are guys that I would never associate with that stigma. If there was/is a stigma I think it is changing as nursing has become a profession and not just a menial job for women.
What degree is that? You can get a BSN in 1 year.
And obviously that's not all nurses do, but since you obviously have more "real" clinical experience than I do, when is the last time you saw a doctor (not a resident) start an IV or clean up after a patient? When's the last time you heard a nurse give instructions to a doctor?
Doctors are more valuable than nurses. Nurses can't write prescriptions, hell more than half of the nurses I've dealt with in my hospital lab job don't even know how to pronounce the meds their patient is taking and I work at one of the top 15 hospitals in the country. Doctors know more and do more than nurses do. The purpose of health care is to improve and save lives. Nurses might save the odd life by being the first to see a patient code, but what's one of the first things they do? Call a doctor for help.
A BSN is a four year degree. There are RN to BSN programs but they are not as popular as a four year track program. So, because nurses start IVs and clean up after patients and take orders from doctors they are worth less? As I said previously, you cannot compare nurses and doctors. You are comparing apples and oranges. The roles are different, Medical school is four more years plus three years of residency, so seven more years of education than RN so yes they are going to know more and if anyone argues this they are ignorant. That is not my argument. RNs are taught how to work with people and their families. Yes, we are taught about many of the common disease processes and how to do health assessments but it is not nearly as detailed as a physician, it does not even come close. Does that mean that RNs are ignorant? I dont think so. It varies from nurse to nurse and for you to make blanket statements such as half the nurses cannot pronounce the medications that their patients are on, demonstrates your lack of maturity and experience. I dont know what working in a top 15 hospital has to do with anything
That does not mean that you have top nurses, but I am sure that many of them are quite competent, regardless of what you think. Yes, saving the odd life, by being a first responder to a code and calling the doctor is not really a big deal, to know what to do during a code, and the advanced cardiac life support that is performed when waiting for the doctor to respond. That is what they are supposed to do, call the doctor! Again, this is not in their scope of practice.
RN education is much broader than the hard science based education that physicians receive. We are responsible for patient education and recognizing barriers to effective health promotion. Nurses are involved in leading community health initiatives that help promote preventative health care such as screenings and immunizations. Nurses are trained to look at the person as a whole, looking at the context and circumstance that each individual is in, recognizing obstacles that the patients face, providing resources and support when they return home, etc. Nurses are usually people who love working and spending time with other people, yes it requires some very difficult work, sometimes cleaning up after patients and starting IVs. These are essential aspects to patient care. It is a very humbling occupation in many ways, I learn a lot from the patients that I work with and for you to look down on nurses because they do menial tasks such as cleaning up after people after they have been incontinent, is very sad. No, nurses do not write prescriptions, that is a terrible argument. They are not trained to do so, it is not in the scope of practice of a nurse. Medical school is much harder, longer, and stressful than nursing school you cannot even compare them. Does that make the worth of nurses less? If patients were not cleaned after they have been incontinent, physicians would be dealing with infected ulcers all day. So, yes I would say they are valuable.
I am not a nursing student with an inferiority complex. I just get very upset when individuals disrespect others based on their role in health care. I will do the same for the physicians, if I hear nurses bashing physicians I do not tolerate it. My best friend is an internist, whom I highly respect. It is disgusting to see the disrespect between the two occupations. Doctors need to respect the nurses and the nurses need to respect the doctors and it is this collaboration that best benefits the patient which is why I am in health care in the first place. I love working with patients, I cannot imagine doing anything else. I also highly respect the doctors that I work with and we work as a team performing each of our roles to give the patients the best care possible, THAT IS WHAT HEALTH CARE IS ABOUT. I am applying to medical school because I DO want to expand my scope of practice and feel that I would do a good job in that scope of practice; and if I do get the opportunity to become a physician one day you can bet your bottom dollar that I will treat my nurses with the respect that they deserve. I really hope you receive some humility and maturity, because if one day you do become a doctor and treat your nurses poorly, you will have a hard time holding onto a job, even if you are a doctor.
