Do you thibk nursing is dumb?

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There are many different levels of nurses, all the way up to nurse consultants.
The people who say nurses are dumb are just simply not well-informed and ignorant people.
I personally want to be a doctor but my sister wants to be a nurse, we are both A grade students but just have different interests/passion.
There are many nurses who earn lots of money too, my auntie earned almost £90k last year, she's really hard working .
Of course, there are some nurses that are not as good as others... just like all professions, but there are plenty of great nurses and they're really hard working and smart.
They're a fundamental part of hospitals alongside doctors etc.
Just do what you want and not let the opinion of others bother you.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 21

ax12

I second the above. This is not about whether nurses or doctors are better, they are fundamentally different and both (as well as other allied health professionals) are essential to providing patient care. There will always be bad doctors and nurses, but they shouldn't tarnish the reputation of the profession. If you want to be a nurse, do it! There are many different types of nurses and the opportunity to branch into things such as management if you want to do that, so you're not 'stuck' in one type of healthcare.

Reply 22

Democracy

Original post by MiszShortee786

Since when does a doctor ever do overtime? compared to nurses? one example of proper treatment from nurses.

Genuinely wtf are you on:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-hospitals-pushing-young-medics-to-brink-of-burnout-by-relying-on-them-to-work-extra-hours-10333064.html

http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/Over_80%2525_of_doctors_work_unpaid_overtime,_NHS_survey_shows

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/11/stressed-out-doctors-anaesthetists-survey-nhs

Reply 23

Blackstarr

Nurses should get more validation for what they do but unfortunately the doctors are seen as the heroes day in, day out

Reply 24

username1842595

Original post by MiszShortee786

Since when does a doctor ever do overtime? compared to nurses? one example of proper treatment from nurses.

Is this for real? Doctors do plenty of overtime, as do nurses. This isnt a nurses vs doctors bashing thread. Doctors play an important role and nurses play an important role too, while I do agree though that nurses are very disrespected and arent as respected as doctors, both are hard working professions.

Reply 25

Cherub012

Original post by MiszShortee786

And in the course of being a nurse as well as being overwhelmed with daily patients(just like doctors) except half of the doctors dont give proper diagnostics so then the patient has no better option but to run to us nurses to give them proper treatment.

Are you a nurse?

Reply 26

username1402543

Original post by sameehaiqbal

Okay I did go off on a rant sorry :/ I was just annoyed on how we nurses are are treated in comparison to doctors but I guess the 7/10 years they do to study is there recognition for a reason I guess :smile:

I agree both are as essential you cant have a nurse without a doctor and a doctor without a nurse! :P

:smile:

Reply 27

Anonymous #2

Doctors in the UK are not good imo. My GP nurse (idk what they called) was better than the actual GP doctors. Nurses can actually be better than doctors. Go for it if you're interested as both are challenging in their way.

Reply 28

Etomidate

Original post by MiszShortee786

Since when does a doctor ever do overtime? compared to nurses? one example of proper treatment from nurses.

Ok, get back in your box now.

Reply 29

bex.anne

Nursing has a lot less science in it that medicine does, but is still as rewarding, so no its not dumb

Reply 30

DontSweatIt

Do you thibk nursing is dumb?

Was that supposed to be an ironic title or..?

Reply 31

Kyx

Original post by DreamerBeliever

So i plan to become a nurse one day and whenever i tell people they're shocked. The other day i was talking to a friend and we started discussing future careers . I told them i was interested in nursing and she said "that's a dumb job , you're too clever for that and you should look to become a doctor instead " . I told her it definitely wasn't dumb. Im an A/B student but wouldn't want to become a doctor as im not good nor enjoy maths and physics and is a career I wouldn't want to go into but i still have immense respect for doctors

My question is do you think nurses aren't clever? Why or why not? Im interested to hear people's opinions. Many regarding nursing as a bad unrespectful job, however is disagree!

'thibk'

Reply 32

BigYoSpeck

I work with nurses and paramedics. Some stupid people do manage to become nurses, but nurses, on the whole, are not stupid people.

I would not wish to be a nurse because their working conditions and salary are not in my opinion reflective of their competency and only likely to become worse as the NHS is slowly destroyed. People as your own experience highlights do not have the respect for them they deserve, and generally, whatever your current motivation in becoming a nurse is, you should be prepared for a massive dose of cynicism and resentment to take hold within the first year or so of dealing with the public. Imagine how the worst kind of people treating service staff if their food order is late, then imagine if that was a life and death matter. I'm not looking to put you off nursing, but if you're already worried if people will think you're dumb for doing it, you need to have a careful think as to what your motivation is because it is brutal, thankless work.

Unless you are planning on working overseas where the profession is more respected.

Reply 33

ddrrzzeerr

Original post by MiszShortee786

I agree both are as essential you cant have a nurse without a doctor and a doctor without a nurse! :P

:smile:

I agree with a lot of what your saying. Nurses provide all of the hands on care. My experience of hospitals is that nurses sort people out all day and night and doctors saunter in a couple of times a day with a clipboard.

But doctors have more responsibility and more knowledge which is why they get paid more. Doctors are the ones who make the life and death calls. It means they can be seen as heroes but it also means they are accountable for their decisions when things go wrong.

It's the same in a lot of professions. You could say an army general doesn't do much compared to the guys on the front line but they have more responsibility and have to make bigger calls.

I don't think there is any point comparing. Who cares how much respect a position commands? It doesn't mean anything really.

Reply 34

1secondsofvamps

If nursing really is dumb then how come a degree is required for it?
Anyway, a job is a job. As long as you're happy doing it and are earning enough to live on then that's all it matters.

I want to go into teaching but many people are saying the salary is bad, not respectful, not impressive blah blah blah. But I don't care what others think and neither should you. We all get judged and criticized for everything we do so might as well just do what you want.

Reply 35

doodle_333

Well the grades you need for nursing aren't super high but your grades don't sound like being a doctor is a possibility (you need pretty much straight A*s not A/B). I think nurses should be massively respected, it's a really tough job with a lot of pressure on it and you need to be a special sort of person to be able to manage all the different skills + duties.

Reply 36

studytosucceed

Original post by Percypig17

You don't really need maths or physics to become a doctor.

majority of university entry requirements would like that and definitely chem but i understand you

Reply 37

BioJo

Nursing is definitely not dumb! I can hardly believe what I'm reading here :confused:

Reply 38

whatsthenews

Original post by Sternumator

Obviously it is more of a practical job. I would put it into a similar category as a plumber. It is not a dumb job but at the same time you don't need to be Einstein to do it. It's just an average job for an average person. Respectable but not impressive.

There are not many jobs you need to be particularly clever for though.

Nursing is a much tougher job than being a plumber and to be a good nurse takes more than just being an avearge person. For a start, if a plumber messes up it's unusual for someone to die or be left disabled, secondly plumbers are fiddling with inanimate objects not sick,frightened and dying people and thirdly, plumbers don't require a 3 year degree. Nowadays the boundaries between nursing and medicine are becoming far more blurred and nurses, nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists are doing things that previously only Doctors did. Unfortunately their status and the salaries don't reflect this. Anyone considering nursing might want to think about the new physician assistant /associate roles or even Operating department practitioner, especially if they like the idea of healthcare but not the personal care aspect of nursing.

Reply 39

Corporate Lawyer

Original post by DreamerBeliever

majority of university entry requirements would like that and definitely chem but i understand you

I can understand why you get that impression from many university websites/prospectuses. Nonetheless, it's usually not the correct impression. The most important subjects are Biology and Chemistry. You're correct in saying some express a preference for your third choice being maths (or to a slightly lesser extent, physics) but it's not usually a strong preference, if there is one at all.

The bottom line is that most medical schools don't really mind what your 3rd choice is, as long as it's academically rigorous. A non science subject could even be a very slight advantage in terms of you being more "well-rounded" or it being a good talking point at interview. It might even make you stand out a little more from the usual 3 sciences crowd. All those points are very minor though and they wouldn't really be officially recognised.

I strongly suggest you talk to/fire off a few emails to the relevant admissions tutors to clarify their stance. Ask them to explicitly state what their subject preferences are and how they score the applicant's academics (e.g. some might just have subjects and grades as a minimum requirement whereas others may give extra "points" to those with certain subjects or lots of A*s). You'll find that even if a med school seems to have a preference, in reality they don't actually give anyone more credit for choosing 3 sciences.

If at GCSE you got a good grade in Maths (A or A*) and Physics (if you did it) then that would help allay any concerns regarding your mathematical ability. Generally though they don't look at it in such detail so they don't really care, as long as you meet their minimum GCSE requirements (which usually includes a B in Maths or at least it was in my day).

A final point, most areas of medicine and certainly the medicine course itself only involve a really quite small amount maths, physics or even statistics (biostats). It's also usually rather straightforward (although it can often be important that you get it absolutely right).

You said you're an A/B student so if you get any B grades at A level though you should probably give up the medicine dream unless you have very good mitigating circumstances with supporting evidence (at the very least from your school/college). It's meeting the minimum requirements (which are obviously high) that is the most important thing regarding grades and subjects. Usually they use other things to decide on which candidates to interview such as your UKCAT score and your personal statement.

As for the question of whether nursing is dumb - it most definitely is not, at the very least it's still a rigorous degree and a tough job. As others have also said, nurses play a crucial role, just like doctors and they're both absolutely needed. The only thing that could be said is that if you have the grades for medicine then there's little point in essentially "choosing" to be poorer, unless you're really afraid of the responsibility (but there's hardly a lack of it in nursing). Even if you think you'd enjoy the role of nurse better (I know you don't), you'd likely be able to find some specialism in medicine that would still satisfy you - there is plenty of variety.