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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

613 replies

bottleofwater · 18/12/2017 22:45

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 Angry

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?

OP posts:
RoseWhiteTips · 19/12/2017 10:57

AmeliaFlashtart

Judging by the nature of the relatives comments to OP I suspect she's coming across as more of a self important jobsworth than she'd ever admit. Just as everyone who uses a screwdriver is now an 'engineer' or someone who answers a help desk number is now a ' consultant' there's a trend for people to pump themselves up all the time

There is a great deal of truth in that. Someone who pushes a trolley to theatre might claim to be a surgeon’s assistant.

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 10:57

This with bells on, This situation that you're considered 'just' a whatever isn't unique to nurses it happens in every job stream or profession. There's always a hierarchy, if it bothers you train for the top slot.

This makes no sense. You are suggesting that every job in the country is 'just a...' unless your the PM...or maybe the Queen (but I don't think I can train for that one due to lack of royal parentage). I hierarchy does not make it OK to belittle someone's profession and just because something crap happens to other people as well doesn't mean nurses should shut up and accept it.

RedForFilth · 19/12/2017 10:58

Also, although nurses are different to doctors, they should be treated with the same amount of respect. As should all the staff; admin, carers, cleaners, midwives, dentists, whatever. We're all human beings.

smurfy2015 · 19/12/2017 11:00

Haven't read full thread but wanted to say congrats on your promotion.

Nurses are advocates, hand-holders, supporters, they have saved me many times from drug errors, they have cared for me when i couldn't do it for myself, they have consoled me as I took on board news which would affect my future.

All while dealing with 101 other things at the same time, they often take time during my lengthy hospital stays to chat about things outside the hospital, general plans of what they are getting up to bring cheer to gloomy wards while working exhausting hours with little time to write up notes and try and get for much-needed breaks.

They were the ones who noticed and responded to symptom changes when I was unable to and took measures to help ensure those wouldn't happen again. They also gave me as much dignity as possible as they assisted me with personal care, continence and feeding. (i need this at times due to conditions I live with).

There have been a couple of nurses who have advocated for me to go off ward with them, for to establish therapeutic relationship as knew I would be there quite a while, to allow me space to get used to using wheelchair in main hospital corridors and foyer and also sit and just take the scenery in from the coffee shop which was lovely after being cooped up in a ward for weeks.

Nursing is exhausting mentally, physically, emotionally and while a lot of days can break your heart, I hope there are good days as well.

Thank you for being there for people like myself who are often in patients. Respect.

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 11:02

They kind of are though. It's this thread that has made me think about it. If you look at the doctor as the manager of care; the one who oversees. The nurse is the one who carries out the majority of this work (not including surgery obviously). For the most part, the doctor says, ok admit, BD observations, TDS meds etc. The nurse does what the doctor says. Is this not assisting?

There is a difference between assisting someone and being someone's assistant. For example you might assist the police with their enquiries, but that doesn't mean you work for a policeman. Nurses work with doctors and in many roles will assist them with, diagnoses, treatment or procedures. That doesn't make them the doctors assistant. They are a different role and hierarchy. If a nurse makes a mistake it is not a doctor she will answer to.

TeaAndAMarmiteSandwhich · 19/12/2017 11:03

RedHelen and Rose - All MDT are EQUAL but bring different skills and abilities. So some nurses do not prescribe and nurses generally don't diagnose, But some doctors don't do the things nurses do - they haven't gone through nurse training and don't have the same skill set as nurses.

I work in a team with mental health nurses, general adult nurses, psychiatrists, Psychologists and GPs. The 'doctors' (i.e. Psychologists, Psychiatrists and GPs) bring their specialist skill sets - but so do the nurses! Just because most nurses do not have 'Dr' title, doesn't mean they bring any less valuable contribution or should be referred to as 'just' nurses (they r much more sensible and useful in a team than the Psychiatrists in my opinion! But that's a whole other thread!!!)

Xmas Smile
snash12 · 19/12/2017 11:03

My Mum is a nurse and knows a hell of a lot more than any of the doctors starting work at the hospital. She says some of the new doctors are quite scary in their incompetence!

Just a nurse, stupid comment!

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 11:04

Someone who pushes a trolley to theatre might claim to be a surgeon’s assistant.

No, they would claim to be a porter, which is an important and valuable role in its own right deserving of respect.

BulletFox · 19/12/2017 11:13

I've met some really good nurses who were more informative than some doctors!

Last year when I went to a&e quite early in the morning (heart tracer), a passing nurse saw me looking woebegon in a cubicle and brought me breakfast and a cup of tea, I was so grateful.

RoseWhiteTips · 19/12/2017 11:16

BiglyBadgers

Someone who pushes a trolley to theatre might claim to be a surgeon’s assistant.

No, they would claim to be a porter, which is an important and valuable role in its own right deserving of respect.

The key word is “might”. There is no certainty so why answer with such confidence!? Lol

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 11:18

The key word is “might”. There is no certainty so why answer with such confidence!? Lol

Oh well, they might claim to be an antelope. Why did you say it then if it had no meaning?

TeaAndAMarmiteSandwhich · 19/12/2017 11:22

they might claim to be an antelope !!!! GrinGrinGrin haha!! Given me some Christmas cheer Bigly!!

AmeliaFlashtart · 19/12/2017 11:23

Funny most of the posts here ARE claiming nurses are more knowledgeable than incompetent bungling doctors.........

RebornSlippy · 19/12/2017 11:33

I know @Amelia. It would make you wonder why we need doctors at all. From reading this they either make mistakes, which nurses have to correct or they only do what the nurses tell them.

Mostly taken from the mouths of nurses themselves though, so...

I was all behind the spirit of this thread in the beginning; nurses have value and should be valued. As nurses. Not as the be all and end all of health services. You are cogs. All members of the MDT are cogs.

Embrace your roles, which you claim make you proud. For which you should be proud. But by claiming to be more than you are or that others are less you have lost me and this argument.

PumpkinParent · 19/12/2017 11:34

YANBU. Our son goes every few months to Great Ormond St for drug infusions. It is a nurse-led unit. The nurses there are exceptionally able and have an extraordinary depth of patience. Amongst other things, the doctors on the unit recognise that the nurses are very good at canulas (which matters when it is a small child with limited comprehension of what is happening). We LOVE nurses in our family because the world is a better place for them!

Ashamedandblamed · 19/12/2017 11:35

Who are these people even saying this. Why do they think that's ok.

SO rude.

I could never cope with being a nurse. Well done to you !

Greyhorses · 19/12/2017 11:43

If you think being a nurse is bad. Try being a veterinary nurse.

All we go is cuddle puppies apparently Wink

Trinity66 · 19/12/2017 11:44

wow your family members sound really rude and belittling. Nurses do an amazing and difficult job, you should be very proud of what you do

FuzzyTwiglet · 19/12/2017 11:54

YANBU - nurses do an amazing job, and you are an absolute asset to the NHS.

With regards to the comments from family about money - nurses are chronically underpaid, you deserve far more than what you get.

Ignore them, and if they ever get sick and are admitted to hospital they will quickly learn that you are so much more than 'just a nurse'.

KingLooieCatz · 19/12/2017 12:01

Coincidentally I was chatting to a well regarded consultant yesterday who was saying he would never have survived his early years after qualifying as a doctor if it hadn't been for nurses being around to give him advice.

People saying "just" a nurse are fools and that's their problem not yours.

WeeM · 19/12/2017 12:04

Jeez how utterly rude, in my experience of hospitals it is the nurses that do everything!

ChristmasCottonmill · 19/12/2017 12:05

YANBU.

Your relatives are being ridiculous.

Thanks for your hard work.

WeeM · 19/12/2017 12:05

Well ok not ‘everything’ but you get my sentiment!

ChristmasCottonmill · 19/12/2017 12:06

there's a trend for people to pump themselves up all the time and why not, why not take pride in what you do. Hmm

ChristmasCottonmill · 19/12/2017 12:08

There's always a hierarchy, if it bothers you train for the top slot
Actually ...... hierarchies are becoming flatter in most professional settings, it's proven to enhance productivity and job satisfaction.

hierarchies are becoming a thing of the past, it's all about teams collaborating without outdated nonsense of the worthy and unworthy. HTH.