Nurses-Playing cards

A Washington state senator made a dumb comment and now of course regrets it. She is getting tons of blowback after stating that "nurses in smaller, rural hospitals may spend much of their time playing cards."

I belong to a handful of medical/first responder sites and one in particular is loaded with "nurses playing cards" memes. Most are hilarious. I teach career oriented medical sciences courses in high school and nursing is the occupation I praise most as being a great career for those interested in healthcare. Corpsmen and Navy Nurses have a long standing love/hate relationship but I feel nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry. I know this is not SA or even military related and hope it isn't seen as a political thread. I just thought it would be interesting reading and maybe a reminder that there are some people in the world who we should not make mad.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ate-lawmaker-maureen-walsh-nurses/3535457002/

Many, many nurses in my family including my mother. Nurses are the "human face" of an increasingly impersonal health care system and these caregivers are often the only real contact the sick (and their families) have during rough times. In the circle of life, they are critical to the beginning and the end of most people's journey. They take these roles and stay in them despite all the system throws at them because they genuinely care.

The Senator's comments were probably meant to make a point but were uninformed and insensitive. Of course, I would probably say the same about most Senator's and politicians so I probably won't be the first to throw stones.

Everybody knows this is fake news- Nurses don't spend their time playing cards- they shoot craps ! ("C'mon 7- Mamma needs a new set of scrubs!" )
In the world of stupid comments this one is really a classic. How does somebody get to be this big a nitwit and get elected?

One might say that the Senator needs to stop pulling a chair up to the refrigerator, too.

That's not me though. I'm not saying that.

I had a recent outpatient surgery, and it was the pre-op nurse who immediately understood about my good but roly-poly veins and their shyness around IV needles, and got it on the first stick, being totally relaxed about the whole thing, clearing the cubicle out and focusing on my comfort. She also tucked me up in warm blankets. The anaesthesiologist came by, but it was the anaesthesia nurse who came in and told me about everything I could expect and what I would feel. I saw an “Airborne” tattoo, and asked him if the “warm, tingly feeling” I was supposed to get was really “stings like hell but then you’re out,” and told him to give it to me straight. Once he figured out I was a fellow vet, he was the one who held my arm as I went under, “because officers always hate giving up control.” The post-op nurse was right there the second I awoke, checking on pain, nausea, thirst, warmth. Ditto second stage recovery. I certainly appreciated my doctors’ skills and professional care, but it was the nurses who delivered true caring, eye contact and compassion.

There was a dry-erase board at each stage, with care team members’ names and notes on what was happening there.

I wrote the Director of Nursing a letter mentioning all of them!

Well as luck would have it, Senator Walsh is from the state in which I reside. I would love to say that this was just a slip of the tongue but if you live in this state you are resigned to the fact that it is not, simply the norm in WA state politics. They really poked the bear with this one and I hope the bear pokes back.

Politics in this state and in Seattle make the back and forth in the Off Topic thread of this forum sound like a Disney story. Where else can you have sitting City Council organize a rally and lead the chant "Jeff Bezos and Corporations are the Enemy of the People". Before you bring up the protests in NY over the Amazon HQ2, just realize that it was two of our City Council that went to NY to help them organize and plan the protests. Yep, never a dull moment here.

Just as a side note, the City Council has been pretty mum on this issue, I'm sure they realize who draws blood during their physicals.

And here I thought no one would trump Joy Behar's comment (in reference to a nurse): "Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on?" Boy, was I wrong!

My daughter works in the emergency department of our local hospital as a nurse. We had fun the other day discussing the memes that have come out in the past few days.

+1 to all of the above!

bookreader said:

And here I thought no one would trump Joy Behar's comment (in reference to a nurse): "Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on?" Boy, was I wrong!

My daughter works in the emergency department of our local hospital as a nurse. We had fun the other day discussing the memes that have come out in the past few days.

Click to expand...

One of my Corpsman FB had someone posted a meme that reads:

Nurses: insulted and devalued
Corpsmen everywhere: first time?

It is more effective with the photo but it started up yet another nurse vs corpsman thread. I and one other member tried explaining the joke but nobody was listening. I remember the stethoscope comment. That is insulting regardless of the ignorance of the offender.

Dear Nurses,

We're sorry that your profession was insulted, demeaned, and devalued by a poorly informed and ignorant politician.

That being said, welcome to the club.

Signed,
The Police Department