Loss of professionalism
I am a retired Registered Nurse, having worked just shy of 40 years at Concord Hospital. I am a diploma graduate with three years of training as well as staffing all shifts, scrubbing in the OR for our surgical rotation, as well as working in pediatrics. We had rigorous chemistry, pharmacology, biology, anatomy & physiology, obstetrics and disease specific courses, not to mention grilling by surgeons before and during scrubbing in on their cases. Each entity required extensive studying and final exams.
If we made it past the first six months, we received our nurses caps, an extremely proud moment. After completion of our first year, we received our first blue stripe on our cap, a second blue stripe the next year, black stripe upon graduation and a registered nurse title after two days of monitored testing.
We were required to have continued education units and work a required number of hours to maintain our licenses, which were renewed by the state. Each specialty required extra training and certification for employment. Each certification required a certain amount of CEUs annually or every three years to renew the certification.
We were the eyes for the physicians on the off shifts, weekends, holidays and when doctors were off or on call. The doctors relied on our knowledge and expertise to maintain the highest level of care for their patients when they were not present. To be told after spending hours of training, certification, continuing education hours, not to mention the financial piece, that nursing is no longer considered professional is an absolute travesty to our profession. Unacceptable!