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August 21, 2004
Nurse Uniforms, What Happened?
What happened to nurse’s uniforms? You know the one I'm talking about... the pristine white dress, with clean lines and a kind of angelic ness that gave the nurse both professionalism and power, in a non-threatening way to the patient. From what I’ve seen and read, it has completely disappeared from existence.
My last article on nursing focused on ways that the nursing community needs to change to obtain the level of professionalism that nurses deserve. But one thing I didn’t consider was the fact that nurses today have no standard uniform. When you enter the hospital, it's impossible to distinguish nurses from assistants or housekeepers, for they all wear scrubs. The scrubs themselves look more like pajamas than anything a professional should wear and do little to help nurses garnish the respect or authority.
From researching this subject, I’ve learned that hospitals made the switch to scrubs for many reasons. One of those reasons was because of the nursing shortage. By sticking everyone in scrubs, it gave the impression that there were more licensed, trained professionals on the floor, but in reality, those people are just there to answer the phones, stock the closets, or mop the floor. Another reason was a push from the feminist’s movement, who viewed the white dresses as a sign of docile women, as opposed to proud professionals.
Whatever the reason, I think it stinks. And I think it hurts nurses as a profession. The old uniforms, in all their white glory, were proud, traditional, and they distinguished nurses amongst their colleagues. It takes time and effort to get up every morning, prepare for work by putting on your uniform, pulling your hair back, topping it off with the cap. Your mindset changes as you prepare for your job, your duty. You feel important because you look important. You hold yourself with a new sort of dignity. Unfortunately, a nurse today just has to throw on some scrubs, sometimes looking worse than the pajamas they slept in, and go to work with countless other people wearing the exact same thing.
I long for the days of the old uniforms. I’ve searched for anything similar, and while I’ve found some professional looking tunics, they still lack the magic and dignity that those old uniforms had. Wearing the old uniforms, the public knew who you were. They saw you -- maybe you were out walking on the street, your cape covering your dress -- and they knew you were a nurse. They knew you played an important duty in our society and they respected and valued you more. And that’s something I think is very sad that we’ve lost.
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See, look at this uniform. She looks clean, distinguished, and modern, while remaining true to the traditional nursing uniforms. |
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And here's the cape I love so very much! Nurses were required to wear the cape (or cloak, if you wish) when they were out in public, on the hospital grounds. I think it looks cool! This nurse happens to be a Navy nurse, thus her black hat. |
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And now enter the scrubs. What a difference! Not only are they not flattering or professional looking in anyway, they're just plain UGLY! Not to mention some nurses (LPN's, ADN's, and even BSN's) will wear sneakers with their scrubs. I guess it just completes the bum-off-the-street look that nurses have adopted. |
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This is as professional as it gets for scrubs. It still just looks like you showed up to work in a large pajama t-shirt with sleepy pants, though. The hideous patterns you can get with the scrubs doesn't help. |
That's not to say that some nurses don't try... The nurse that gave me my tetanus shot wore a very nice white lab coat, and she looked very nice. She was an older nurse, though, and probably remembers the good old days of nurse fasion, which is why she held herself up to a higher standard.
I'll be very disappointed when I graduate if I don't get my nurses cap. I can't find any resources on the internet to see if my (hopeful) nursing university still does the ceremony, but I know many do. I want my nurse's cap! I want my white nurse's dress! And, yes, I want my nurse's cloak!
Posted by December at 06:46 PM | TrackBack
August 13, 2004
President Bush in Medina
We were headed down I-405 today when traffic was (as usual) not moving through Bellevue. On a whim, we decided to head into Medina, where President Bush was for a fundraiser. I was just curious if the relatively small town was loaded with cops and barricades. Turns out it was loaded with crazy protestors and a very disappointed media.
Fortunately, I was armed with my camera. I apologize if there are any problems with image quality. My notebook screen is only working under certain conditions tonight, and I'm away from home and unable to use an external monitor. They seem okay to me though. That said, here we go.
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| Probably the best possible way to slander your ideological opponent is to put a Hitler mustache on him. Not the most creative way... but whatever. |
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| Get it? Bush and the Grim Reaper... and they've both got blood on their hands!!! |
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| Convict Bush-Cheney 04! After a while Bush disappeared without explanation, leaving poor Cheney to stand there by himself. He was there long after the other protestors had left too. |
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| W_ar SUCKS. Yes, it does. I think we can all agree that declaring war by flying commercial airliners into... what? Oh, not that war. That one doesn't count. |
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| After
a few minutes, I was confronted by this young
man who was upset that I was photographing protestors.
He told me they were exercising their right to
free speech, and asked that I not include faces
in my pictures. "Too bad, you're in a public
place," I told him. His response was to complain
that only those paying to attend the fundraiser
were allowed to see the President. Huh? I didn't
decide that, I told him. What does that have to
do with my ability to take pictures? In hindsight, I guess it has nothing to do with "freedoms" and "rights" but rather a matter of "I can't have my way, so you shouldn't either." I mean, that's what it is, no? When I was a kid, I would get upset if my sister got away with something and I didn't. This is about as mature. If I'm an undecided voter, this isn't going to make me vote for your guy. |
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| The closer we got to the actual fundraiser, the more pro-Bush signs we saw, which seemed kind of odd. Wouldn't you think the protestors would want to be closer to Bush? |
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| Nearest to the fundraiser was the media, who were all just staring down the road. There were no more than one or two non-media people here (excluding myself and my wife.) It took a minute or two (I'm slow) for me to realize they were waiting for President Bush. That's why traffic was even worse than usual. It's also why the protestors were a few blocks north... they weren't sure about the route, and were keeping close to the main intersection so as to make sure they didn't miss Bush. We figured the media knew better, and we decided to camp out with them too. |
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| But nothing happened. The motorcade wasn't coming. The protestors just stood there, and then some of them started to leave. A bicyclist rode over to the NWCN reporter and told her that the motorcade had passed about a half mile to the west. She asked to interview him, but he said his girlfriend was a reporter for a competing station (KIRO) and that she'd kill him if he was on camera for NWCN (which is operated by KING.) While the protestors were leaving, I stood there among the cameras and just watched and listened to the media, who didn't seem to know what to do. Some immediately got on cell phones, others were speculating as to whether they could use footage of a returning (but empty) motorcade, and I overheard one complain that she had been TOLD to wait there for the President. The cops had a pretty smug look on their face. |
I was a little disappointed that I hadn't gotten to wave at the President... after all, it's not often you get to see the leader of the free world, Democrat or Republican... but in all I thought the whole thing was pretty clever. I'm sure the BC04 supporters were pretty upset, but I'm sure the protestors were much angrier, given that the supporters seemed to be mostly Medina residents just having a good time. But nobody seemed as upset as the media.
In fairness, KIRO got footage of the actual motorcade, and KING sped off right as we were arriving, possibly tipped off by somebody. Why they didn't share that with their sister news network is beyond me. I'm sure it all worked out in the end for the local news stations, but the confusion, dismay, and frustration on the faces and in the voices of those paid to cover the President's visit was amusing enough to make my day.
Posted by March at 08:48 PM | TrackBack
Nursing and Education
I've been wanting to write something for awhile now on nursing and my general attitude of nursing education, but felt that as someone who hasn't even started her pre-requisites, my opinion didn't hold much weight. The more I thought about it, however, the more I think my opinion and views of nursing as an outsider, who isn't biased by my educational background, is relevant.
Nursing, like any other career, wants to be respected as a profession. Nurses want to be judged by society as skilled professionals and they also wish to be rewarded in their income as professionals usually are. Some nurses complain that they are twice as smart as the doctors they work beside, and end up doing more work, but are paid only a fraction of what a doctor makes. But where does the problem lie? Is it with the doctors? With the hospitals? With society? With nurses themselves.
There are many factors to why nurses aren't paid well and aren't given the respect that they deserve. Society is confused by what nurses actually do, sometimes viewing them as doctor's helpers, people who were too stupid to go to medical school, which just isn't true. In my opinion, though, one of the biggest problems with nursing is the nurses themselves.
Nurses want respect and want to be held in the highest regard as a professional. What nurses do is important and they should be respected. They work alongside of doctors, caring for patients in a unique way that only they can. Nurses are vital to the well being of a person who is ill. They work in high stress, critical environments where they can mean the difference between life and death.
Yet, in my opinion, they are lacking in the most important area that determines a professional: education. Nurses as a whole are unwilling to hold themselves to high standards when it comes to their education. There is a complete lack of standardization in nursing education.
When I go see a doctor, I know that he or she has spent at least six years of their life in college. They've studied their behinds off in grueling science classes, had to maintain a near perfect GPA when getting their bachelor's degree, and basically given up any bit of life for their college years.
But when I see a nurse, I can't even begin to guess what type of education he/she has, how long they went to school, or sometimes even if they are Registered Nurses! They could be anything from Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA's, which takes about six weeks to get certified), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN or LVN, usually takes a year), Associate Degree Nurses (ADN, two years, sometimes three if you didn't take the proper sciences in high school), or Bachelor of Science Nurses (BSN's, four years of college).
If I, someone who has a great amount of interest in nursing and plans on becoming a nurse, can't tell these people apart when I'm in a hospital or doctor's office, how is the general public supposed to? This is made worse by the fact that everyone gets to call themselves a nurse. I've even heard of cases where a CNA refers to themselves as a nurse. This type of thing only confuses the public as to what nurses actually do and their importance to the community. Are nurses emptying bedpans and stocking the shelves, like CNA's do? Or are they providing a fundamental skill that no one else can?
Why is this so important? Why does it matter? Because nursing will never and can never be a true "profession", nor will it ever garnish the type of respect it should, with all these inconsistencies in education. Nurses need to be held to as high of a standard as doctors and other professionals when it comes to their education. A Bachelor of Science should be the minimum requirement for nursing. Can a person go to a Voc-Tech college for a year and come out a lawyer? Would you respect a teacher who's only higher education was two years at a community college?
The title nurse should be a sacred title, one that is achieved only through hard work and a well rounded, balanced education (such as a Bachelor of Science). A Bachelor's Degree is what is expected of EVERY OTHER PROFESSIONAL. CNA's, LPN's, etc. should take their place as assistants to nurses, not on the same level, and not with the same title. They are not nurses. The public should not view them as nurses.
This problem is perpetuated by the nursing shortage. Hospitals need nurses and they need them now. So they'll accept the ADN's and LPN's, which hurts BSN's and their potential for professional wages. Why would a hospital pay BSN's a professional's salary when they can get the ADN to do the same job for a fraction of the money? Hospitals need to make educated nurses a priority. The conditions for nurses need to improve so more professionally driven people will get into the field. But that change needs to start in the nursing community itself.
The bottom line is that a hospital and our society are not going to treat nurses like professionals as long as the nurses don't hold themselves up to the standards of a professional. Until that time, nursing as a career will continue to be fractured, divided, and unable to move forward.
In summary, nurses need to:
- Standardized nursing education and entry level into nursing.
- Secure the title of nurse. The public will know exactly what a nurse and their duties are, which in turn will raise the public's respect of a nurse.
- I also think uniting nurses together to work toward the public good, for change in patient care, and to progress the field is vital. Unfortunately, as it stands now, there's too much division among nurses, and one of the reasons is education (BSN versus ADN debates are very common in the nursing community.)
This is just all my opinion, though. I know I've probably angered a few nurses out there. I'm not writing this to say a BSN is better than an ADN or an ADN isn't qualified to perform their duties. The purpose of this article is to address the issue of nursing as a profession. I'm sure there are many great, hardworking, skilled nurses out there that are ADN's. But as for being a "professional", it's hard to consider someone who did two years at a community college on the same level as doctors and lawyers who spend so much of their life working their behind's off in tough schools to get where they're at.