This is a story I picked up about the nursing profession as a whole and how the public perceives us. We had a whole discussion about some of this last week on the brand new Insights in Nursing show. I don’t know if you checked out Insights in Nursing but you definitely should do so. It’s a new panel discussion show I’ve started where I bring on nurse leaders, specifically online nurse leaders – bloggers, some of the nurse leadership from some of our nurse organizations and we talk about certain things that crop up in the news, certain issues that are important to us in nursing. Last week we discussed some of the public’s perceptions of nurses, some of the negative things that people think about what nurses do, how our profession works and how we relate to physicians and other members of the healthcare profession.
It was something that I wanted to just kind of point out that despite the fact that we might not- people might not understand exactly how our profession works in tandem with other members of the healthcare team, that we are highly regarded. That bear out in survey after survey after survey, that nurses are viewed consistently as among the most respected members of any profession especially the health care profession.
This just bears out in an article I found over at medical news today.com and looking at the article here on my screen, the nursing profession in Australia showed up as the most ethical profession for the 16th year in a row. Ever since nurses were added to this survey in 1994, nurses have showed up at the top of the list. In fact, an astounding 89% of Australians marked nurses as the most respected and ethical profession in their communities. That just bears out I think in survey after survey around the world and including the United States and many other places. It is just a credit to you and so I’d like to thank you for continuing to raise the bar.
I think that we are quietly working in the background and people see that. People pay attention to what we are doing even though we don’t draw attention to ourselves very often. I just wanted to say congratulations nurses, you’ve done it again, you’ve proved yourselves to be just the caregivers that you strive to be and despite some of the bad press we get sometimes from TV shows, from nurses in the news that aren’t really acting the way we would like them to act.
Ultimately as a whole, nurses are very well viewed by the public we serve and we need to continue of course to live up to that but it certainly speaks well for those of us that are in the profession now and I just wanted to thank you and I’m going to do my best to continue to bear up my end of that and help you understand what’s going on in the nursing community from this end here at Nursing Show.
————
This article has been featured in the news segment of the Nursing Show episode Toxic Syndromes with Lisa Booze and Episode 141
Filed under nursing news by on Jul 27th, 2010. Comment. 
A survey conducted by the Virginia Department of Health Professions reveled that about 30 percent of the state’s registered nurses ages 66 and 70 said they planned to work at least another five years and more than 40 percent of licensed practical nurses would stay in practice for another 10 years.
According to the article, more than financial security and economic needs, people accomplish more in later years as life expectancy increases. Though younger nurses may refer to them as “old school”, their years of experience in the profession gives them an edge over those who have just entered the field of nursing.
Why they want to stay
Though these nurses are old enough for Medicare, financial constraints keep them from retiring. Especially during this this time of economic recession, having an income would make them financially stable.
Another reason is that these nurses love what they do. Staying at home would probably make them bored and leave them with nothing exciting or fulfilling to do. If their health still permits them, they will keep doing what they love to do which is caring for people.
Benefits of their stay
Experienced nurses are indispensable commodities in our healthcare system. Their years of experience and expertise on their fields is difficult to replace and they could also help out in giving new new nurses tips on how to perform well in the workplace.
From the comments of readers on the original article, some patients prefer older nurses because of the quality of care that they provide. It may be because older nurses are in the job for the purpose of caring and seeing a patient get well or be comfortable because of the services they provide gives them gratification more than anything else.
Also, staffing issues have long been a problem in care facilities. Though there are plenty of nursing graduates, hospitals still prefer nurses with experience. The added workforce helps alleviate nurse staffing problems.
These nurses, though some may already be as old their geriatric patients, are priceless assets to our profession. New nurses who are updated on the latest trends may have fresh knowledge but older nurses have the wisdom that one can only get from years of nursing practice. Their dedication to their job and passion for care is something that we should all look up to.
Original article “Survey: Older Nurses Sticking Around”
Filed under nursing news by on Mar 1st, 2010. Comment.
Patients do see beyond the error when health practitioners disclose the truth. In the news article from the Boston Globe, results from a conducted survey by Dr. Lenny Lopez of Massachusetts General Hospital from 2,500 patients who had been patients in 16 hospitals in Massachusetts revealed that those who were told about adverse events were twice as likely to call their care good or excellent as patients who were not told about them. Four out of ten mistakes were reported by hospital staff. Errors that required additional treatment was more likely to be discussed than the others and errors that are preventable were less likely to be told of than the unavoidable events.
Disclosing the truth to the patient is the ethical thing to do in case of errors occurring especially if the incident was preventable. Though patients may not like the news, they would at least respect the effort of the health team to disclose the incident to them. Getting the truth from the persons directly responsible for it is better than learning about it later on and finding out that the health team tried to cover up their mistakes. If this becomes the case, the patient involved will not have second thoughts taking legal action on the matter. Issues like this will give the public reasons to doubt the honesty of the professionals involved or even lose trust in the profession.
The results of this survey should serve as an encouragement not only to nurses but to all health professionals who have been and who will be faced in such situation, to do the right thing. Being honest about one’s mistake does not mean that one is incompetent but shows that we are dedicated to the quality of care that we provide and put the safety of the patient above all else.
Filed under nursing news by on Nov 16th, 2009. Comment.
RawVoice and the Blubrry Community, in collaboration with the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) is conducting a research on Consumers Attitudes on Advertising & Sponsorship in Audio and Video Podcasts. This project is a survey conducted to podcast listeners on their opinion about issues on advertising like styles and placement.
The survey is ongoing as of the moment and will end in about a couple of weeks. It will only take less than ten minutes of your time and would not require any personal or contact information.
We encourage you, our valued audience, to please participate in the survey and let us know what you think. Your thoughts will help us improve our show and provide you with a better listening experience.
To take the survey, click here takethesurvey.com/rawvoice
Filed under site updates by on Oct 20th, 2009. Comment.
Follow the Nursing Show
Want to keep up with what is going on here at the Nursing Show? You can follow Nursing Show host, Jamie Davis the Podmedic, and know when new shows are released, updates are posted, and new articles are added to the Nursing Show blog.
Fill out our Listener Survey
Join the Nursing Show Email Newsletter
Find other great podcasts at the all new ProMed Network site. You’ll find shows about emergency nursing, infectious diseases, biotechnology, neurology, and more.
Filed under site updates by on Dec 26th, 2008. Comment.
Hi everyone,
I’m very excited to be able to give away the iPod touch today! I wish I could share that prize with all of you.
The winner of the iPod Touch is Troy from Missouri.
I’ve emailed Troy and hope to have a brief message from him on a future episode. Don’t worry if you didn’t win. I’ve got some other assorted goodies for give aways coming up in the next few months. Stay tuned to the show!
A special thanks to Lexi-Comp for their support this past year. I couldn’t have afforded to buy this prize to give away if it weren’t for their generous support of the show. Visit them and check out their excellent resources for Nurses.
I use them and so should you!
Filed under RN on the side by on Dec 16th, 2008. Comment.
win an iPod Touch – fill out the survey
The Nursing Show podcast is conducting a listener survey. We want to be able to give you the information and resources you need. Fill out the survey and lend a hand.
You might be able to win a new iPod Touch. One iPod touch will be given away collectively to the respondents of both the MedicCast EMS Podcast and Nursing Show surveys.
One entry will be allowed per household.
If you’d like to enter, visit this survey link and select your podcast choice to begin:
The contest winner will receive a brand new 8GB iPod Touch courtesy of the MedicCast Network and its show sponsors. The terms of the contest are listed on the survey page and the final drawing will be held on December 15, 2008.
Filed under RN on the side by on Dec 6th, 2008. Comment.
win an iPod Touch - fill out the survey
The MedicCast and Nursing Show podcasts are conducting a listener survey. The goal is to gather information so that we can better serve the audience with high quality content each week.
Those who complete the new survey will be given the option of entering to win a new iPod Touch. One iPod touch will be given away collectively to the respondents of both surveys. One entry will be allowed per household.
If you’d like to enter, visit this survey link and select your podcast choice to begin:
The contest winner will receive a brand new 8GB iPod Touch courtesy of the MedicCast Network and its show sponsors. The terms of the contest are listed on the survey page and the final drawing will be held on December 15, 2008.
Filed under RN on the side by on Nov 17th, 2008. Comment.
Recent Comments