To be pissed off at being 'just' a nurse?

[bottleofwater]

Three times in the last week Ive had different family members making sarky comments regarding some recent achievements & promotion at work.

Usually comments along the lines of "Oh Florence Nightingale you will be telling the Doctors what to do now" " You will be a surgeon in no time" & " What do nurses know about blood pressures, they are not doctors".

Im so fed up of how its like being a nurse is rubbish & that only Doctors are of any value

Also comments regarding how I dont make the same amount of money as other family members but thats probably another thread!

Not sure what they think nurses actually do but aibu to be pissed off at the constant sneering at me?

The point that people seem to miss with the introduction of the student loan for nursing is that a nurse qualifying in 3 years will take home less money than a nurse qualifying a year earlier even if they earned exactly the same amount. How does this encourage the 'right' sort of candidates? Do nurses have to have some sort of competitive martyr complex where they just love being paid less than other people doing the same job in order to prove themselves worthy of saving your life?

And not even the same job. As I mentioned in a previous comment even after 4 years qualified my top of band 2 hca dp took home £50 more than me this month despite doing the same amount of hours. He just did more of them on nights and doesn't have a student loan repayment coming out of his wage.

At least as a nurse you are in a profession recognised by the public, who seem to think, along with most politicians, that hospitals are full of just doctors and nurses! No other health professionals exist.
I'm an AHP, educated to masters level, top of band 7 and most people don't even know what my profession is/ what I do

cycle what do you do? Why don’t you highlight your job here? X

I'm a Radiographer / Sonographer.
If I got a pound for every time I was called Doctor or Nurse I'd be retired by now

Btw I'm not running down Nurses at all, I just think the general public need to be more aware that professions other than Doctors or Nursed exist in a hospital.
However I do not believe that a nurse does the same job as a registrar.

There are some nurses who can do just as much as a doctor.

I know one who as an advanced practitioner is on the doctors rota. So if you call for an SHO you may get her or you may get a doctor. She can prescribe, make treatment plans, procedures which many nurses wouldn’t do, has full autonomy and to be honest is more use than most of the SHOs. And is on Band 8b, top of which is 58k per year. So gets paid more than the SHOs and possibly more than the Reg!

When I broke my arm I didn’t see a single doctor in a hospital!

The radiographer was amazing cycle and Without her experience telling her that something was wrong and her changing the view requested by my GP, it wouldn’t have been diagnosed.

Then I saw a nurse in A&E who did everything else! Amazing! I don’t know what she was... maybe nurse practitioner or something.

Anyway, this was by far my best experience at hospital... HCPs doing what they do, efficiently and with compassion.

Different to doctors, not better, not worse, just different.

Btw I'm not running down Nurses at all, I just think the general public need to be more aware that professions other than Doctors or Nursed exist in a hospital.

Absolutely agree with you on this. My mum was a podiatrist, educated to masters level and people spoke to her like she just cut toenails for a living. When I was in my late teens I temped in a haematology lab for a while as a clerk. Full of incredibly highly qualified professionals, who worked 24/7. If the hospital is open people will be working the labs. Yet people seem to completely forget they exist and how important they are.

Sonographers have the best poker face. They also make the best tea. FACT. I remember a sonographer painstakingly printing off the still of my dead baby 6 months after I had miscarried, lovingly putting it in an envelope then sat me in a side room with a cup of tea whilst I looked at it. Kindness like that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I absolutely agree, im still annoyed that the career teacher at school basically told us that the only options in healthcare were nurse or doctor. I would have loved to have learnt more about cardiac scientists, perfusionists, podiatrists etc. I dont know if I would have chosen differently but I do think the options should have been explored!

I had never even heard of an ODP until I was half way through my nurse training. I think 18yr old me would have been well up for becoming an odp if I had known I existed, although in recignition stakes they have had the worst ride out of all of us to be fair!

Yes my DP works in NHS in a profession not recognised generally. He is thinking of leaving because although he loves working with patients, he has had enough of how the NHS is managed, and being under paid and under valued. He already only works 2 days a week for the NHS and 3 days elsewhere, so thinking of leaving altogether. My DP has done clinics for years in rough areas where they can't get other staff to do them, and he loves it.

I have a PhD in science. I have chosen to train to be "just" a veterinary nurse. The training is bloody tough and my background is in biology! So many people ask me why I didn't become a vet but I can honestly say that I much prefer "just" being a nurse. I get to make things feel better

I've been a vet nurse for 25 years and still get asked that! Who would nurse the patients if we all wanted to be vets? Very few people know what veterinary nurses do, it's unfortunately a massively under recognised profession. Quick run down for anyone interested.
We are:
Anaesthetists
Radiographers
Phlebotomists
Counsellors
Lab technicians
Pharmacists
Physiotherapists
Nutritionists
Surgeons

Some of us are specialists in exotic pets, wildlife, dentistry, emergency and critical care, medical nursing, surgical nursing, equine nursing, behaviour. Some of us are nursing managers, some of us are trainers/teachers (to student vets as well as nurses).

I am lucky enough to work with vets who value my role and seek my opinion regularly, but even some vets aren't aware of their nurses capabilities and depending where you work many nurses are massively underutilized. There are various routes into vet nursing but most commonly these days student nurses go the degree route, it's a 4 year degree, longer than human nursing and we have to know pretty much everything about every species of animal we may come into contact with!

Apologies for the derail, just thought I'd take the opportunity to get it out there. Good luck with your training Lem. It's a very rewarding career, pay sucks though .

In terms of salary - I left nursing and now work in the public sector doing project and business management stuff. I have qualifications gained through work but nothing like my nursing BSc!

I earn around 30% more than I did nursing with no unsocial hours, flexible working including working from home, far less stress, no abuse from patients and relatives and nothing like the responsibility of nursing! It’s a bit mad!

At least as a nurse you are in a profession recognised by the public, who seem to think, along with most politicians, that hospitals are full of just doctors and nurses!

Totally agree. Some of my family are AHP (I’m a nurse) and they get left out of meetings and decisions because everyone forgets them!

Nurses are well qualified professionals. Their role is different from doctors. I get pd off too. The pay is based on a servant, or a housekeeper. (Hence belts and buckles and silly hats) Women and little appreciated. Over the years I have watched jobs regraded down to save money. Many of us have just pd off. Good luck

A doctor SHOULD take a holistic view. And a lot of them do. (Funny how 'holistic' is often used by alternative therapists who are often anything but.) A nurse provides minute-by-minute care. Both can be much better than they're given credit for. Both can be pompous and self-aggrandising at times.

I am very wary of being DIAGNOSED by a 'healthcare professional' rather than a doctor. Despite anecdotes of rookie doctors and highly experienced nurses.

Bet they make the comment when they are healthy. As soon as there is any illness they come running to see what would help. Hard but try to ignore, some people don't realise you can be happy at the level you are at, if you wanted to be a dr you would have trained to be a dr.

Bottleofwater you are so much more than ‘just a nurse’, in my eyes you’re a freakin hero. They’ll soon be very glad of good nurses if they ever have a hospital stay. Keep up the good work and I hope you have decent Christmas shifts 👍🏻

I trained before degree courses and folk would say my qualification was worth less than an O level. They didn't understand the value of good nursing care, that a doctor can't provide; they didn't understand the roll of the nurse as the patient's advocate; they didn't understand the in depth knowledge nurses absorbed when they worked long term on the same ward, developing expertise that supported junior doctors and allowed them to develop security in their chosen field without killing anyone. It's no different now: the degree hasn't changed people's opinions. So many think we only became nurses because we weren't clever enough to be doctors. I trained with students who had qualifications to go to med school, but wanted to be nurses. If you're a good nurse your value is above diamonds. YANBU

What does it matter. We are all just wage slaves for capitalists.

Nurses are involved in training junior doctors, and they do a blooming good job of it too. They teach skills that cannot be taught in lectures.

You are never “ just “ a nurse. You are a carer, an inspiration, a healer, a professional friend, a confidante, an empowerer, an advocate, a confidence builder. Feel free to add to these

And if course being “just” a nurse rather than a doctor has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that medicine was traditionally a male dominated job while nursing has been traditionally female dominated does it?! Because whichever is seen as the masculine one is obviously superior!

It's not only nurses, anyone who works in the NHS who isn't a doctor keeps on being put down. My husband has recently retired from his position as a biomedical scientist ( do I hear cries of "What's that!") in the pathology lab (and no, that doesn't mean he cut up dead bodies. He carried out tests on blood and urine etc). I get fed up hearing on the TV or radio news that "Doctors are doing tests ...." NO. Doctors are writing requests for tests and the BIOMEDICAL SCIENTISTS are doing the tests. They are the largest group of NHS workers after nurses.
After he retired he had a major heart attack and was in hospital for 2 months. I can't praise the nurses too highly, they were all dedicated professionals. We rarely saw a doctor.

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if I've missed anything important. While I'm not a nurse, I am a registered veterinary nurse and I could not agree with you more!

People think our sole job is to clean and wipe up shit. In fact we do pretty much everything except surgery. We do all the anaesthetics for surgery- minor and major (one nurse, not a team), we do X-rays for the vets (when they can't be arsed to do it themselves or are busy), we used to be able to castrate cat's (hopefully being made legal again soon), we can do minor stitch ups, we calculate and administer IV fluids, medications and other bits, we carry out pre-operative checks, we take bloods, we insert cannulas, we assist in euthanasias (depending on the species, sometimes are asked to do them with no vet present), we assist in c-sections, often having to revive puppiesand kittens who are born struggling (stupid owners think they're breeders and don't bring their pet in until the animal has been stuck for 6 hours), we triage road traffic accidents, we carry out clinics and do post-operative checks, we clean, pack up and sterilise all surgical equipment (vets do love to leave dirty scalpal blades hidden in kits) set up for every surgery, maintain all lab equipment, carry out blood tests, blood smears and other tests, do bandages and change then. The list goes on and on and on!

Sorry for the essay. I just had to get it off my chest! We've been called minions by clients. They often think it's the vet that does most of the above. Christmas cards are always aimed at the vets and the nurses are an afterthought. Guess what? For 3 years training and all those skills, my starting wage was £17,00". It's the reason why I haven't gone back to it!

Nurses are the people that keep a medical team running a lot of the time. Certainly in my industry, if the nurses weren't there, the vets wouldn't be either!