Vita,
It’s not that I am ashamed to be a nurse, nor are nurse/med students looked down upon. In my experience, if they know you are a nurse, they don’t explain things as well because they think I already know it. I know Emergency Medicine, that’s it. When it came to “birthing babies” and taking care of well children, I know nothing. And I want the same experience and education as my fellow classmates.
Rachel
Totally agree with Rachel. For the same reason, I kept quiet about being a nurse when I took my kids to a new doctor, or had them seen in an ER. If they know that you’re something “medical,” they think they can explain it to you in medical-ese - IF they explain it at all. A lot of assumptions are made.
So as a student, I haven’t wanted to highlight my past experience because I don’t want anyone to assume that I know stuff I do not. My classmates tend to do this - there is another nurse in my class and the two of us laugh about these assumptions. But there’s no nurse hostility that I’m aware of.
Thanks Mary and Rachel for clearing up that concern of mine. Your explainations make total sense since I have been in similar situations, anything out of the OR and I'm definitely out of my comfort zone. Thanks again, Vita