Nursing Professional Identity, Image, and Stereotypes

Like any other occupation, the nursing profession has been subjected to stereotyping. Myths held for nurses include that nurses are women, handmaids for doctors and that nurses can only manage simple clinical procedures. However, despite the risk of contracting COVID-19, nurses maintain the front line fighting the virus and providing care. The role nurses have played in managing COVID-19 has changed the public understanding of nursing (Buheji & Buhaid, 2020). Nurses work generously in providing care to patients and educating them on various ways of preventing transmission. The role nurses are playing in managing COVID-19 has made society accord them respect. With the COVID-19 death toll on the country and the medical personnel especially. I presume nursing is a risky profession and this may discourage future practice unless more safety measures to protect nurses are implemented.

Nursing Stereotype Effects

Nursing has been stereotyped as a profession for women and subservient to other medical personnel. It is wrong to misunderstand the sacrifices nurses make in serving patients as their daily duty. The public does not understand where the nurse’s scope of practice falls. By misunderstanding nurses, most young bright students have a skewed interpretation of nursing, discouraging them from joining the profession, assuming that their respect is not guaranteed.

In the medical field, everyone has to work hard to earn their positions. Presenting nurses as subordinates to the doctor is damaging the nursing profession. This hierarchical division of power in the hospital indicates nurses are less valuable, which is an insult to the hard work done both in school and at work. Male nurses are subject to discrimination from families, fellow nurses, and even the patients they serve (Kronsberg et al., 2018). This discrimination degrades them and may make them stressed. Inaccurate stereotyping has made nurses live in denial, they do not embrace their profession, and most of them have fallen victim to depression and low self-esteem.

References

Buheji, M., & Buhaid, N. (2020). Nursing human factor during COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Nursing, 10(1), 12-24.

Kronsberg, S., Bouret, J. R., & Brett, A. L. (2018). Lived experiences of male nurses: Dire consequences for the nursing profession. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 8(1), 46-53. Web.