Today was the big day, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. And the Daily News in New York has to remind us just how little nursing has advanced. Oh, I’m sure that they meant well, but the headline of the article says it all:
Happy International Nurses Day: Meet New York’s angels of medical mercy
Must we continue to be tortured with this angel nonsense? These are not angels that are being discussed in the article, unless of course, they really do have wings tucked behind those white lab coats.
Since today is considered the “climax” of National Nurses Week–being Nightingale’s birthday and the last day of the festivities–several media rags I mean newspapers/websites gave us the obligatory “rah rah rah” for nurses. If only they could just speak about nurses as professionals who work hard, who are adults, and who are not heros or celestial beings but simply people who have chosen nursing as a profession. And people who deserve respect, good pay, to be well treated, and work in a supportive environment. Is that asking too much? Apparently so.
Yes, we still get the cutesy tones and dittie-doos about being angels, or following a calling, or being hallowed martyrs. Ads that are supposed to induce people into the nursing profession sound like silly Hallmark Cards (I get to be myself as a nurse).
