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perceptions of nurses

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
A little practice topic we`re doing at college, the bit ive been asked to find out about for my group is the publics perception of nurses.
If anyone could tell me what their perception of nurses is, maybe whether they think the perception of nursing in general has changed over time or whether its much the same as always.
would appreciate your input, be honest.
Beep boop. I'm a bot.

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the nurses at my doctors are lovely!
    you can see them pretty much walk in and they are so kind!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    when you say kind, do you think that is more of a nurses role, to be kind and caring, rather than knowledgeable?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    when you say kind, do you think that is more of a nurses role, to be kind and caring, rather than knowledgeable?

    yes, thats the stereotype, my brother is training to be a nurse and although they do need to learn alot, i wouldn't consider him to be a genius, i'm not exactly sure what their role is but the word nurse itself tends to suggest that their role is exactly that, to be kind and caring.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    knowledgeable about their job, caring

    IMO at least half of a nurses job is to care for and be nice to the patients
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    For some nurses, nursing is a job not a vocation.

    So you get good nurses and bad nurses in my experience. But the good nurses are worth their weight in gold. Generally, I think patients do better with a caring nurse than a knowledgable one, but then again no one wants an un-knowledgable nurse, so it's a bit of a silly question.

    You want to watch Dispatches on Monday C4.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    yes, thats the stereotype, my brother is training to be a nurse and although they do need to learn alot, i wouldn't consider him to be a genius, i'm not exactly sure what their role is but the word nurse itself tends to suggest that their role is exactly that, to be kind and caring.
    thats interesting. Do you consider the nursing degree to be lesser than other degrees for instance or do you think other people think this?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    You want to watch Dispatches on Monday C4.
    :yes: am going to.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nurses are over worked and underpaid. If they are male they are gay.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Dan Brown wrote:
    Nurses are over worked and underpaid. If they are male they are gay.
    Two myths in one post. Congratulations on your ignorance.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nurses are known to be there to comfort the patient. But I am aware, that they are expected to do soo much more now and have more responsibiliites to the patient medical wise.

    Hope that makes sense :confused:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think nurses are under paid and under appreciated. My Grandparents were in the nursing profession, my Mum has been a nurse of some sort most of my life, my sister is in her final year and will soon qualify as a nurse and I also have a friend doing nursing and I know that they work extremely hard and that their work often goes un-noticed.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    Two myths in one post. Congratulations on your ignorance.
    It said perceptions, not truths. Congratulations on your understanding of words.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    good stuff, I am taking notes. :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think that a lot of people that do it consider it to be a job, and this is reflected in the work they do. I've come into contact with a lot of bitter nurses who work to get the work done and thats it. That said, there are a lot of great nurses who actually care for their work, and i think these are the best. My mum is a nurse on an intensive care ward working nights, and i think she's bloody skilled to be honest, although she does bring a lot of her work home with her - gets overattached to some patients and even finds herself ringing up occasionally to ask about them when she isn't working.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i always thought that nurses are all caring and motherly etc, but when i actually accompanied someone to hospital (a drunk lady) they didnt seem to have much time for her in casualty, nor when they took her up to a ward to persuade her to get help for her problem- they were very blunt and pointed out she was killing herslf.

    on reflection i think the lady in question needed tough love at the time , i was just shocked how blunt they were to her. i suppose they all had other things to worry about than someone like that who wasnt prepared to help herself , it really shocked me at the time, they were scary!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I admire nurses. They work hard for what little they earn.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I used to think highly of nurses like most of the people have said in this post. But when my Grandad went in hospital in the summer of 2003 the ones where he were were really awful. They didn't pay anything like the attention and care I felt the patients needed, very often my mum, me or my gran had to tell them to change his drip because it had ran out and when we asked him how long it had been like that it was normally since he woke up and we used to see him in the afternoon, he got many infections from the drip too. Although when he was in the ward bit where the patients are that need the most care, they were ok but once he moved out of there they didn't seem to care. This particular hospital stay he was in for 10 weeks and its really messed him up, he had a colostomy bag fitted and they made it out to be a lot worse than it actually is (telling him to have certain times to eat, stuff he couldn't eat, but when the nurse that did homevisits said that was wrong and its all a matter of trial and error) and he's suffered psychologically with it really bad.

    However, I remember my younger brother being born and being in intensive care and the nurse is in there were fab, attentive and caring and looked like they enjoyed their work. I think those working on the children/baby wards tend to be what we think 'nurses' are whereas those working with older people just dont enjoy their job and I think its a profession where you need to enjoy the job.

    Dont nurses get a lot of incentives to study now? Like grants and help towards living costs - correct me if I'm wrong. But if this is the case many of theose going into it will choose to do because its a way to get a career and further study without getting into much debt.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thats interesting. Do you consider the nursing degree to be lesser than other degrees for instance or do you think other people think this?

    well it all depends on the context of a situation, personally i regard nursing to be on a high level in terms of a degree but i woulnd't class it as being as good as say a doctor
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The nurses at the rheumatology department I go to are fantastic. They have so much more time for you than the consultants, and I feel really comfortable going to them with any worries I might have. They always try and make you feel comfortable when you're there, making small talk and stuff, which I really appreciate when I'm feeling a bit anxious. And the ones I see are generally pretty clued up on quite a lot of things, they're always the people I see first at the hospital for info on the drugs I'm taking and stuff, and then they'll pass you on to the consultant if necessary. And they're very good to have a cry on when necessary as well ;) I know when I've seen specialist nurses in the past, a lot of what they've spoken about with me has been more to do with the personal and emotional side of the illness, as opposed to the medical side, and that's been really useful. Hope that helps :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It depends what kind of nurse you are talking about. I don't have much experience with hospital nurses who have a completely different role to practice nurses and even district nurses.

    I work alongside a practice nurse and not only is she extremely knowledgeable, sometimes more so than the GP she works for, but she is kind, honest and caring. Some practice nurses I've met are happy to just do their job and go home and don't seem to have any want to better their knowledge. Many don't have any interest in clinical updates and are often stuck in the past in terms of methods and proceedures. I think nurses need to uphold traditional values whilst moving forward and expaning their role (something that is happening more often now with more and more nurses choosing to train as nurse prescribers and nurse practitioners)

    I think there is a misconception amongst a lot of people who seem to think nurses are all lovey dovey and are more there to meet the emotional needs of patients. A lot of people underestimate just how skilled nurses are. Our nurse is a nurse practitioner which is similar in status to a junior doctor.

    I also don't think nurses are underpaid. The different grades are there for a reason and if a nurse doesn't have the clinical skills and qualifications to move up to the next grade then they shouldn't be paid anymore than they currently are. The practice nurse at our places takes home more than the GP.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    BumbleBee wrote:
    I also don't think nurses are underpaid. The different grades are there for a reason and if a nurse doesn't have the clinical skills and qualifications to move up to the next grade then they shouldn't be paid anymore than they currently are. The practice nurse at our places takes home more than the GP.
    I dont think nurses are THAT badly paid, but I do think it isnt much in comparison to other jobs with the same sort of accountability and responsibility, also its not much considering how much study goes into nurse training. I agree though that highly qualified experienced nurses at a high grade can make a lot of money.
    A lot of your comments are great though and i appreciate all your input. Its quite eye opening to hear everyones tales of bad nurses. I wonder if they went into it feeling like that or whether theyve been demotivated over time because I cant imagine being like that, nor can I imagine the others in my class being like that either.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wonder if they went into it feeling like that or whether theyve been demotivated over time because I cant imagine being like that, nor can I imagine the others in my class being like that either.
    You get worn down by any job, don't you.

    But nursing more than most because you're dealing with the traumatic parts of people's lives. And you're knee high in piss and shit half the time. Or at least the auxillaries are.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its quite eye opening to hear everyones tales of bad nurses. I wonder if they went into it feeling like that or whether theyve been demotivated over time because I cant imagine being like that, nor can I imagine the others in my class being like that either.

    I think the 'bad' nurses are those who don't keep themselves up to date with changes. It is probably easy to become demoralised if you aren't specialising in something you are passionate about. Like Kentish said, auxillary nurses are usually left to clear up the crap, quite literally, and I can imagine that would get you down.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    in any profession there are great ones and awful ones. it's not the easiest of jobs, so it's hardly surprising.

    personally i've always had good experiences with nurses. especially the ones at the hospice where my aunt was - they were palliative care specialists, and they were amazing. but i know when mr. k's sister was in the maternity ward after having her baby she had a few run-ins with the night nurses, and there were a couple who were just really rude.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think it depends more on the person than just their job title... I was in hospital a little while back becasue I had a problem with one of my kidneys... and the nurses were really great. they explained everything to me so i could understand it and so i wasn't so scared. they took care of me. chatted to me. and any problems and i just pushed a little button. - they were really good. But, having said that, the nurse at my university gp's is crap - half the time she doesn't know whether she is coming or going. i don't really have much experience with nurses, but like i said i guess it depends on the person. i think the sterotype of a nurse; that they all are caring people... i don't believe that. i think you get good and bad in any job.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    otter wrote:
    the nurse at my university gp's is crap - half the time she doesn't know whether she is coming or going..

    How so?
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