Whenever I tell anyone that I'm a nurse, the most common question I'm then likely to hear is, "So, what hospital do you work in?"  While there are numerous reasons why this ubiquitous question might irk me, the main reason is the very fact that, after 12 years in the nursing field, I have never (gasp of disbelief!) worked in a hospital. While I understand that most people associate the word "nurse" with the word "hospital", it's about time that John and Jane Public learned a thing or two about nurses and nursing. 

In American culture, at least, we define ourselves by what we do for a living. When you meet someone at a party, the first thing you usually ask them is, "So, what do you do?"  Asking someone "what they do" is about as conversationally interesting or daring as asking them about the weather. It's an automatic conversational tool which, while often stale and over-used, certainly gets alot of mileage pretty much anywhere you go. 

Now, I'm used to people asking me for medical advice once they find out that I'm a nurse. I'm also used to people telling me that their aunt, cousin, brother, sister, best friend, and former baby-sitter is a nurse. It's also (sometimes) acceptable for my inquisitor to barrage me with questions about diabetes, the newest drugs on the market, and my opinion on the best hospitals on the East Coast for prostatectomies. I've fielded hundreds of questions about numerous subjects over the years, and my questionable expertise has been sought time and time again (for better or worse). But I became a nurse because I like helping people, so what if I I often help people without getting paid? Occupational hazard, I guess. 

So, when I'm asked what hospital I work in, I generally launch into my explanation that, yes, I am a nurse, and no, I have never worked in a hospital. When questioned further, I reply that I never wanted to work in a hospital, and while I was told by some that it would be professional suicide to do so, I chose to forge a different path as a nurse, one that did not involve the confines of a hospital in any way, shape or form.

I suppose I can understand why people ask that same old question over and over. Nurses are indeed concretely associated with hospitals in the public's mind for a variety of reasons, and the media is a very large factor when considering the public image of nursing. Teachers, I would assume, are a professional demographic that is almost always associated with schools, and I would assume that it is a rare teacher who actually does not teach in a school setting, although I'm sure there are some teachers out there who walk a different road than the majority of their colleagues. I would assume that doctors are not generally asked what hospital they work in, since the public has a slightly more vivid imagination when it comes to potential workplaces for people of the medical persuasion. Nonetheless, nurses and hospitals fit together, I imagine, like a hand and (a non-latex powder-free Nitrile) glove. 

Despite the consistent irksomeness of that incredibly boring and pedestrian question being posed again and again at parties and shopping centers across the landscape of my life, you'd think I'd be used to it by now. When one considers the potential occupational hazards of nursing---needle sticks, tuberculosis, antibiotic-resistant organisms, enemas---fielding exasperating questions about where one works is pretty low on the harmfulness scale, don't you agree?

So, citizens everywhere, ask me what hospital I work in! See what I care! And I'll just tell you the same old answer again and again. "Hospital? What hospital?" 

----

NurseKeith is a writer, nurse, blogger and consultant. Feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway .  

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Greg, July 15, 2008

Kieth, Fantastic article as usual! Keep 'em coming because I really enjoy them!

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

...
written by a guest, July 14, 2008

AS usual, Keith makes me think and chuckle with his acerbic wit

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +1

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment