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My blog to date has described how and why I became a nurse.
Many a time I’ve heard people say they wanted to do nursing but chose not to. I’d love to hear from you why you would or wouldn’t consider a nursing career.
Please make a choice and give a brief reason for your decision in your comment.
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 | Choice 2 |
I’m hoping for a really big reader response to this one so please don’t hold back.
One way or another I will not be critical.
To be continued...
WELCOME TO ALL THAT COME HERE
Hi! Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed your visit. Comments are welcomed and would be greatly appreciated, as I would really like to hear what you have to say!
As we celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversay, I wish all of those in a relationship a wondrous and fun filled life together.
Take Care,
Peter McCartney
Sydney Australia
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38 comments - make a comment? Click here:
Nursing is hard work, and can be really frustrating (from what I heard my mother say when she was nursing) but I don't think that would deter me. I just never had the inclination to got to school to get the training. I think that it also a very rewarding job and compassionate people get a lot of satisfaction being in the field.
Peter, have you read the comments in my Lavinia Gates Chapman post. In replying to Anita I remembered that Mother Bickerdyke, a famous early nurse, stayed at there house on more than one occassion.
Oooo! Great question! Can't answer it since I am a nurse but will love to hear from others.
Peter, I will be back, I need to do some thinking, lol. Anna :)))))
Hi! mickie, that's OK. I hope you don't mind, but your comment has given me an idea for my next post. I might ask nurses what they like or dislike about nursing. In the end both will give me and others a greater insight into nursing.
Thank you for visiting - very much appreciated.
Anna - take as much time as you need for this one.
Regards
Peter
Hi! Moonshadow. I now believe that every family has a nurse or two amongst their ranks. I totally agree with your mother's remarks and thank you for your comment.
I have just returned from looking up Mother Bickerdyke on the net. There are a ton of sites dedicated to her life's works. What a fabulous women! I read a number of articles on her life as the Civil War Nurse. Her relationship with General Sherman was fantastic. I love the remark made about her - She always made sure her "boys" had what they needed.
Mother Bickerdyke was a true nursing pioneer. Thank you for sharing that one with me.
For any other nurse that might not know her, it is worth looking her up to get an idea of what nurses had to put up with way back then.
Regards
Peter
'Many a times l wish l am THE NURSE...but many a times l wish l am not a nurse..'
Saving lives is one of the single greatest satifaction an individual can get from work..
However, livehood cannot be supported by plain satifaction. what really put people off nursing is likely to be shift work and pay (major contributing factor..plus many minor contributing factors)...
what do u think
Hi! Bone_collector, good to see you back from your holidays and it's great to get a nurses point of view on this one. So, thank you for the visit and comment.
You got it in one with your remark about job satisfaction and nursing. They go hand in hand for most I believe.
However every job, including nursing, has its good and bad points. We want what's best for our jobs and somewhere down the line, we want what's best for us, to continue working within our chosen fields. That includes being able to pay the bills with what we get and from what we do.
You can't support a livelihood by job satisfaction alone. Pay rises are necessary to keep people working within nursing. Having said that, the individual can improve their lot in life by taking up further studies, which we hope leads to career advancement and a better financial situation.
There are also others that sacrifice this to stay where they are because they wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Some other form of compensation should be given for those that choose this path. Well, we can live in hope for that one!
Helping people is one thing we have in common and I love doing it. I'm extremely lucky because my job gives me a great deal of job satisfaction.
Most of the time I'm as happy as a pig in poo but there are times when I'm not. When this happens I try not to get too down by reminding myself that family comes first, the job second, if you know what I mean. In other words, as long as their happy, I'm happy. It took me a while to get that right.
I don't want to sound like I'm sitting on the fence here but I like to think outside my lot in life by trying to get a handle on what other workers in other industries have to go through. One can go from a job to another and still find the same problems as the previous job.
The chances of working in Utopia are slim and everyone would like to work there. Nursing can be like that given half a chance.
Regards
Peter
My daughter isn't a nurse, she works in housekeeping in a care home (mainly elderly clients). She used to work in the kitchen of a care home where we live till it closed down. What keeps her working in that type of facility is the patients. She loves working with the elderly, and being in housekeeping she gets to interact with them on a personal level. I think being in nursing would be much the same.
Hi! moonshadow. Yes it is. People who take up nursing love to care and help others.
Being able to work where this is a high level of human contact is another important aspect for nurses. They'd rather work in this type of environment compared to an industry with very little human contact, as this would be seen as undesirable.
Your daughter reminds me of myself as this is how I first started off before taking up a nursing career. One definition of a nurse is: tend the sick or infirm. Your daughter does exactly that and I congratulate her for doing such a fine job.
Regards
Peter
I had a chance to visit with my mother last night and I asked her if there were any male nurses at Asbury Hospital Salina KS where she took her nurses training. Mom received her Cap in 1949. She said that there were very few and those that were, were looked on by others as being gay. She said most of them had been medics during the war. They don't train nurses any longer at Asbury, though the hospital is still there. Mom said that WSU (I think) could train more nurses if they had a larger facility. I didn't get to talk to her too long as we were at a friend's surprise birthday party and had to get back to socializing.
Hi! Moonshadow, Just got off the net looking for male nurses from Salina that worked at the same time as your mother. Could not find any although there are many references to male nurses from the civil war.
Found an interesting article on Asbury Hospital Salina. It was originally a funeral home before it was converted into a hospital, somewhere around 1920. Correct me if I'm wrong here.
Another item of interest is that Sister Kenny an Australian bush nurse famous for her innovative treatment of polio worked some 670 miles North West of Salina in Minneapolis for 11 years.
After all that, I think I know more about Salina than my own area. All the best and I hope you have recovered from the socializing.
Regards
Peter
At this point, I think you know more about Asbury than I do. I'll have to go web surfing and see what I can find. Minneapolis is where Lavinia (the lady I posted about) lived and owned property. That's also where my aunt and grandmother were telephone operators. Originally they lived in Lindsey, a stones throw from Minneapolis. The two cities fought over which would be the county seat. Someone in Minneapolis stole the county books from Lindsey and thus stole the county seat. As odd as that sounds, it happened just that way in more than one county.
Oh, DUH! I don't know why this didn't dawn on me till after I had posted. Two different Minneapolis'. I'm just awful at geography, always have been. It can be rather embarrassing. The Minneapolis that I was referring to was in Kansas and the one in your post is the well known one in Minnesota. Of course it was. No famous polio center in Minneapolis Kansas. : )
Hi! Moonshadow. Not to worry, we both learnt something out of this, which is great!!
The net certainly brings us a bit closer and with the aid of google maps I have been all around your state. I might try google earth next time and pay you a visit.
Regards
Peter
Hi Peter,
In response to your challenge in why you would or wouldn’t consider a nursing career, I would like to offer the following:
1. Family experience
I have two siblings that were/are nurses, and two as cops. One poor sod was a banker and one a public servant; what do you reckon that says?
2. All are older than me
3. All of us grew up with a sense of social justice, but with conservative political parentage, for want of a better word!
4. I'm not scared of blood.
5. Some of my best (male) friends are RNs or ENs.
I do believe that in mine and my friends world, nursing was not a career choice that was up front in our minds. Nevertheless (that was 15 years ago), I believe it is a wholly worthwhile enedeavour. What does a nurse earn in this day and age? Might be a good question in your international audience.
Regardless of my vocation, my image of nurses is at the top of society; a fraction slight more than doctors if you would believe that, having actually spent time in a hospital.
Then again, we are spoilt here in Oz, where we believe quality care is a right not a privelidge. I would not like that to change.
I would like to hear nursing issues and conditions that differ between countries that have national health funding programmes,and those that do not.
Regards,
Wormy
Hi Peter, here are my results and thoughts:
1) Exposure Related: When I was young and living in a small town I only had exposure to one nurse in our local clinic - and she was always the one giving me needles both in the arm and in butt. I used to be sick a lot with pneumonia, or bronchitis, so visits to doctor were regular. Just I don't understand why I had to get my medication through a needle. Well I guess this never been my favorite part, so I never consider to be a so called 'mean' nurse.
2) Exposure Related: In terms of exposure, never really had any toys that were nurse related. All I remember sitting in my dad's business and soldering circuit boards. And even that didn't help, because I don't like electricity either.
3) Influences: We were heavily influenced by my parents who ensured that we were always first in class, and they always had these high end jobs in mind for us, one of them being a doctor. They never mention engineer, because at that time we were all girls, and engineering for girls was not common at all. But even that pushing towards doctor profession didn't do anything to me, it was something that I had to do because my parents insisted.
4) Exposure Related: Later in life my immune system got much better and I didn't have to deal with doctors or nurses. Didn't have to think about it at all.
However, in the past 10 years things were different. I have been spending lot of time in hospitals taking care or visiting, grandparents, parents, and my cousin of which you already know and also myself spending few days. I have dealt with many nurses. I cannot say that all of them were perfect, some of them I think were there for show, but greater majority were the most caring people I ever seen. Of what they had to do always amazed me, their courage, their dedication, their at tentativeness, their care.
So Peter I think for me was more exposure to nurses so this is why I never approach nurse profession, and when I came to Canada being fourteen and starting from scratch (i.e. learning English), never occur to me approach the medical field. On the other hand, with time, entering adulthood I started to think more about my own survival, and later stability in life - not in a selfish way, as my parents could only help us so much, so engineering seemed to be a field in which I somehow knew was a profession for me.
Anna :)
Gidday Wormy and fellow Aussie! I believe your family all have fabulous careers. I know of a number of Police Officers that do nursing part-time, as shift work helps them have the best of both worlds.
As for Police officers and nurses, they have many things in common, as their paths cross many a time in the course of their duties.
I find with quite a few families that if mum or dad are nurses, their sons and daughters take it up as well. My mother and father weren’t nurses but my sister and wife are.
Being the eldest in my family I have high regard for the younger members of my family who are all doing very well. If I were asked do I have a favourite, the youngest is my family would get my vote.
My first experience with copious amounts of blood I almost passed out and it took a while to get used to.
I believe everybody has a nurse friend or two. They do come in handy when advice and referrals are required.
For me, I only learnt about nursing by pure chance. I was daydreaming at school, many moons ago, and saw a nursing related poster on the classroom wall. That's where it all started for me.
Nursing is a worthwhile endeavour and I would recommend it to anyone.
Nurses are tops in my book as well. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comment and for your interest in nursing here in Australia and abroad.
Regards
Peter
Hi! 1) Oh Anna, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. Bad childhood memories can turn some people off taking up certain careers later on in life. I hope you have met nice nurses since then. To tell you the truth I hate getting needles as well.
2) Good point. Children are influenced by their parent’s career choice and some may try to emulate them later on in life, as you did it apparently. You certainly had an interesting job as a child. I never had any nurse related toys but I did have my meccano set. My soldering is very poor but it gets the job done.
3) Your parents sound like they were high achievers and wanted the best for their children. Can’t blame them really. We all want what’s best for our children. You obviously turned out all right.
4) I hope your good health continues. Many people hate going to the doctors. It only reminds them of pain and big bills.
As we get older the body doesn’t hold up as it used to. The same goes for friends and family. Trips to the doctors and hospitals get more frequent for some. With all that, our minds turn to our own mortality and we start to think about of how much time we have left on this planet. We want the best care available for others and ourselves, as we deserve it. Everyone deserves it.
Unfortunately it does not work out that way for many depending on where they live. For them it is a sad state of affairs.
I am saddened by the fact that you have had bad experiences with some nurses. But as you say, the greater majority were the most caring of people.
You and your family have certainly had to struggle to get where you are today.
I don’t want to sound pompous here but I want to commend you all for your efforts and great results. You are all great examples for anyone to try to emulate.
I greatly appreciate the time and effort you have spent on this one. I know you are a very busy person and that I have taken your time away from more important matters but I’m glad you came here to visit.
Regards
Peter
Peter, when I was a teenager I saw myself wearing a white uniform and becoming a nurse...joined a nursing club in high school. Then I became a nurse's aide first and my knees gave out lifting heavy patients all day, so I went on to dental hygiene.
But I have a daughter who is an RN and a daughter in medical records so the family tradition of wanting to help others has continued on.
I've been told I have a green, healing aura. I have carpal tunnel now and no longer work but helping others was my main drive in life while working. Now I try to do it with my blogging and advice to others by way of conversation. I also hope to become novel pubbed one day.
JJ :D
Hi! JJ, Like you I had my first taste of nursing when I was a teenager. I hadn't heard of nursing clubs until now, but it sounds a great idea. I think the closest thing we have to that here is with school student work experience programs.
Bad backs and bad knees are easily come by in nursing. I usually got the wrong end of the stick when it came to lifting. I was always asked to help with lifts. Comes with the territory I suppose but being a male nurse I got more than my fair share of lifting.
I can see why your daughters went into the health care because of your background. I would have liked one of my sons to have become a nurse. It wasn't their calling however, but their all doing very well in other fields.
I'm sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel and I hope it's manageable for you.
I'm unfamiliar with healing auras so I looked it up and came up with some interesting facts. Too many to list here but I will cover green auras in case no one else knows about them.
Green indicates natural healing ability. All natural healers should have it. So I suppose most nurses should have it as well.
The stronger the green Aura, the better the healer. So I suppose the stronger the green aura the better the nurse perhaps.
They also love gardening and usually have a "green hand" - anything grows for them. Well that has me covered as I've been told I have a green thumb.
Being in a presence of a person with a strong and green Aura is a very peaceful and restful experience. Well that cuts me out as I can be a bit hyper sometimes.
I think I remember some of the wards I used to work in were painted light green. Now I know why! As green colors can have a healing affect.
I enjoy your writings and the great images. I wish you the very best for the upcoming book and thank you for your visit and comment. It is greatly appreciated!
Regards
Peter
Thanks for explaining green auras, Peter. :D I hadn't looked into it that far.
And thanks for the best wishes on my manuscript.
JJ :D
Hi! JJ, thank you. I'm full of useful information given half the chance.
Regards
Peter
Peter, thank you so much for your comment back, and just letting you know that I don't mind visiting here and writing here, and sometimes I struggle to fit in, but hey, you made me feel like at home, and that is what all matters - I will do my best to blog here, (smiling). Thanks :)
My parents were high achievers, and I am greatful. Sometimes I am angry the way some things happened in my life, but then, I look at it everything happened for the reason, and I am just greatful for the life I have now.
Peter, I know that I had some bad expriences with nurses, but hey, everywhere you go, you get good people and you get bad people, so I am not really putting nurses on the spot, it just came out that way because that's what the topic was about. That's life and I am greatful that the majority are the good people.
My health is good, we all have aches and we all get sick. Unfortunately, the way it works in my family soon as I am sick, everyone is sicker than me. So I gave up, and you know it works for me, I don't dwell on my sickness, I just look forward to get well. The positive attitude is so powerful, and it worked for me. When I was kid, I don't know what happened, but if comes to my immune system now (crossing the fingers), I have really strong one, just the problem is when I get sick it is usually stuff no body gets (at least at my age), like shingles. I was lucky I got it in time, and it was all due to stress at work. But after all all is well Peter, and thanks for your concerns.
Hope all is well on your side, and feels like you getting some good traffic to your blog.
Anna :) PS We got winter wonder land here where I live - about 7 inches of snow, I better run and tell this to JJ because she is my weather predictor, every times she gets something, next day or so I get it, lol.
Hi! Anna, we all look back and remember what has gone well or bad for us. Hopefully most of it is good.
I have been pretty lucky so far, touch wood, and don't have much to complain about. I have a winge every now and then and carry on like a pork chop. But it doesn't last for long.
Anyway it's good for people to get things off our chest. Building up tension inside is not good for one's health.
I appreciate your comment about nurses because it just goes to show that anyone can have a bad day and people should learn from their mistakes, no matter what they do for a living.
Sounds like when you get sick the others go out in sympathy. You can all then enjoy a good bonding session at the chemist.
I know a number of people that have suffered shingles. Most of it was due to stress too. Strange how that works out.
I have been flabbergasted by the response to this one and I'm very appreciative of that fact.
For us here, its hot, humid and sticky with occasional thunderstorms. Summer has come early!
Regards
Peter
NO! I would not choose Nursing again!
I feel no guilt in saying this. Knowing what I know now (everything comes in retrospect!) I would have gone to medical school for the instant prestige and decent salary. I was encouraged by a few of my professors to go to medical school, but I thought I was not smart enough, or that as a doctor, I 'had to do it all.' I was naive.
I believe I would have made a great surgeon.
Yes, I know I could have went to medical school. I did think about it, yet, I did not want to be that obligated at that point in my life.
I have been a RN for about 30 years. The nursing profession is not as progressive as other professions when it comes to pay, status, respect, prestige, benefits, and professional advancement.
I attribute these 'faults' to nursing being female-dominated, and still dealing with sexist mentalities from both men and women.
I know many, many smart and intelligent nurses. Yet, I know of 'old school' nurses who think being subservient in their thinking, behavior and practice is the way nursing should be.
I speak of many of my opinions and experiences within nursing in my forthcoming book, 'NOtes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles' coming out January 2008.
I have worked briefly as a floor nurse, for several nursing agencies along with my regular full-time job. Presently, (and maybe not for long, when the CEO of the CCF learns of my book)
I am a member of the Open Heart/Heart Transplant team at Cleveland Clinic. I love the hell out of what I do. I hate the politics, the inertia of nursing managagement, and a facility that claims to be the best in the world, yet treats it's professional nursing staff as second or third class!
I better stop now, it is Thanksgiving Day and I do have a lot to be thankful for. My book is currently AT PRESS! The book is not a tome of complaints but of experiences and relationships both in nursing and in other interests that have honed and sustained me. The more I tried to get away from nursing in my artistic pursuits, the more I discovered that those 'nursing' experiences served to evolve me to a place(s) I needed to go. It was necessary scarification!
Wow! You said 'don't hold back.'
Adrienne Zurub, RN,MA,CNOR
http://chasewunderlickpublishers.com.cn
Email:zuruba@ccf.org
BUY THE BOOK! I'm one of you!
Hi! Adrienne. Thank you for your fantastic comment. Its great to hear from a nurse in regards to my query. Especially one that has served for so long.
Congratulations on the release of your book just prior to Christmas.
As I'm from Australia I hope the book makes its way downunder.
Your passion for nursing is shown in your 30 year service as an RN and the willingness to sacrifice your entire savings to this book so that others may learn a thing or two. You are to be commended for that and I hope all goes well. I'm sure it will!
You mentioned that the nursing profession is not as progressive as other professions when it comes to pay, status, respect, prestige, benefits, and professional advancement. You sound like the perfect person to correct these short comings. Perhaps a career in Politics could help those in Nursing.
I hope to find out more about your remedies for this plus learning more about your life's journey when I get a hold of your book. Thank You for your support as well!
Regards - A grateful
Peter McCartney
Hi from Dubai,
We admire people in the nursing profession...
As simple as that -hats off to you all!
Hi! Jim n Emma from Dubai, I can smell the flowers from here and from my garden as well.
Thank you so very much for your comment. It's very much appreciated.
I hope you liked my motto for your latest article
“Never give a man a warm beer for if you do he will carry on like a pork chop on the BBQ."
Regards
Peter
Impressive and interesting line of comments. I saw this earlier, and was unsure of my answer, so I came back now after some thought.
I have been wildly fasinated by the world of medicine, and the way our bodies work. I actually read medical books just out of curiosity. I think for me personally, there would be too much stress, and I'd become far to attached to ill patients. With this said, I am so thankful that there are indeed professionals that are a good "fit" for this type of work. I am really in awe of the health care providers and nurses around the globe.
Hi! speedcat hollydale. I'm blown away by your comment and I'm glad you came back to visit.
I'm just back from your great sites and what I have to say, in appreciation of your visit, can be best summed up in what I left you:
Hi! I came here out of curiosity not knowing what to find. I have read and viewed what's here. You have made me smile and given me a laugh. Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas.
Hi! I haven't been here to visit before but I'm delighted that I have. The stories and images have made me very happy and I think I'll be back again. Thank you for your effort to make the world a better place and for taking minds off sad times that seem to be all around. Happy Thanksgiving and have a wonderful Christmas.
Thanking You
Peter McCartney
I would have loved to have been a nurse, alas, faint at the sight of blood. :(
Hi! Bob, Just back from your fantastic site.
I understand your reaction to sighting blood and can't blame you one bit.
My first experience with a large amount of blood I almost fainted.
After that traumatic experience I was alright. Mind you, I don't like it but I'm used to it.
As for your site it was quite an interesting experience for me. As I've not seen images of the moon quite like yours, especially the blue colors of the moon that you show in your images.
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your images with me.
Regards
Peter
Love your Go!Smell the Flowers motto, Peter. :D
JJ :D
Hi! JJ, Thank You! Giving a man a warm beer is likely to have you hanged, drawn and quartered as well.
I'm glad you liked my reference to the Little House on the Prairie as we watched religiously.
As for Australia, the digital switch is apparently going to happen around 2010. Just another reason to spend more money to comply. Hope it doesn't cost you too much when it happens!
Regards
Peter
Hi! I`m Tanja from Innsbruck in Austria. I only wanted to tell you, that I´m also a nurse - I worked on a traumatologic intensiv care unit till I got my little daughter. The Ausrian society thinks, that nurses only do things like helping someone to the toilet or give flowers new water..... And so I think that real good people don´t choose that job.
But I think it´s a good job - most of the time. Also for men! Because my husband works on a neurological intensiv care unit here in Innsbruck.
So best wishes to a continet far, far away from our´s!
Hi! Tanja, It's great to get another nurses point of view on this one and from what I can work out your husband is also a nurse.
We have something in common as my wife and I trained as nurses way back in 1975.
Both you and your husband, having worked in a very demanding specialist area of nursing, are to be congratulated.
You mention that the Austrian society are not familiar with the role of nurses. I would imagine that this is not unique as I believe many are unaware of the specialist skills and roles that nurses perform today.
I enjoyed visiting your sites as it revealed images of your homeland that I will probably never get to see.
Best wishes and Take care!
Peter
Hi Peter,
Stumbled onto your blog accidentally ...
I did work experience as a nurse at Concord Repat. I was too immature socially, so I went for a computer career.
Decades later, I feel the reason for low nursing numbers has a politically incorrect answer: the tragedy of the commons.
Aristotle: "that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it."
I believe this problem besets other professions on the diversity frontline: police, teachers, etc. The frontline canaries in the coal mine.
We simply prefer our own kind. With respect to many fine people of different races and cultures now here in Australia, I believe Sydney is now so diverse that many people withdraw from the melting pot. Hence the difficulty recruiting nurses, police, etc.
Robert Putnam, Harvard scholar, wrote about the "turtle effect". I think he was referring to Los Angeles. "in the prescence of diversity we hunker down like turtles ..." he said.
Simply, people avoid diversity. And even within the Anglo folk, there has been a decline in civility.
Nursing is hard enough in a civilised, monocultural, monoracial environment. Three strikes, and Sydney is out.
I believe the only hope for Australia is segregation. Mutilculturalism and multiracialism is failing everywhere it goes.
Probably way off topic. But as a sufferer of health problems myself, I am in tune with the sensitivities which others react to only sunbconsciously. Cheers.
Kudos to yourself for flying the flag for a beautiful profession.
Daniel, Sydney
Hi Daniel! It’s funny that you mentioned the word stumble. That’s exactly how I came across nursing in the first place. To be more correct I daydreamed my way into it.
Prior to working at St Vincent’s I was much like you when it came to mixing with others on a social basis. I was not outgoing and always on guard when it came to meeting new people. But having said that I was comfortable with where I was at. This all changed for the better once I started at St Vincent’s and acclimatised to my new surroundings and female work mates, whose looks and aroma were far better than mine.
In relation to the quote I do believe Governments care about what is happening in the workplaces that you have mentioned. Unfortunately they don’t have the funds or the right answer to provide an A1 service.
To attract more people to the careers that you have mentioned, you have to make it more attractive than the mainstream jobs. Taking into consideration: Poor budgeting, constant criticism and complaints, high cost of education, frequent media attention focusing on the negative aspects and the poor working conditions, to name just a few, why would we expect anyone to find it an attractive proposition or incentive to stay in the job.
I believe one of Australia’s greatest attributes is its cultural diversity. As with anything, issues do pop up from time to time that need addressing. But they can be overcome if handled properly.
I wish you good health and a great career in your chosen path.
Take Care!
Peter
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