Nursing’s image suffers:
Too much emphasis on caring, too little on skills
By LENORE BORIS, RN
It’s time for a makeover.
Nursing has an image problem, because the public sees us more as caregivers than as highly skilled professionals.
This misunderstanding leads to depressed wages, lack of respect, exclusion from decision making and also recruitment and retention problems.
The misunderstanding comes from nurses being seen as nurturing and compassionate, but not necessarily as valuable professionals with sophisticated medical and technical skills.
We know that we are both. We must learn to project a balanced image if we want the public and especially the marketplace to recognize it.
There’s nothing wrong with caring‚ it’s at the heart of nursing. A nurse’s comforting words, compassion and interpersonal skills form the basis for the therapeutic relationship between nurse and patient. And patients benefit.
And for us, this aspect makes nursing an intensely enriching experience.
But nursing as a “caring” profession is often seen as intellectually undemanding. It is seen as “women’s work.” Because the profession demands self sacrifice in service to others, there is a perception that anyone who is caring and nurturing can be a nurse.
These old stereotypes persist despite the scientific advances, exponential growth of medical knowledge and technology and the increased complexity of providing care.
The public understands nursing care that focuses on personal care, but seems to have a limited understanding of the “professional” side of the care that nurses render.
Experienced, educated specialists provide professional nursing care centered on a sound and scientific knowledge base. Our professional care obligations are legally defined and delivered in accordance with recognized standards.
This is the care that involves the careful assessment and monitoring of patients. Care in administering medications or executing complex procedures. Care in communicating and documenting. Care in ensuring all the patients’ needs are met.
Independent decision making marks the development and implementation of a nursing “care” plan.
Years ago, an advertisement read: “If caring is enough, anyone can be a nurse.”
But nurses know that personal caring alone is insufficient to help patients achieve a level of wellness.
The fact is, patients need nurses, because patients need the professional care we provide.
Nursing has an image problem. It is an image of a profession in which educated, experienced caregivers are not given respect. It is an image of demanding work that is not adequately compensated. It is an image perpetuated by a failure to emphasize and fully understand the meaning of the word “care” in nursing care.
We must all work to change this image. We can start by respecting our own professionalism and insisting that others respect it too.