Monthly Archive

I have a problem with teenagers with manners. Well, not all of them. Just the ones who feel the need to call me ma’am. I know they’re just being polite and respectful and their intentions are good. Really. But I’m too young to be a ma’am! Ok, so I may be creeping up on 40, but am still only in my 30s. That’s just too young to be a ma’am. A ma’am is much older. Oh well, it could be worse… these teens could have no manners. If this is all I can think of to complain about at the moment then there’s nothing really wrong, is there?

I’m going to do some shameless self promotion here… First of all, run on over to Sar the Sensational’s blog and check out my post as her featured guest for this week.

Secondly, yay me for adding five minutes to my cardio workout on the elliptical trainer this morning at the gym! And I didn’t even feel it! So I was pretty pleased about that.

I ran across a very good example of a teenage boy who had obviously been taught great manners this morning. As I was leaving the gym this young man was coming in the door. I was several feet from the door and he could have easily let the door shut and it would have been shut before I got to it, it wouldn’t have slammed on me. But he paused and held the door open for me. And when I thanked him he politely replied “You’re welcome.” What nice manners!

I really am a member of my family… As if there was ever any doubt. Three other women in the family have written posts or comments on their blogs about complete strangers wanting to talk to them. My aunt Quilly, my mom, and my big sister. Well, tonight I was at a store just idly wandering up and down aisles minding my own business and this woman, I’d guess in her 60s, starts wanting to talk to me about this jacket she’s trying on. I politely told her yes, it was pretty and yes, it fit well and went on my way as soon as I could. Then several minutes later on my way out of the store the same woman wants to tell me that she decided not to buy the jacket because if she waits until just after Christmas it will hopefully be on sale. And wants to talk about this at length. I politely told her that was a good idea and wished her luck with that and left. But why exactly did she choose me to speak to? Aunt Quilly said it was because we (the women in the family) make eye contact with strangers and that’s why they speak to us. I suppose that’s as good a theory as any I can come up with. It was just kind of funny to me to find yet another trait the women in the family share. That list just keeps getting longer and longer.

I joined a gym (actually the local YMCA) two weeks ago. Last week I made it there three times. This week so far I’ve been three times. And I am feeling the effects already. I feel like I have more energy, feel more upbeat after my workouts, and am remembering what great stress relief exercise is. Sure, I want to lose weight and inches as I do this, but it’s mostly about being healthier. I’m even beginning to look forward to my visits to the gym, and that has to be a good thing, right?

On Sar the Sensational’s blog she recently had a guest blogger write a well written and articulate post. It had to do with the Arizona state Board of Nursing having an issue with The Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, AZ using the term “nurse” to name their waitresses, as in “Nurse (waitress’ first name)”. She also wrote about different letter and phone call campaigns by various nursing organization and associations complaining about the portrayal of nurses on television shows such as ER, Grey’s Anatomy, and House. She made the argument that these are just cases of political correctness gone overboard. And while I see her point and her post was well written and articulate, as a nurse myself I would like to tell the “other side of the story.”

As for The Heart Attack Grill attaching the label “nurse” the waitresses’ name, no, no one is going to confuse these women with real nurses. The customers at this food establishment are going to realize these women are waitresses. However, there are legal issues involved. It specifically states in the Arizona state laws that ‘only a person who holds a valid and current license to practice professional nursing in the state may use the title nurse’. There are actually laws like this in every single state in the nation. Each worded slightly differently but all boiling down to the fact if you do not have the license (RN, LPN or LVN) you do not have the right to use the label nurse. Each of us who do have that license have worked our arses off for it and it is insulting when just anyone who does not have that education and skill set calls themselves a nurse. No, I am absolutely not claiming I am any better than these waitresses. I am simply saying I had to get an education and pass a national licensing test to call myself a nurse. So it’s neither fair nor right that these women are able to use that label without a similar education and the same national licensing test.

As for television shows such as ER, Grey’s Anatomy and House portraying nurses
inaccurately, I will start by saying I happen to enjoy watching all three of those shows. Each of them is set to record weekly to my DVR. They’re a lot of fun to watch for entertainment value. But not one of them shows you accurately what a nurse does on a day to day basis. In fact, I get a kick out of watching House and seeing the physicians administer all of the medications. That just ain’t how it happens in reality. In reality the physician writes the order, it’s sent to pharmacy, pharmacy checks the order, the nurse caring for the patient checks the order, and then the nurse administers the medication. (Obviously this doesn’t apply in emergent situations.) These shows don’t give nurses nearly enough credit for what we do on a daily basis for our patients. We are a valuable part of the health care team. In reality, a physician may see a patient face to face for between five and fifteen minutes out of a day. (That’s not to say they’re not monitoring lab work, etc. the rest of the day from their office.) But the other twenty three plus hours a day, it’s a nurse watching that patient and letting the physician know when something is changing or needs their attention. We are not handmaidens to the physicians, fetching them coffee and things. We are their eyes and ears the vast majority of the day that they’re not face to face with the patient. So for one thing, it’s insulting to be portrayed as just fetchers and handmaidens for the physicians. It undermines our status as a valuable part of the health care team.

Now, of course these television shows have no obligation to portray nurses (or any other profession, for that matter) accurately. It is, after all, fiction. However, we nurses struggle to be respected and seen as professionals. To be portrayed so lowly on television shows that are viewed by literally millions of people undermines our attempts at that.

It also effects the numbers of young women (and let’s not forget the men, too) who enter the nursing profession. Let’s face it… we all know that hundreds of college students enter criminal justice programs wanting to become crime scene investigators after watching how cool the job seems on CSI shows. Right? Well, with so many more professions becoming easier and easier for women to enter, young women have more and more choices for careers than ever before. Why would they want to choose a career that appears so lowly and underrated, as well as not respected, as nursing? These are the issues that many nurses have with the incorrect portrayal of nursing on television and in the media. And now I’ll step off my soap box…

I am so angry with my kitten right now! I know this sounds silly, but I came home from work this morning to the Christmas tree being knocked over, ornaments (some whole, some broken) spread all over the living room, and the tree broken! I went to stand it back up to start cleaning the mess and it won’t stand up. When he knocked it over it snapped the top section of the tree in half. So I’m not sure what to do at the point… I’ve tried yelling no at him and squirting him when he starts playing with the tree. I could put up a real, live tree and see if it’s heavy enough he can’t knock it over. (Or worry it’ll just make even more of a mess when he does knock it over.) I could put him in my bedroom with his litter box, food, and water any time I’m not at home and awake to watch him. But I work 12 hour shifts, meaning I’m gone from home at least 13 hours, and I don’t think that’s a good decision. So for the moment I’m going with the only feasible option I can see, which is to have no tree. I know it’s ridiculous to give a pet so much control, but I just don’t know what else to do. Take care, all.