Apr 06 2009
Are you Just a Nurse?
Six months ago, on my first day of nursing:
My preceptor, a nurse for 30 years, prepares a patient for a scheduled cardioversion. The MDs come in to do the procedure. The MDs leave. As she wraps up, the conversation goes:
Patient: Thank you so much for everything.
Preceptor: Oh, don’t thank me. I’m just the nurse.
Oh no.
Certainly I’ve said “I’m just a nurse” and have kicked myself before the words were even out of my mouth, but I’ve only said it a couple times and never in response to someone thanking me for my help or skills as a nurse. My goodness.
So it was cool to come across this nifty poster on The Nursing Site Blog. It’s by Suzanne Gordon, a writer, activist, and adjunct professor at UCSF (but not a nurse) who lectured in one of the MEPN classes. I’ve always appreciated how much the UCSF nursing school reminded us over and over — and over — again to recognize and resist all the ways nurses are devalued and to take charge of and promote our identity and strengths. This might need to go up in my break room.
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