For Nurses, " Just " Is A Four-Letter Word

If you ' re a nurse, when was the last time you said, "Oh, I ' m just a nurse" or "I ' m not really an expert--I ' m just a nurse" ? If you stop to think about it, what are you really saying when you deny your expertise? Words are powerful, and the words we use to describe ourselves can have far-reaching effects -- for others, and within our own psyches.For a number of years, I ' ve used the soapbox of this blog to cajole nurses to embrace their nurse identity while also embracing their individual and collective value as skilled clinicians.Like I ' ve said before, nurses have been voted the most trusted professionals in the United States every year for good reason, and that ' s because, whether we feel like experts or not, the general public views us as honest and knowledgeable professionals with whom they trust their lives--and the lives of their loved ones. Sadly, many nurses simply don ' t feel like experts, and the common use of the above-mentioned phrase -- "I ' m just a nurse" -- demonstrates for us the fact that nurses suffer from collective low self-esteem. While some nurses are clearly more expert than others (or more educated, experienced or specialized in their practice), every nurse is an expert in some way, shape or form. Having survived nursing school, learned how to be a nurse, developed specialized assessment skills and been issued a license to practice, you deserve to call yourself an expert.Face it, you ' re a nurse and you ' re an expert when it c...
Source: Digital Doorway - Category: Nursing Tags: nurse nurse identity nurses nursing nursing identity Source Type: blogs