4 Common Myths about the Nursing Profession

For years, nursing has been a highly sought after profession for individuals interested in medical science and patient care. Nursing was not recognized a true profession until the mid nineteenth century. However, nursing (though not defined as so) has been around for many years, originating with midwifery and household childcare. Nurses have long been the unsung heroes of the medical world. With perilous work weeks, seemingly endless 12 hour shifts, and daily duties that ensure the safety and well-being of the ill, nurses are essential components of our health system. While nurses no doubt hold an important role in the safe running of our society, there remain several myths and misconceptions about the nursing profession. These four myths about nursing are common and widespread, but are (like all myths) ill-informed and poorly supported.

Myth 1: The nursing shortage guarantees jobs for new nurses on the job market. Sadly for some, this just isn't true. Even with a fairly drastic shortage of nursing professionals, there are numerous hospitals and offices that are turning away under qualified nurses seeking jobs. Obviously, just because there is a shortage in nurses throughout the country does not mean that practices will hire any nurse they find available. The nursing shortage in the U.S. is a complicated issue that likely is rooted in the vast gap between what the public thinks nurses do and what nurse actually do.

Myth 2: An associate's degree does not qualify you to obtain nursing certification. An associate's degree in nursing (ADN) is the minimum requirement to take and pass the National Council Licensure Examination. So, an associate's degree alone is not enough to qualify you to be a practicing nurse, but it does allow you to take the licensing exam. Many students choose to pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing before attempting the licensing exam, but an associate's degree is adequate.

Myth 3: Nurses should not establish emotional relationships with their patients. Many people think that in order to remain professional, nurses cannot develop strong emotional with the patients they are caring for. However, after spending hours upon hours tending to the well-being of an individual, it can be very difficult (if not impossible) for nurses to remain unafflicted by their patients. The provider/patient relationship is a complicated one to understand. Both parties require respect, integrity, trust and compassion. Without a relationship built off of equity and compassion, a caregiver cannot properly facilitate the patients' healing and care.

Myth 4: Nurses are just gofers for doctors. A very common misconception, but also a horribly misinformed one. Nurses work to assist doctors in the needs and care of the patient and the facility. While nurses certainly act as assistants to doctors and specialists, they are definitely more than mere errand-runners. Nurses help to diagnose and treat patients. They are there to ensure that patients' get the care that they need and work to educate patients on ways to care for themselves. While, of course, nurses do perform tasks that doctors request of them, this does not mean that they are any less important than the doctors themselves.

By-line:

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

Social sites for nurses by guest post.

Top 25 Social Sites for Nurses
June 9, 2011

Employees and students across the industry have discovered nursing social networking sites invaluable for learning, socializing and for job connections. Nurses find safety in numbers on these social sites where colleagues offer tips, advice and support. However, some sites are safer to use than others. The list of the top 25 social sites for nurses listed below include safe sites for professionals, including forums, student resources (including sororities) and organizations specifically designed for nurses.

Follow the link below to read the rest of the article and link to the tp 25 social sites.

http://bestmastersinnursing.com/2011/top-25-social-sites-for-nurses/

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Democracy is Coming!

Sen Bernie Sanders Amazing Speech DEC 02 2010 .flv

For Republicans, Democrats and Everyone!

Pulling Some of it Together

As some may have noticed I changed the blog introduction and mission statement to reflect the emphasis that I have been giving to labor issues and the politics surrounding them.

I am writing this post today to attempt to pull all the recent links and post I have made together to explain how they all relate to the bigger picture of nurse rights and health care.

The last couple of years has clearly defined the objectives of the two political parties and in my opinion has clearly revealed the plan of the Republican Party. I know some will see this as somewhat paranoid and conspiratorial but when it is all put together I think it is pretty clear.

The popular, knee jerk, push to cut the budget and decrease the deficit on the backs of social programs is the opening that the Republican Party has been looking for to make advances in diminishing if not destroying the labor movement and social aid programs and we see this in action in a dozen or so states and at the federal level at this very moment. With the recent Citizens United ruling that gives corporations unlimited abilities to influence elections and the simultaneous destruction of organized labor we will be like lambs to the slaughter if as individuals we attempt to stand up against our corporate employers. This goes for nurses as well. Even if you are not working at a unionized hospital the head of that hospital is always worried about the possibility of a union and that fear to a degree keeps them in check and makes them at least consider the patient safety issues that are so important to nurses.

Unions have many issues and are not always the hero in every argument but they do for the most part represent the needs and issues of the common working man and they act as a counter to the corporate interest that are concerned only with profits.
Nurses and workers in general need to know that they can come together and organize to have their voices and concerns addressed. When this option goes away, Patients will suffer, nurses will suffer and the public as a whole will suffer. The debate will no longer be on finding the middle between what works for both business and the community but what increases profit and what is needed to make it easier for the interest of the corporation to be met.

I hope that you will continue to read and view the links I post and join the discussion with your comments and guest post. Only through dialog and debate will our country continue to move forward and I feel that we as citizens still have the right to that debate and are responsible to engage in it to make our nation stronger. I can be reached via email at the link in the top right corner of this blog and welcome all comments and suggestions.

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC (2011)

The Death of Unions?

John Colson: Hit and Run | AspenTimes.com

John Colson: Hit and Run | AspenTimes.com

Gov. Walker Unveils "Repairs" To Wisconsin Budget

AFGE President John Gage on Collective Bargaining, Unions and Public Ser...

Cutting Public Sector Wages Will Make Recession Worse

Walls in Nursing: How to Break Them Down

The New York Times recently published a blog article by Theresa Brown, R.N., in which she describes the sometimes alarming nature of walls within the medical profession and how these walls can sometimes cause unbearable tension in hospital hallways. Any yet, her post relays the story of what happens when one of those walls come down, allowing nurses and other medical professionals to unite in a common task: caring for their patients.

Brown's piece opens by invoking Robert Frost's poem "Fences," which introduces the theme of walls between neighbors. She then talks about how areas in which nurses work in oncology are separated. She writes, "There's 'med onc' and 'surg onc,' and never the twain shall meet."

All of this was true for her until she met a patient with a blood disease who needed an immediate operation to repair a hole in her intestine. What followed that discovery was a story in which she and a surgeon were able to come together and smoothly and efficiently care for the patient. She found that after that experience, the walls that were constant throughout the hospital were not so strong, and she was able to surmount them in order to care for another human.

The entire story is worth a read, which you can see here, and it got me thinking: what are others ways that nurses can unite and break down barriers within the profession? What are some walls that continue to blockade various nurses from fully uniting as a group and exerting their influence in the health care world?

For me, as someone who often writes about nursing schools, the gender issue is the one that most greatly affects the acceptance of males in the nursing world, and is thus a huge wall to overcome. Fortunately, there has been much headway made towards making male nurses more welcome in the profession, especially in how nursing programs have shifted their admission materials to be more attuned to the needs of male nursing students. As this has happened, we have seen the number of male nurses dramatically. Of course, there is much more we can do.

But what? When you see these walls in your nursing profession, what ideas do you have for continuing to break them down and unite together?

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of nursing colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: kitty.holman20@gmail.com.

Push To Repeal

Now that the elections of 2010 are over and the republicans have taken back the US House and many of the state governments houses, senates and governorships there is a big push on to fight and repeal the Affordable Health Care act passed last year.

I as most who have read any of my post probably assume, opposed to the repeal. I was never over joyed by what was accomplished with health care reform last year but do believe it is a step in the right direction and repeal would be taking a step back. Millions more Americans are now without insurance or the means to buy insurance or meet their medical needs due to the recession and general malaise of the current economy.

As a nurse I see the increase in patient admissions during hard economic time due to peoples inability to afford their medications or co pays. Taking away or limiting options would only make the problem worse.

I firmly believe that no matter how you view this issue there is one fact that cannot be denied. People will continue to get medical treatment no matter what happens or who ultimately wins this fight. If the insurance companies and the for profits get their way they will continue to get richer from the suffering of others and the tax payer will continue to pick up the tab in the end.

You must understand that cost of care is associated with the degree of illness and acuity of the patient at the time of service and it is always less expensive to prevent or manage chronic diseases than it is once they have become emergencies. Take hypertension for example, if managed it can cost a few hundred to a couple thousand a year versus tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands for the treatment of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure due to uncontrolled emergent hypertension.

It just makes economic sense to ensure that the basic health care needs of our fellow citizens are met and that people have the opportunity to get the health care they need.

Visit http://www.healthcare.gov/ to see how the Affordable Care Act can and will benefit you and your community.

Join me in writing your representative at both the federal and state level to say that we want them to focus on creating opportunities and improving the health and well being of our nation. They were elected to make the live of Americans better, not worse.

Time well spent.

Finally a preacher of my religion. Blows my mind and gets me thinking in a way that I once believed only possible through pharmaceutical means.

For the Science Believers

Stop the Lies