The NurseBy RICK PILKINGTONIf ‘Proud old Nurse’ (P.O.N) (Letters) sincerely wanted to mend the so-called rift between hospital-trained and university-trained nurses she/he would immediately apologise to all the university-trained nurses that she/he has collectively insulted. If (as P.O.N says) a “rift” does exist between uni/hosp trained nurses, it exists because of the sorts of insults and negative stereotyping contained in the P.O.N letter. Yet I am not 100% convinced about the authenticity of this letter. Written by an ex-nurse? It certainly doesn’t help that P.O.N will not sign her/his real name. Strange for someone who claims to be so proud! It is this extraordinary statement below that has me most baffled. “I was trained in the Hospital system, then left after it was realized that those who were coming through the University programs were not equipped with the same knowledge and understanding as those of us trained in Hospitals and trained by our peers”. This is either a misrepresentation contrived for the furtherment of PON' s polemic, or it is an insight into how far some folks will go to avoid facing their own prejudices. I have heard stories from nurses who came through in the early days of uni training about being bullied or just completely ignored on the wards by other nurses. There is just no excuse for this sort of behaviour. I would say that in my experience this was the exception rather than the rule. I have no problem with hospital trained (HT) nurses. Far from it. To say that HT nurses have been crucial to my own education is a huge understatement. I am in awe of so many of the veterans of my profession. What I do have a problem with is being misrepresented and unfairly maligned. Indeed with a few strokes of the pen, PON has effectively accused all uni-trained nurses of having inferior values, knowledge and understanding; a superior attitude; and an undesirable bedside manner. That they are only interested in money, having no real pride or interest in their profession, being too conceited to wipe bums and clean bed pans (nurses haven’t “cleaned” bed pans for yonks, hospitals have dishwasher type machines nowadays) and as a consequence responsible for the “system not working”. Extraordinary stuff! Negative inferences are widespread throughout the P.O.N spray. Indeed, this letter contains so many falsifications and generalisations as well as a few urban myths thrown in, I don’t know what else to say except that most of it is just plain wrong. To assume that taking Nursing out of University and returning it to a hospital-based apprenticeship program will somehow fix staffing levels ignores the cultural shift that has taken place in nursing and in the hospital system in this country over the last 20-30 years. There are a whole host of reasons for the nurse shortage. Workplace violence committed against nurses by patients or relatives of patients, staff reductions and the resultant impact on patient care. The frustration at having to participate in a service where your workday is about surviving the oppressive task load whilst watching quality health care delivery go down the drain . Overtime, safety and health problems, low salaries, and a lack of respect from above all wreak havoc on the lives of nurses and become disincentives to continue, or at best, continue full time work. Having said this, I suspect P.O.N is less interested in fixing the Nursing shortage than he/she is in proving that nurses of the uni-trained ilk are a failure. One of the great things about university training is that it teaches you about the history of nursing in this country, it teaches you about how hard nursing has had to fight to be accepted into a tertiary institution. How hard nursing had to fight for the inadequate wages that they are still paid. During my time at uni, I saw room for improvement in the nursing degree, yet I was always mindful that the course was still young. We could argue all day over the quality of the tertiary degree nurse verses hospital based apprentice nurse. Both have their merits and their shortcomings. However I believe it is most important that those in the industry appreciate that the move into the tertiary setting has been a crucial step in nursing’s quest to achieve professional status. And if ever an occupation was deserving of higher status, it is nursing. Public opinion consistently supports this. As for tertiary based nursing, personally I believe this system is moulding the modern nurse into a politically and socially aware, well educated, computer literate, clinically proficient, caring practitioner who appreciates where she/he has come from and where she/he is going. This is partly why I suspect nurses around the country are still as proud as ever despite their learning background. Times have changed though. We do not intend to martyr our bodies for the boss whilst getting paid a pittance. Nor do we want to be doctor’s handmaidens, Florence Nightingales or some sort of altruist or Christian artifact. In saying this I mean no disrespect to the nurse pioneers, nor am suggesting that this is how I see HT nurses. What I am suggesting is that for the modern nurse to be seen as legitimate professional seeking to earn just remenertaion in the modern workplace we have had to shake off this idea that we are inspired to perform our duties mainly out of altruism. Today we want to avoid retiring after 30 or 40 years’ service, exhausted with osteoarthritis, buggered backs and a skinny retirement fund. Personally, I am sick to death of having to apologise for wanting a just remuneration. It seems like this is the case every time there is a wage claim. And if it seems like the wage claims have been more frequent in this generation, there is good reason for that. Nursing has woken up to the fact that it has been undervalued and, as a consequence, underpaid. The last 25 years has been a process of wage correction. For P.O.N to say that university trained nurses are only interested in the money, sets nursing back 100 years. This accusation is always damaging and unimaginably offensive when you consider the pittance that this profession has been paid, relative to our collective output. So foolish coming from one of our own because it plays right into the hands of calculating beareaucrats and pollies who attempt to cast us as selfish, money centered troublemakers during wage disputes. Nobody does nursing for the money, believe me. As an example, I am a Level 1 Year 7 Registered Nurse who has 4-5 years experience in a specialist area, and my base rate is around $22-$23 per hour. Why, with that sort of money, you can understand why folks are queuing up to do the nursing degree; so they can join the gravy train! Why would you possibly even look at another career!? In my job the level of responsibility is high and so is the accountability. If you make a mistake and hurt someone (and the potential is there every minute of the day), the buck stops with you. So why should the remuneration not be commensurate with the responsibility. There are a lot of people out there who are under the mis-apprehension that we nurses earn ‘good money’. Most of them are shocked when I tell them what my hourly rate is - especially patients, parents, friends and relatives of patients who see what we actually do. Finally, to say that those who trained in universities ‘find it rather disgusting to wipe bums and clean bed pans and any other bodily fluid and feel it’s demeaning and belittling’ is insulting beyond belief. This is nothing more than an urban myth. I’ve never met anyone yet who has refused to empty a bed pan or wipe a bum. In my nursing career so far, I have been bled on, spat on, shat on, pissed on, kicked, punched, threatened, pricked with needles, involved in some very grizzly resuscitation attempts, some successful, some not, lost many patients, laughed, cried, and even stuffed up. I have had patients die in my arms, and then had the relatives cry on my shoulder - and this was only in my first few years out of university. I’ve spent the last couple of years in Paediatric oncology nursing working with children who have serious illnesses. I have been proud to empty their bed pans; to measure, weigh and record the contents, to sit alongside of them with my ‘lousy bed ide manner’, while they vomit in a bowl (and sometimes also on me). I love working with them. Seeing them get better. It is my patients that keep me interested in my job. Is it these values that disqualify me from being accepted by you and your peer group “proud old nurse”? There are thousands of other nurses out there in the workplace doing this sort of stuff day-in day-out. I’ve worked with a few of them. Young and old. Hospital-trained and university-trained. Though most of the time I wouldn’t know because I don’t bother asking. What does it matter. We are all members of the same team. Rick Pilkington is a Registered Nurse who lives in Launceston (and a part-time triathlete)
RAPID RESPONSE EMAIL: What do you think? Tuesday, September 14, 2004 |