Diary of a Trauma Nurse

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Reposting from Original post on 3/16/09

WHO IS A NURSE?

I am a nurse.

I went to school for 4 years. I sat through long, harrowing lectures, studied for hours upon hours, spent my weekends doing research papers while my kids went on trips, I sat through very intense, nerve-racking boards, or the NCLEX as it's better known. I deserve my initials behind my name: R.N. I earned them.

I read a blog from a VERY cool chick ERRN about Veterinarians calling themselves "doctors" that got me thinking of all the patients, families, friends of patients, cousins of friends of families of patients that over the years have told me that "mama is a nurse" or "sis is a nurse" or "I'm a nurse" because they:

1) Work as a Administrative Assistant in the ER
2) Work as a CNA on the med-surge unit or in a nursing home
3) Work as a CMA in a doctor's office
4) Work as a phlebotomist in the hospital or doctor's office
5) And most recently, someone who is nothing more than a medication "pez dispenser" and doesn't know one thing about the medication she is distributing and will flat out tell you she doesn't know.

The list goes on..........

Let me start by saying, not one of those jobs is less important than mine. (Except number 5) There are many jobs I've held that I could NOT have done without the absolutely AWESOME CNA's I've worked with. (Some not so hot......but whatever.....) Back to what I was saying.........

If you pass medications and are certified to do so, kudos! That is great. We both do that.

If you work as a CNA and take vital signs, give baths, wipe poop, feed patients, and give them extra TLC, then we both do that as well.

As a phlebotomist, you draw blood. In Critical Care, we do the majority of our own blood draws as well, but it's out of arterial lines, sheaths, shunts, central lines, and yes, the occasional peripheral sticks. Many times I've needed a phlebotomist badly!

I can't say that I could do the work of an Administrative Assistant in the ER because they run their asses off, but I have done many of my own orders in the ER , so we have that in common.

What I do want to say to the friends, families and friends of cousin's families, they are NOT nurses because they work in a health care setting. I know you are proud, but be proud of what they do and call a leopard by it's spots!

I have a friend who is a nurse and has been for many years. Even before I became a nurse, when speaking with her husband, he would call her a "doctor." I never understood this and realize now that for one he either has little respect for nurses or has great pride for her or doesn't know the difference between the professions. I just know a doctor that spent 12-15 years in school would not appreciate someone who went to school for 2-4 years calling him or herself a doctor. Especially when the two jobs are nothing alike.

Same here.

CoryTraumaRN posted today at 5:44 PM

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