[2Adam29]

Originally Posted by Katiana

OK, I had one response planned this morning, but while I was working all day, I see I got what many people consider a thorough and well-deserved (in many people's opinion) drubbing. So I am revising my comments somewhat:

The original post from CaliBoy:



Seems like some of the rest of you should find this insulting as well. "Surprised" to see so many medical facilites? Why would it be surprising that the largest city in Nebraska, with a population of over 400,000 people, would have some good medical facilities?

"A lot" of the RNs were quite knowledgable and thorough? Again, that is what I took exception to, and I still find it insulting. Why is that such a big surprise? Many people have only a vague idea of what nurses do, until they come in contact with some, often in the case of a family illness. Then, they are suddenly surprised that the nurses actually know their business. I am not surprised when anyone, from a waiter in a restaurant, to a nuclear physicist, knows their stuff.

. . . they were all "trained" in Omaha. Again, one of my objections. "Training" was a term from my mother's day in nursing school back in the 1940s. It was more of a training program at the time, but as nursing responsibilities have expanded, so has the educational program. I went to nursing school in the 1970s, and our instructors continually emphasized that we were being educated, not "trained".

I'm really not sure what you're getting at here. I did not say that you thought nurses were bimbos. You did talk about nurses being trained. It is not an issue of semantics, as I explained above.

If the nurses you have met do not consider this a concern, they are naive indeed. Practically every nurse out of school (not training) more than a few years is aware of the general public's attitude towards nurses. I have had patients insult me to my face, saying things like, "I didn't expect the nurses to know much"; "I want to talk to the doctor about this, not just a nurse", etc. In point of fact, in many issues, the nurses are more knowlegable than the doctors.

I didn't say anything about not liking Omaha, I implied that CaliBoy had a condescending attitude towards nurses, not Omaha.

I stand by what I said.

Alright. Lets take a step back and look at this with a fresh perspective, because CaliBoy is legitimately insulted in something that was genuinely meant to be a positive post. Now...

Couldn't it be that a city known for having the most medical facilities for a city of it's size would be suprising to see so many to someone who wasn't aware of that fact?

Not every Nurse is perfect, some have bad bedside manner, or don't have a strong work ethic after a long time on the job. This is a universal trait of everyone in the world. No place has perfect employees. Couldn't it be that from what he witnessed, he was saying it appeared to be a very high percentage of nurses that did their jobs excellently? A higher percentage than most places, and thus, suprising?

Couldn't it be that the words Educated and Trained are interchangeable unless you are in a formal setting? If after I get a degree in Criminal Justice at UNO, someone said, "he was trained in criminal justice at UNO" I woudn't find that at all insulting. I'd find it truthful. Now if someone was to say, "I was trained at Harvard Medical school" I'd jump to the conclusion that it was more extensive than a three-week course.

Couldn't it be that the original construction of your original message made it sound like you were saying he was calling nurses "bimbos"?

Like I've mentioned earlier, I feel your pain with the burdens of stereotypes in nursing. I get them all the time about cops(I want to be one). And I find it hard to let any insults fly. But I've yelled at people on more than one occassion about something that wasn't meant to be offensive. So I learned to apologize, explain where I misunderstood, and let the matter go. I think it's the right course of action, and I encourage you to take it as well.

[ehenningsen]

Katiana..

I did not type anything to be insulting to you!

I was being complimentary in the fact that I know for a fact that nurses work extremely hard.. I know you guys do, there is no question..

I think this thread has become a bunch of misunderstandings, let's lock up this thread and throw it away, because what I typed was not suppose to have been offending in any way..

[GraniteStater]

Be civil everyone and keep this thread on-topic.

[guy4omaha]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Thanks, Go Ne. Actually, I was trying to make the point that nurses of all nursing programs are intelligent and knowledgeable. Nurse are not, as many still think, bimbos, or "trained" individuals who can pass out pills but don't know why they're doing it. Legally, a nurse is responsible for his/her actions. S/he is the one who will be sued if the patient has a reaction.

To say, "the nurses surprised me with their knowledge" is what is called a 'back-handed compliment'.

I've worked with nurses from Creighton, among other places. They're all wonderful people, regardless of where they went to college.

Your point would have some validity if that is what was said. You chose to add your own baggage to his comments.

[guy4omaha]

Katiana,

Leave it alone. You're making it worse. You don't get it. You're comments are simply indefensible.

Originally Posted by Katiana

OK, I had one response planned this morning, but while I was working all day, I see I got what many people consider a thorough and well-deserved (in many people's opinion) drubbing. So I am revising my comments somewhat:

The original post from CaliBoy:



Seems like some of the rest of you should find this insulting as well. "Surprised" to see so many medical facilites? Why would it be surprising that the largest city in Nebraska, with a population of over 400,000 people, would have some good medical facilities?

"A lot" of the RNs were quite knowledgable and thorough? Again, that is what I took exception to, and I still find it insulting. Why is that such a big surprise? Many people have only a vague idea of what nurses do, until they come in contact with some, often in the case of a family illness. Then, they are suddenly surprised that the nurses actually know their business. I am not surprised when anyone, from a waiter in a restaurant, to a nuclear physicist, knows their stuff.

. . . they were all "trained" in Omaha. Again, one of my objections. "Training" was a term from my mother's day in nursing school back in the 1940s. It was more of a training program at the time, but as nursing responsibilities have expanded, so has the educational program. I went to nursing school in the 1970s, and our instructors continually emphasized that we were being educated, not "trained".



First of all, ehenningsen, although we have disagreed on some things, I have never to my recollection, said anything bad about Omaha.

If your mom is a nurse, you have probably heard her say many times that the nurses are really running the show, and you have probably heard her express frustration that everyone praises the doctor when things go well, and blames the nurses when they don't. "That nurse woke me up at midnight to take a pill", not knowing it was the doctor who ordered the pill to be given at midnight, etc.



I'm really not sure what you're getting at here. I did not say that you thought nurses were bimbos. You did talk about nurses being trained. It is not an issue of semantics, as I explained above.

If the nurses you have met do not consider this a concern, they are naive indeed. Practically every nurse out of school (not training) more than a few years is aware of the general public's attitude towards nurses. I have had patients insult me to my face, saying things like, "I didn't expect the nurses to know much"; "I want to talk to the doctor about this, not just a nurse", etc. In point of fact, in many issues, the nurses are more knowlegable than the doctors.

I didn't say anything about not liking Omaha, I implied that CaliBoy had a condescending attitude towards nurses, not Omaha.

I stand by what I said.

[gwander]

Caliboy,
I can't say enough good things about Creighton University. Their nursing program is excellent!! (One of my kids goes to school there.)

[CaliBoy]

Originally Posted by gwander

Caliboy,
I can't say enough good things about Creighton University. Their nursing program is excellent!! (One of my kids goes to school there.)

I hope your kid does very well in the program! One of the RN's I spoke with told me they weighted their program toward clinical which sounds attractive to me. Hands on application seems a intrinsic approach for me allowing me to manage better all the academics.

Has your kid indicated the same about Creighton? What sort of feedback have he/she given you?

Nonetheless, I have requested info from Creighton too, though the information on their website already looks fairly comprehensive. I hope to chat with a live person soon, once I get all my transcripts in order. Being a returning student after many years away from the university, especially after my early days of attending several different community colleges before receiving my bachelors, obtaining transcripts from all will be a feat in itself.

I hope they all still have the tablets on which my grades were chiseled.



As for the rest of what Omaha has to offer, I fly back out to California next week for other family matters. Then, I'm on a cross country adventure across the U.S. by car (finally bringing to NC) with hopes of stopping through Omaha again. I'm looking forward to visiting more areas, too. As well as consuming again one of the best sirloins and dark beer combos I have ever enjoyed.

Yum!

[ScranBarre]

To be fair I can totally see where Katiana is coming from. She mistook Cali's comments about Omaha and the nursing profession (I need to emphasize that since all of the nurses I know always go above and beyond the call of duty) for being a "backhanded compliment." Perhaps that's the Northeasterner that has still been instilled within her to assume the worst all of the time, as I, a fellow Pennsylvanian, have been guilty of that myself. I work in retail, and often times customers treat my colleagues and I as if we're "beneath" them. I've become so acclimated to this that when someone goes out of their way to pay me a compliment I automatically become suspicious (i.e. "what ulterior motive do they have for doing this? trying to squeeze out a discount?")

Some of us who DO work in these thankless professions, including Katiana and myself, are so accustomed to being on the short end of the stick that we're simply not used to receiving gratitude and kind words and don't know how to respond. Coming onto this thread from an unbiased perspective (well perhaps slightly biased since Katiana and I have become more friendly since we clashed once back in 2007 when she was still under a different alias), I didn't see anything offensive or hurtful about Cali's comments. However, we also don't know the circumstances behind Katiana's indignant reply and should reserve judgment until she can fully explain her point of view. Maybe she just had a rough day at work? Maybe she's grieving a personal loss? Maybe someone earlier in the day had said something disparaging about the nursing profession that just set her off? Who knows? The anonymity of the Internet makes it sheerly impossible to know what's going through everyone's heads 24/7. I think Cali's comments were very positive overall, but I can see how someone reading it and digesting it in search of an Achilles' Heel of sorts could have misinterpreted it.

That's just my two (or forty-two) cents!

[gwander]

Caliboy,
Creighton's nursing program is the best around. Very highly regarded in the community. You should talk to Erron Vetter.
There are two things I love about this school:
1. the people (teachers and staff)
2. that service to others remains an important part of the education of the individual.
Good luck in your travels and school search, and I hope you will return to Creighton.

[mattpoulsen]

I would argue that UNMC's is stronger, but both CU and UNMC have good programs.